so work above my HR (polar) zone 3 (80-90 % HRmax)would be the level to really work on anaerobic capacity? (appreciate the real definition is probably ‘work at power above anaerobic threshold’, but don’t have a power meter anyway…).

Sounds reasonable since Polar talk about zone 3 only being briefly maintainable, while I know that I can maintain it for some hours while trying to keep up with fast mates.

using the polar to make sure I’m doing more training in zone 1 and 2 definitely seems to help though, endurance wise.

interested to hear more Labmonkey!

Can HR zones be related to work outs targeting capillary/mitochondria vs enzymes/glcolysis?

Holiday-wise:

The White Room in the French Alps.

Always flexible and go out of their way to accommodate, plus launched a bike rescue mission on the side of mountain in pitch black after mine went ‘sight-seeing’.

http://www2.picturepush.com/photo/a/6058650/img/usefull-info/Alpha-channel-selection-copy.jpg

very good tutorial here, but you’ll have to use some cunning google translate if you don’t understand dutch…

nearly all my macro is done hand held with manual focus (i.e. set magnification then move back/forward for focus) and (TTL off camera – nikon) flash – gives you DOF and motion freeze, and no prob with blocking the ambient then.

TC on 300mm will ask for either mega good light or good tripod. if the lens doesn’t have a tripod collar you may find that balance is tricky with poor results on sharpness at >300mm.

btw afaik close-up filters do indeed reduce focusing distance. also ime they are only really sharp near the center (affordable ones at least).

telecon on macro can work pretty well, i’ve had some success. Soligor 2x costs me some contrast in combi with sigma 50mm macro, but the sharpness of the lens is so good that with TC is still fine.

some discussion here:

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/85690-180mm-Macro-lens-1.4X-Extender-Teleconverter-Image-Quality

TCs can even give reasonable results on zooms if you stop down and do your best to nail tripod/long lens technique:

[/url]
partial lunar eclipse 150611[/url] by Geoff Warnock[/url], on Flickr

Or for your macro you can always go for a more ‘extreme’ lens:

[/url]
stained glass[/url] by Geoff Warnock[/url], on Flickr

err… just leave the birds alone??

with life threatening infections coming from cucumbers are you seriously worried about some bird crap?

I suppose you have astroturf because there might be dangerous earthworms in a real lawn? cut the tree down because some sap got on your car? kill the baby swallows because they have the temerity to cheep in the mornings when you want to sleep?

the world will be really screwed if everyone tried to get rid of nature around us.

stick a white teddy (or similar) out on your garden table and take a shot in P mode, put in -2 exposure compensation and take the same photo (as close as you can). If the exposure of your picture doesn’t change, something funny is going on.

For best results try it in A and S modes too.

Those on them long term, IMO, are psychologically addicted to them, not chemically.

or just happen to have that surprisingly common thing called chronic (clinical) depression…

I’m not sure why antideps carry such a stigma even now, it’s well accepted for many disorders that long-term treatment is required. Depression associated with a tough period/stress etc may well be dealt with by a few months of the pills, but in many cases people are clinically depressed despite no hardship.

Schizophrenia is another well accepted mental disorder – would you like them to stop heir pills asap to show how tough they are?

antideps work well for a very large amount of people… if you don’t get on with them you can always stop.

More like arguing 1×9 vs 2×9 vs 3×9.

There’s a very obvious difference but it may not matter depending on what you do.

+1

Mol – ‘brummie-ish’ in Belgium.

FWIW I don’t think I’m too Nikon fanboi, in fact I envy some of the lens choice for Canon in my favourite field of birds/nature. I wouldn’t go back to a compact/smaller system except for carrying on the bike where maximum convenience is a compromise I’ll live with.

mol – tough to meet across the channel, but not a bad idea.

I actually went for the Sigma 8-16mm for wide angle, so 10mm sounds pathetic these days! I love it and particular enjoy getting the nephews from odd points of view.

5th – saw that LL article a while ago! indeed a very good one. I too have some favourite shots taken with an old compact (in reasonable conditions). Some of the things I feel just can’t be fully replicated even in good conditions though are separation of backgrounds etc. through DOF, speed in general for action, viewfinder, very wide angle, quality/stability at extreme telephoto…

that list got away with me a bit actually!

btw yesterday I spent a good chunk of afternoon catching little nephews out of the slide with one hand while holding DSLR with grip (50mm 1.8 fyi for imagining size) in the other and taking pics.

