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Yellow

Photo taken in the garden on one of those rare sunny days here.

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Cornfield

A slightly long walk away from the house I found these fields ripe.

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Sheep and the lamb

I was out with the long lens one day and captured a few shots of the sheep and their pups who were in a field behind out vet.

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First snow

Hello, this is my first proper new photo in ages!! Sorry for being away for so long. Just lack of time, lack of motivation and lack of access to Photoshop CS. Hopefully I’ll be able to get a few more done before my trial runs out in 12 days time.

This was taken in the fields near my house after a we got covered in snow (for the first time in years) in February 2009. We don’t get much snow here so I made the most of it and took lots of pics.

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My kit list

I wrote a kit list when I first started my blog but I’ve not re-posted it here like most of my other old entries. This is a current list of my kit with links and all.

• Nikon D300 – my second digital SLR camera and a fine upgrade. It has taken a while to convert and learn how to use it but it’s a class machine
• Nikon D50 – first bit of equipment and is to blame for my shift of interest into the world of photography
• Pentax Optio 550 compact camera – slightly broken now the shutter cover is slightly ajar and blocks out the top corner of photos slightly
• Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM
• Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF
• Sigma Macro 105mm f/2.8 EX DG
• Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM
• Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 EX DC Macro HSM
• Nikon 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED VR AF
• Nikon Speedlight SB-800
• Nikon ML-L3 remote
• Nikon ML-3 remote
• Manfrotto 679 monopod
• Manfrotto 190XB tripod + 390RC2 head
• Joby Gorillapod

In addition I have various Hoya circular polarising and UV filters plus Cokin P-series adaptor and filters.

I chose Nikon (over Canon) for the simple fact that Nikon use SD memory where Canon use CompactFlash cards and it didn’t make sense to me to have a Canon with a different memory format when all my other equipment (mobile phones, PDA, etc) used SD/MMC cards. Other than that there was very little between the two manufacturers. The D50 camera itself is amazing anyway so it wasn’t a hard choice and the price was just about right at the time. I thought it was a good choice for an entry-level SLR. Now I’ve upgraded to the Nikon D300 and just starting to get to trips with the semi-pro camera.  But guess what, it uses CompactFlash memory.  No a big issue now as I’ve been able to purchase a unit that converts my SD cards into CompactFlash cards.

As well as photography gear I have a load of computer equipment, which you can find out about over ‘ere.

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My photo to appear in local newspaper

I entered three of my recent photos into a photography competition in our local news paper, The Kent & Sussex Courier. The competition is run in association with the Tonbridge Camera Club and a lady from the paper e-mailed me on Monday to say they want to print one of my photos in this week’s paper (out on Thursday 31st January 2008). I’m over the moon and can’t wait to see my photo in the paper tomorrow.

Here’s the photo:

Click to see a larger version.

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Which? digital SLR tests

The consumer assoication’s Which? magazine have tested the current crop of affordable digital SLR cameras. I trust their tests and opinions highly so the reults are:-

78% – Canon EOS 350D – yeah I see lots of people own one of these, best for picture quality + automatic mode
77% – Nikon D50 – A very close second, good LCD
73% – Canon EOS 30D
72% – Sony A100 – best zoom (27-105mm) + IS
69% – Nikon D70s
67% – Olympus E-330
67% – Pentax K10D – best for action shots (0.3 seconds)
66% – Nikon D40 0 best for beginners, gives warnings such as ‘subject too dark’ + access tips
66% – Nikon D80
65% – Pentax K100D
64% – Canon EOS 400D
63% – Samsung GX 1L
62% – Olympus E-400

The web site is a little more up to date and has included the Olympus E-500 at 73% (joint third).

For more details head over to which.co.uk/digitalcameras/ (you will need to be a member to access a lot of the info).