They were just grab shots really, as I'd rather see how the lens actually works in practice than in a lab.

Besides, I suck at being a scientist. (I did try!)

Thanks for the comments.

Bjørn, you will be well pleased with one of Pentax's many fine lenses.

Schweppes with K50:



Schweppes with FA43:

Wonderful work that would be great to see printed large. Wow.

Feisol FTW.

Actually, I'd have to say that the easiest migration looks to be to 500px, photobucket, openphoto, or SmugMug since you can use pi.pe to completely automate the process.

I have no problem with change. I have no problem with improvements. The new Flickr sucks however. And for several reasons that are not subjective.

1. It's full of bugs. Some will get worked out in time. Some won't, because they are inherent in the design. (How do you see a footer if the page scrolls infinitely?)

2. It is crap on anything but a fast connection.

3. It is dire on a small screen.

4. It is not for photographers who care about looking at one image at a time. For some time now we have known about a little thing called white space, which acts to provide a ground to the image. That's why we matte photos. That's why we hang them with space between the frames. The new Flickr is instead designed for the ADD generation.

5. It is all about dazzling us with stupid meaningless upgrades instead of useful improvements. 1TB of storage. Yeah, we all need that. How about instead giving us access to RAW? Managing watermarks? Creating custom portfolios? Even selling images? There is a HUGE market there that Flickr could commodify.

Worst of all, Flickr did this without any consultation. They obviously have no idea what their users want and don't care. Rarely have I seen a more negative backlash against a site update.

It's long overdue, but here is my in-depth look at my favourite 135mm lens.

A look at the Vivitar 135mm Close Focusing lens

Vivitar 135mm Close Focusing lens part two

Nice! These lenses do have a way with flowers.

I complain about the Vivitar 135/2.8 Close Focusing being too big and heavy for my typical usage. It's 425g and 86mm long.

No doubt the DA*50-135 is an excellent lens. But it's 765g and 136mm. For that much effort I'd like to cover a 645 sensor at least! (Never mind "full-frame"!)

The Vivitar 90/2.8 macro is supposedly not up to the standards of the Vivitar Series 1 90/2.5 Macro, but is far smaller and lighter. It will be great to hear how it does, especially newly serviced. You don't read a lot of definitive info on this lens since people chase its more expensive sibling.

Rendering is very nice right out of the lens. Perfect for portraits if you can get far enough away from your subject!




Built like a rock. Smooth focus. Detail, colour, bokeh all first-rate...




Of course it's 270mm equivalent focal on MFT. And a bit big for me. But a great bargain if you can find one.