I’m by no means an expert on the m4/3rds stuff, but gleaned from this thread etc.:

at lower iso the compromises could still be – less ability to use small apertures due to earlier diffraction, ‘altered’ DOF, perhaps lower dynamic range, less ability to go REALLY wide angle with 2x crop factor…

I’m on APS-C, not full frame, so have compromises too – in my case the prob being a lack of unlimited funds, you could then add your size and weight arguments, though if I had my way I’d walk around with a D3 and 600 f4 on my shoulder the whole time.

5th – he did say ‘no IS’ regarding full DSLR bodies… doesn’t matter where your IS is if your darling daughter won’t hold still for that 1/30th shutter speed.

landscapes/indoor still-life maybe, but why not try and find out how many (serious) landscape photogs use IS instead of a tripod?

my feelings for the micro cameras, NEX etc. are borne from handling a NEX with (I believe) 18-200 zoom – won’t fit in pocket anyway, lens bigger than body = ‘nice’ ergonomics, costs as much as many DSLRs anyway…

If the micros were so good the Pentax 645 wouldn’t have a market – just saying that everyone needs to watch out for becoming fanbois and be realistic about their compromises.

bigger/heavier – easier to hold steadily, true optical viewfinder included!

IS in lenses if it’s even necessary (moving subjects/use a tripod)

Paying for image quality

I’m already signed up!

p.s. I know this is your pet debate so am only playing devils advocate (without smilies). my point really is that you know you’re compromising on IQ for size and cost, and i see in your posts over time, perhaps as you’ve learnt more and tried more with your camera, more points where you realise you can’t do quite and much and have to go “oh well”. I choose chunky cam with fewer “oh well” moments (except regarding a 600 f4).

Mol – then maybe you should have held out for a deal on a (e.g.) Nikon D5000…

if you’re going to flog it all, get Nikon or Canon instead, then (deep down) you’ll know you’re not compromising on image quality in the name of size…

and DOF isn’t the same as sharpness… (or perceived sharpness)

perfectly possible to have incredible sharpness with mm DOFs (i.e. macro)

+1 most of what you’re seeing is contrast

My Flickr photostream[/url]

Some more from Sainte Foy with The White Room on there too, and nature stuff mostly

for the people worried about their shins with flats – the biggest shin injury I’ve seen came from spds…

Thing is Emma, marmite has clearly shown how big the costs are for relatively little return. It’s not like those prices are getting him a new car. I think it’s the (sad) truth that it’s hard to make money as a photographer these days. The 500 quid and a disk guys mentioned are kidding if they think they are making a profit and increasingly people think the pro prices are ridiculous compared to getting a mate to do it. I’m pretty serious about making the best of my photography but I’m not about to quit my day job thinking it will pay the bills instead. My amateur gear is already a few thousand, so paying less than the price of one lens for a pros work starts to sound ok again.

FWIW, the pro we used cost about 1500 euros, for pre-prep,office ceremony and formal shots, NO reception… The second highest individual cost of the day. 1st place went to inviting most of my rugby club to the reception (buffet/bar)!

I’m still boggling that anyone reaches between their legs to wipe their butt! F-to-B all the way!

add SB-700 to the remote flash list for Nikon. rather usefully, it will also add as a commander on cam to reach angles the built in won’t!

Still as happy with Olympus molgrips? 😉

(I’m a pretty happy Nikon user, but rue the fact that Canon has some lenses that I can’t replicate at sensible cost – e.g. 400 5.6 L for birds/nature)

As far as I know the Nikon creative lighting (commander) system actually works with IR despite ‘flashing’. You can also buy a Commander unit (SU-800 I think) that controls groups of off-cam flashes without being a flsh itself.

as long as the power can be controlled manually on your flash you could try something like the Cactus radio triggers. Pro-level Pocketwizards or Radiopoppers are better and can do TTL these days, but are $$$$$.

Indoors particularly, the IR signal from the internal flash bounces around enough that I don’t always need proper line of sight.

I do see the point in hiring a pro, if the budget is there. We did, and got a great album out of it, but my bro did everything on a budget (not that ours was very expensive, no church). For a given candid shot anyone with a quick camera can get it, but the extra polishing of the official shots such as avoiding little distracting things in the background or coaching the pair through the fixed shots is useful.

Mol – I often use a flash loose in my hand – off camera is off camera, that half to one meter difference is a lot really. My D90 controls that flash TTL via the commander mode from the internal flash, so it’s easy to do. You could also do it with a radiotrigger if you set up the flash power and exposure manually. Main prob is I wish for a 3rd arm to hold two flashes but still hold the camera!

