No dual card button?

In my experience replacement SDM motors are a waste of money. I had 2 replacements for my 16-60 and 1 for my DA 200. None of the replacements lasted more than a year before they failed. In each case the replacements were supposed to be a new upgraded version.

I acquired a Wacom tablet about 5 years ago but have never got used to it. Occasionally I give it another try but within 10 minutes go back to using the mouse. I'm only hanging on to it because it was a gift.

What plant is that? It looks very similar to what my neighbours grow for 'recreational use'...

http://www.uksteam.info/tours/trs19.htm
This site is what you need.

I have both. They are both good quality lenses. Many people have experienced focus issues with the Sigma, particularly when using multi-point AF. I generally use centre point AF and have not had any problems. Other than that the main difference is size and weight. The Sigma is huge next to the Pentax and weighs 3 times as much, so if that is more important to you than maximum aperture, go for the Pentax.

The primes seem to be more reliable but they can fail. My DA*200 is currently in for SDM replacement.

The only times I have used it at full height I used steps. I was photographing large groups of over 100 people and needed an elevated viewpoint to ensure all of the faces were visible. I imagine it could also be handy if setting up on a steeply sloping location or flight of steps. Another use could be for birds in flight - to get under the action without having to stoop - but that's not my thing.

I have mentioned before that I have a curious fascination with tripods and have accumulated a collection of a dozen or so over time, together with a range of heads of various types. Most of the tripods are Gitzo, though I also have a Manfrotto, a Giottos and a Redged. I don't use most of them very often but they are nice bits of engineering.

Today I had to wait in for a parcel delivery so I took some of them out of their bags and photographed them. This was primarily for inventory purposes but the range of sizes is striking in this group shot.


From tallest to shortest they are:

-A very old Gitzo 'giant'. Aluminium and very heavy. Must be about 3 metres tall plus a geared centre column if that is not enough! I have only needed the full height twice but the bulk of the thing is handy at more normal height when shooting events where kids are running around. Very hard to topple over.

-Gitzo series 5 'long'. Carbon fibre with centre column. Much lighter and easier to use than the 'giant'. Tall enough for all but the most unusual situations. Can take very heavy gear.

-Gitzo series 2. Carbon fibre with geared centre column. My most used tripod. Not too heavy. Not too big. Good for all but the heaviest kit.

-Gitzo series 2 'explorer' with hinged centre column. Aluminium. Useful to get into awkward angles. Not used much.

-Gitzo series 1. Carbon fibre. Very lightweight. Good for travel but not for heavy kit.

-Gitzo series 2. Basalt. 4 section and shorter extended height than most. Very compact when folded so good for travel and with decent load capacity.

-Redged table top tripod. Nicely made though the legs need to be splayed to their wider angle setting for it to be stable.

I have been considering buying one of these TS lenses for a while so these shots are of particular interest to me. Would I actually use it much? I'm not sure.


The exposure looks spot on. The textures show nicely. The verticals are sorted. To my eyes the interior shot shows a small amount of barrel distortion and some horizontal distortion, particularly evident in the roof timbers. I hope you don't mind but had a quick go at adjusting this in PS elements to see what it looks like.



Edit: Looking at it I think I may have over corrected slightly. Now the pews look a bit off. It's also interesting to see how reloading the image onto the forum has degraded the colour and detail somewhere along the line.