Nice photos Mike - certainly convincing. I think I will stump up some of my pocket money

My macro lens is the Pentax-A f2.8 100mm so I think it has a 58mm filter thread. Should be ok for the Raynox.

'Lo all

Just wondering what people's thoughts were on using a Raynox 250 on top of an existing macro lens (a Pentax-A 100mm). I hadn't really considered it before but I noticed that they are selling on Amazon for about £35 which has got me thinking it may be worth a punt.

Has anyone tried it? I'm thinking for extreme macro shots here.

Cheers,

WG

I have an SFXn knocking around if you're interested.

I believe it has exposure compensation and exposure lock (but no depth of field preview). Also has battery with some charge in there but I haven't run a roll of film through it.

Took less than a week for me. I sound like I'm on commission but I'm really not - was just impressed with everything about my order. Obviously your experience could be different (and I can't remember exactly who I ordered from)...

Do you mean infrared remote? If so, there are some unbelievably cheap ones on eBay. A couple of pounds delivered (from China, I think). At that price I figured it was worth a punt and I have been impressed.

Interesting. Have you used one? If so, is it stable and how well does the ball head work?

A bit late for me as I've just bought a tripod but otherwise I would have been tempted to support a British company. Seems fairly comparable to the Giotto head and Benro tripod I bought, a bit cheaper and a combined monopod though.

Just a quick post to say that I am impressed by SRS's service.

Ordered a flashgun and ball head on 1 January (so the first working day was 4 January). They shipped out quickly and even with Parcel Force delays, the flashgun still arrived on the 6th. Subsequently discovered that the ballhead was out of stock but they let me know and have then sent me a slightly upgraded version instead. This arrived today.

If only all online retailers operated the same way.

WG

Thanks everyone. I probably wont be using the 100-300 all that much so I think I'll stick with a ball head for now (at least until I know of any specific limitations).

I'm sure I've seen red snapper recommended before so I will check them out too.

I do worry about the centre column. It has been suggested that they make a tripod less stable.

Wg

Morning All

Just looking to get some advice from everyone here on tripods. I've some Christmas money and what better to invest in than a flash (already chosen) and a tripod?

I've probably settled on getting a Benro tripod as they seem to be very good value. I've also pretty much decided that carbon fibre is best as, being realistic, I probably won't cart around a really heavy tripod and I want it to be sturdy.

I've narrowed it down to 2 choices:

http://photopal.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=41&products_id=80

http://www.srsmicrosystems.co.uk/4930/Benro-Travel-Angel-C-168M8-Carbon-Fibre-Tr...

Fairly similar with the travel angel being much more compact, but smaller when set up and with less load capacity.

I have 2 questions:

1) Does anyone have any comments on my choices or which seems better (shooting with a GX20 and the heaviest lens would be a Sigma 100-300)?

2) Does anyone have a recomendation for a ball head to pair it with? I have heard good things about the Manfrotto joystick ones (but also that they are a pain if trying to track a subject). Otherwise I would be tempted to get a Benro one.

Cheers,

WG

As Blytheman said - probably better to have more, smaller capacity cards. You generally pay a premium for the higher capacity cards and you probably won't fill them unless you're taking hundreds and hundreds of shots.

If you are using them over a long period of time (e.g. a holiday or not downloading frequently) it would be better to split across a couple of cards to reduce the potential loss from SD card failure of theft. Imagine having photos from a 3 week holiday on one card and having the camera stolen!