I adore old wood, old doors and benches are my favourite. This old gate is lovely but although I would be hard pushed to tell you how you should change your composition there are some things in what is a technically good shot that do not work as they should, perhaps it is the top rail leading the eye out of the image, I’m not sure.

PS - love rusty things as well

You have a point,Jon, if anyone is disgarding filter systems I would be happy to give them a home. the filters that is not the members

Thank you Paul, you know what I am going to say, I like it in blue but guess you had a good reason to make it grey.

Interesting that the original was in mono but Paul chose to go from blue mono to grey mono. Would like to see a larger version of the original to see which worked best.

And yes, I am for the fence left in as well.

Why I asked for more detail, if this member has found two lens unacceptable then perhaps it is a problem with the body. We are not told what the problem is or shown any examples so perhaps the OP wants to know when he does get round to using it if he is going to be pleased or not.

Seems strange to criticize two lens without even trying them or checking other equipment or for operator error.

Think you may get some replies if you are more detailed about what information you are asking for and which lens you are referring to, as far as I know Pentax are not producing a 16 - 50 DA at the moment so perhaps it is a different make you are asking about.

If you require pro quality I would have thought you would have asked about the lens and tried before you bought, but I could have misunderstand what you are asking so please be more precise, I can see no reason why you would ask if it is a dud surely you want to know how good it is.

You could also tell us what body you are using this lens on and what sort of images you are trying to take.

Just found a Pentax DA* 16 - 50mm is this the one to which you refer and if so why do you think it is duff?

Think I heard or read somewhere that Lee are bringing out what they call an economy range, if it is not far short of the normal standard and they bring it out soon it could be worth waiting for.

A bit late but congratulations and hope you are both enjoyng your special day.

Think it depends on how much input you as a photographer wishes to add to the finished image. If you wish to develop a personal style or to try ideas then you will have to go for a DSLR however good a compact you are limited as to how much of the photographers ideas you can get into the shot, the compact camera will override all but the most basic of decisions you the photographer make.

With a DSLR you can choose to allow the camera to make the decisions if you wish but you can also tryout anything you wish how ever exocentric, however you.

As to the make, well I had no problem as I owned Pentax back in my 35mm days and I am still using the same lens. But I think the choice for you is to decide if you wish to go DSLR, if you do find a body that you can afford and then make sure those you can afford are comfortable in your hand, no matter how suitable the price if it feels like a brick you are not going to be happy with it. Don’t worry about buying second-hand if you buy from a respected outlet like SRS you will get a guarantee and full backup. Sorry just realised SRS do not do Canon but there are others who do who will offer guarantee on used goods.

Welcome, have several Sigma lens but not the one you are interested in, in general they are sound and workman like.