Outstanding images here and on your website, do you really need to sell? What do you mean, a proper job?!

My AF360 FGZ II flash works perfectly well on the camera but not when attached to a Cactus trigger, and strangely on occasion when attached to the Cactus does not turn on; taking it off and it switches on and off perfectly well. The setting on the Cactus is auto pentax and I have two other Pentax flashes (AF201FG and ring flash) and both of those work fine. I have cleaned the contacts, changed the batteries but to no avail. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Just been for some cultural improvement at the Magnum Manifesto exhibition, currently at Compton Verney a couple of miles from home. As an adjunct they asked for photos on themes like community, individuality and so on which are rotated for the duration of the exhibition, and currently two of mine are up. So, I can now claim to have exhibited in a prestigious art gallery alongside Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa et al!

A lovely set, I think the delicate ones in no. 4 may be called Angel’s Bonnet.

When this was announced I thought it would be a lighter more manageable replacement for the DFA* 70-200 f2.8, but TBH I use this lens more than any other, it’s sharp and renders colours beautifully. I also find once it’s on the camera it stays there even though I have other lenses in the bag so it’s for keeps. If the f4 is a good budget version I might be interested but not as a replacement.

Thanks David, this was in the nature of an experiment. The first one was on the edge of the woodland so there more light, the flash stopped working probably because the batteries flew out onto the wet ground! So that was long exposure on a mini tripod. The rest were in deep shade, no. 2 was again on a tripod and is a focus stack of 6 images. The rest of the time the angles meant handheld was much easier so using a shutter speed of 1/200 kept them sharp.

Thanks Chris, yes the light is a bit harsh and it really needs a small soft box on the flash which I will get shortly.

I ventured into a local wood to try out my Cactus wireless flash set-up with a K1 + 100mm macro and an AF201FG flash, here are the results:









And finally with the 70-200 f2.8, no flash, the subject was the bright yellow leaves framed by the tree but when I zoomed in on the computer I noticed the tiny fungi so cropped to bring those out.

A couple of Cactus V6II wireless transceivers in new condition on eBay. These accept most makes of camera and flash, one you mount on the camera hotshoe and one or more is fitted with a remote flash. The camera one can also have a flash on top. I have been experimenting a bit and realise I need a softbox diffuser to avoid harsh contrast and sharply defined shadows as I want to use them for outdoor close-ups as well as interiors. Today was windy and dull and I wanted to both freeze the movement and isolate these japanese maple leaves from the background so an ideal test, here is the result:




I should add that I used a polarizer to cut out reflections on the leaves. For those who are wondering why I didn't just use the Pentax light pulse I was using a K1 which doesn't have a built-in flash and this was much cheaper than another flash. The flash was an AF360FGZ II several feet away with the level controlled from the camera mounted Cactus; the little AF201FG works fine on it as well.

That's me booked up, looking forward to it.