JohnP

ermmmmmmmm! i am gonna keep quiet, so i don't make myself look silly!

You would never look silly annie... :no

Good advice Dave.... I for one am always checking for updates and I try to keep my cameras and mobile phone updated.

And another.

Another.

Mars is a strange dusty place, pictures from the Mars rover.

EPILEPTIC... fit

Robin... I'm a bit concerned full HD is going to make text very small and also I'm not very keen to have Windows 8, I'm still using XP at the moment, I feel that 7 will be less of a jump into the unknown. I'm not as young as you and it takes me longer to learn. I also want a matt screen, I can't stand glossy screens.

I've been looking at this laptop... anyone care to comment.

http://www.ebuyer.com/411501-samsung-700z5c-laptop-np700z5c-a01dx

I've been trying to make up my mind what laptop to buy, my old one is on XP home edition as is my PC. I can't stand glossy screens so this limits my choice. Also I'm not sure whether to get a Windows 7 or 8 model, I've a feeling that Windows 8 might be too far away from XP which I'm obviously used to and I don't want to tax my elderly brain too much. I don't want anything larger than 15" and I want as good a screen as is available in matte. I can afford to spend up to around £800 and maybe a bit more. Samsung seem to do quite a few laptops with matte screens... any advice anyone?

Please would someone delete two of my posts plus this one. The problem was caused by me getting cheesed off waiting for my post to submit... several minutes and I clicked the submit button three times in that time.

I agree John, travel as light as your photographic needs for the occasion dictate.

There was a time when I would take everything but the kitchen sink... not these days though. Depending on where I'm going I tend to decide what type of shots I going to take before I leave home. If I'm looking for landscapes I will take my DSLR and 17-40mm lens, I will also take my Panasonic TZ3 or FZ100 both of which will take reasonable macros in case I see an insect or something. If I go out looking for macros then I take my DSLR and macro lens, again taking my either of the Panasonics in case I want to take a landscape or find I need zoom for something. I can't see me ever going out again with two DSLR's and four lens plus two Panasonics etc etc.

I agree John, travel as light as your photographic needs for the occasion dictate.

There was a time when I would take everything but the kitchen sink... not these days though. Depending on where I'm going I tend to decide what type of shots I going to take before I leave home. If I'm looking for landscapes I will take my DSLR and 17-40mm lens, I will also take my Panasonic TZ3 or FZ100 both of which will take reasonable macros in case I see an insect or something. If I go out looking for macros then I take my DSLR and macro lens, again taking my either of the Panasonics in case I want to take a landscape or find I need zoom for something. I can't see me ever going out again with two DSLR's and four lens plus two Panasonics etc etc.

I agree John, travel as light as your photographic needs for the occasion dictate.

There was a time when I would take everything but the kitchen sink... not these days though. Depending on where I'm going I tend to decide what type of shots I going to take before I leave home. If I'm looking for landscapes I will take my DSLR and 17-40mm lens, I will also take my Panasonic TZ3 or FZ100 both of which will take reasonable macros in case I see an insect or something. If I go out looking for macros then I take my DSLR and macro lens, again taking my either of the Panasonics in case I want to take a landscape or find I need zoom for something. I can't see me ever going out again with two DSLR's and four lens plus two Panasonics etc etc.

I guess this set up would be Ok for someone on a tight budget but personally I could not imagine going on one of my 7 mile walks with this, niether would I want to go on a walk through undergrown in the woods, I don't think it would be long before something was broken. Hopefully my recently acquired ringflash will prove much more user friendly, I've yet to try it in the field but I'm quite optimistic after trying it indoors.

When images from the Mars Rover started to appear on the internet I opened a file and started saving images, there have been some really interesting shots to say the least. Anyway I wouldn't say this is that interesting but it was two images that I could stitch. The original is too big to post here so I can only show this down sized degraded version.

Welcome Kev.

My macro lens set at f32 seems to give pretty good DOF, I wonder how this will work on when taking insects.

How am I going to wait until spring when the bugs start to appear again? I've been trying out my new toy so don't pull me to pieces with this tin opener shot. I'm just trying to get a feel for using an external flash as I've never used one of any kind before.

Canon EOS 60D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM

1/160s f/32.0 at 100.0mm iso400. Sigma Ringflash.

Chris Rea's guitar looks well used unlike those of Mark Knopfler & Hank Marvin, theirs are always in showroom condition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=CF98Oa2hzx8

I'd like to think at the age of 66 I'm still young but of course there are things I find more difficult these days. When I have the time I still do walks of 10 miles even though I nearly lost my right leg in a motorcycle accident when I was 20 (not my fault) and this took many surgical operations over a 10 year period to give me the leg I have today which is still one inch short. I still work full time in the Spring/Summer running my one man courier business. I work part time in the winter, take today for instance... no pre-bookings so I thought I would be at home today... mobile rings at 9am and within 10 minutes after completing the paperwork I'm off to central London to deliver samples to Sainsbury's head office in Holborn. Since the beginning of the year I driven nearly 50,000 miles.... not bad for an OAP... I would like to travel more but running a small business makes this difficult, fortunately my main customer is happy to use another courier once in a while so that I can take a break and I recently went to Ecuador to the Amazon Basin and the Andes, I also visited Cuba last March. I'm trying to decide where to go next... Peru, Africa or possiibly Iceland next June.... I have a lot to pack into the next few years before aches and pains and scrambled brains take over... :lolu:

Dave... I think any male with red blood in his veins fancied Agnetha... :phew:

Have you tried superglue... :lol:

66

As I only smoke 2 or 3 cigars a month I think I'd better stop buying any more when I go on my hols...

I didn't bring many back from Cuba... shame cos they were good and they have all gone up in smoke now.