Oh dear, I'm saddened to hear of the passing of Korky. I very much appreciated his input on the forum!

Hi Clicker, nice to see you again. Yes I did try to drop in occasionally to see how things were going. I had to have a stab at a password to get in this time, luckily I guessed correctly!  ?">

Thank you Fuji, it's good to see a familiar face!

A few weeks ago I upgraded my camera and was very disappointed to discover that my copy of Lightroom 5.7 was not compatible with the files it produced. I searched around for free  raw image editing software and eventually settled on Darktable. Here is a link to one of the best tutorial series that I have found. Hope it's useful for someone!

https://www.youtube.com/user/audio2u/featured

Today I is mostly going to poop in your bird bath!

Discourteous

Hi Denis, looks exactly the same as the one I bought. There are reviews on Youtube slating these cheap gimbals, and as many more on how to modify them into usable bits of kit. But I have to say I'm very happy with mine. The only drawback I find is that when I loosen the top knob to raise or lower the view, it allows the camera to droop a little due to the slack in the bush/bearing. This is not a major issue and is easily corrected by slightly rotating the lens in it's mount.  I'm told that this can also be corrected by taking the gimbal apart and washing out all the grease which is very heavy and sticky, and replacing it with something like wheel bearing grease.

I notice you have the gimbal mechanism on the left of the camera, I find that this interferes with having my left arm on the lens to adjust zoom and focus. I switched mine around so the mech is on the right since my right hand will be on the shutter button.

Hello all, I'm Martyn from sunny Morecambe. I used to be a regular on here, but fate threw a spanner in the works a few years ago and life has never been the same. I'm now retired and spending too much money buying the camera gear that I couldn't afford while I was working. Hopefully I will be able to produce something worth showing. Have I missed anything while I've been away?

Just now, Clicker said:

 Oh Dear ....  just as well  i didn't say what my initial thought was then .... erm ... my grandson plays one ...and it's synonymous with ... ice cream ....

That's ok Clicker, I also play cornet with the local SA band!

33 minutes ago, Clicker said:

Hmmm....Blowing your own trumpet I see Martyn....

TRUMPET?.....  TRUMPET?.....  TRUMPET?........      I'll have you know that this is a baritone horn!    

The object that has kept me away from this forum for too long!

Yes, they did ask permission to use the pictures I took. Sadly they got some info mixed up and weren't sure who took some of the pics. They've been in touch again and apologised for not crediting me in the mag and they've asked me if I would be willing to cover the event next year as official photographer. I'm not jumping at it, I'll hold out and see what they offer, it may be worth concert tickets and event passes at several other venues.

Hi all, sorry I've not been around for a while. Life has a habit of throwing unexpected challenges at us which we have to get up and get on with. My camera hasn't been out for a while, but an American friend sent me this picture of a Magazine he subscribes to; that's my picture on the front cover. 

Hi Geoff, welcome from a wet and windy Morecambe!

What amazes me is that he not only filmed what he filmed; he also filmed himself filming what he filmed!   But it sure looked like fun!

Today, me and the missus drove up to the Rheged centre near penrith to see a photo exhibition on the recommendation of a friend. I paid £3.50 each to get into the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015 Exhibition, and as you can imagine the pictures were stunning.

We then went to another exhibition in the same building called Herdwick which was totally free; I was blown away. I've seen a lot of photographs in my time, but none moved me like these pictures by Manchester born Ian Lawson. Over a period of 5 years, Ian worked among the Lakeland shepherds to record a year in the life of these rare breed sheep and the relationship between them, the farmers and the landscape.

Firstly I was struck by the sheer size of the prints, many being 5 or 6 foot. The colours just popped and despite the size of prints, the detail in the smallest strand of wool on the sheep's back was pin sharp. I stood mezmerised by each image as I pondered on how such light was possible in the places where I had stood as a walker and taken photographs myself. By the time I got to the end I felt emotionally drained, overwhelmed, even tearful. 

Here's a link to some of the photos, but they do not really do justice to standing in front of the canvas and letting the image fill your field of vision. If this exhibition comes your way please make every effort to visit.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-31129807

Congratulations Paul!

Thanks for the replies guys, I think Fuzzy's reply nailed it with the comment, "effective focal length".

Many of the pictures I've taken lately have been right on the edge of what me and the camera are capable of. I've taken risks with shutter speeds, iso and processing in order to try and make a shot work. What I'm trying to do is get a clear understanding of how each element of  taking a photo works, so that I can make better decisions on how to shoot. If I know how slow I can go with the shutter speed at a certain focal length I have a starting point. Next in the equation comes subject movement; a shutter speed that leaves a guitarists or fiddlers right hand blurry is ok, but blurry eyes are not ok.

At the root of these questions is my experience at the Old Time Music Festival I attended a few weeks ago. I had free access to all areas, but only one chance to capture the moment. I'm gutted that some of the shots that would have made brilliant pictures are out of focus, blurred or far too dark. I've been into photography nearly two years now and have had a great deal of beginners luck, but if I want to continue to develop my skills and work on my style I need to have a clear understanding of how my camera works and how to get the best out of it.

I've often heard the advice that the minimum shutter speed for hand held shooting should be equal to or greater than the focal length of the lens, ie for a 50mm lens the shutter speed should be at least 1/50th sec, and for 200mm at least 1/200th sec.

How does this advice stand with the use of cropped sensors? I use a Nikon D5100, do I multiply the focal length of the lens by 1.5 to get a recommended minimum shutter speed, ie 50mm x 1.5 = 1/75th sec and 200mm x 1.5 = 1/300 sec.

If you're editing a raw file, the original remains as it is except it has a small invisible sidecar file attached which contains the edits you have applied.

Hi Derek, welcome aboard!

 

Um I will I think go for some low cost tubes. I was going to get some unconnected tubes as they were cheapest, but I thought in the back of my mind that maybe connected ones with autofocus and so forth would be easier for me.

A point confirmed in large part, now.

 

I must say that auto focus is a waste of in my opinion for macro, the depth of field and focus points are so small that the camera will be constantly hunting for the sweet spot. What the connected tubes do well is only stop the aperture down when you shoot. Focus for macro is better achieved in manual mode and slowly moving the camera until you find the focus point.

I found my extension tubes great value for money, I got a used set off Ebay. I got a Kenco set with electrical contacts but you can go cheaper and just get plain tubes. I also got a reverse lens adaper for a couple of quid that offers good results too.

Nothing comes easy with macro, it's all trial and error and find out what works for you. Have a look in my Blog posts where you can see my gear.

Congratulations Paul, great picture!

Hi Clicker, welcome to the madhouse. I may just take you up on the coffee and sticky bun! ?