FWIW an independent flash, but mounted on cam, with rear-curtain sync, is still that much nicer than most peoples’ experience with compact cameras/internal flash that they will love the pics anyway. All manner of small reflectors/light modifiers are available that can still be used while the flash is in the hot shoe. Lumiquest is a major brand, and while I haven’t tried them yet, gold reflectors are supposedly very nice for people shots.

some compacts seem to do ok at the tele end. I’ve been thinking about an Olympus mu tough for biking duties, which goes to about 120 or 140 (off the top of my head). Depth-of-field/background separation is always going to be a bit naff with a compact sized sensor though.

even at f5.6 tele separates backgrounds better than wide-standard.

To be honest, I don’t personally think that the small mirrorless cameras (or even very small SLR bodies) suit tele lenses well. With increasing focal length I’ve been glad of increasing body size (plus grip) for stability/balance/handling.

Nice Alex.

A big advantage of zoom/tele is separating backgrounds nicely (and compressing perspective).

Seb could say it nicer himself, but if you browse the photos on his blog (which is good btw) notice how many are done with the 200mm f2. So include bike/sports photos in your need for the telezoom.

Tele is also nice if you want to get nice shots of field sports, as you can shoot from the end of pitch rather than the side. Got some nice pics at my rugby club recently with my 120-400 (/dreams of 400mm 2.8…..//).

Combining my hobby with a nice party made for a decent day for me!

I wouldn’t rush to use bracketing myself, but I can see why it could work. Against for me would be that while the camera is clicking away its bracketed exposures you’re missing the chance to apply those frames elsewhere. What is the bride blinks during the perfect exposure, but instead of a next frame at that same right exposure you get a blurry overexposed one because that was the higher bracket… I worked in raw so that I could pull back highlights and lessen shadows a bit afterwards if necessary and to be honest, even with the basic body I used then (D40) the exposure was never off.

I used flash a good bit indoors (was allowed!) because I used a slow but safe lens. At the time, I only had the 50mm 1.8 as fast option, but it was manual focus on the D40, which I thought was risky. I wish I’d had the 35mm 1.8 AFS or just the D90 I have now at the time!

I’d argue that flash can be invaluable outdoors is the sunlight is harsh, since it softens the hard shadows that can be so unflattering, and it can help bring the exposure of the groom’s dark suit closer to the brightness of the bride’s dress. If you get day with flatter light then the exposure is all easier, but a sunny day brings everyone’s smiles out!

molgrips – in rear curtain sync the camera exposes for the ambient light first, then fills with flash on the ‘rear curtain’. compare that to pure auto flash settings and you’ll probably find that the camera fixes the shutter speed at about 1/60th and tries to light the whole scene with flash, which is where the hard shadows or dark backgrounds come from. That can all be achieved in full manual too, but may therefore need more time to perfect than e.g. P-mode with rear curtain sync.

If you’re happiest with your cam on auto, keep it on auto! years and years of camera development in that black lump of platic and metal you’re holding and it will do a remarkably good job if you just worry about catching the moments and choosing some nice compositions.

If the flash is a Nikon work so it will work seamlessly with your Nikon camera, let it handle things in auto too, but use it more outside in sunshine to lessen hard shadows, or if you’re confident with how, set it to fire in ‘rear curtain sync’ which will avoid over flashed look.

I was assigned as photographer for my brother’s wedding and they were plenty happy. In fact they got impatient with my attempts to set them up for some more traditional shots because they just wanted to mingle and get to the reception!

I’ve since got faster lenses and multiple flashes, so would try more things if I had to do it again, but keeping it simple the first time paid dividends!

don’t know whether you only want to look at Canon lenses, but you might be interested in a Sigma macro (e.g. 50mm which is pretty cheap) that could double up as a portrait lens.

depending on your budget you could look at versions of 18-200 zoom lenses, which rate pretty well these days, or go for the likes of a 17-40 with either 70-300L or 70-200F4L. Going above 300 to compare to your superzoom will start to get expensive and heavy.

I’ve used the kyle straights a couple of times in the alps, including les arcs, and put them to test plenty too! No probs from me. The stitching etc on them has held up well, especially compared to the 661 hard shell elbow pads that I’ve got, where the neoprene has disintegrated fast.

I used POC hard shell leg pads the last time because I found that rocks still flicked up into my shins with the kyle straights, but frankly I’ll be going back to the kyles for the increased comfort, and taking the risk on a few shin clunks.

Her short CV has a pic… but that would be dangerous I fear!

As I mentioned (probably not clearly…) she is a marketing graduate, but just needs a month of English experience for whatever course she’s on now. Nothing special, she even mentioned shop floor sales and receptionist work.

Accommodation was a tough point for me too…

Junkyard, will email, with her CV, after I’ve had a chance to scan it. Hard copy only atm. Thanks.

Reggie, I used the Stans yellow rim tape on the 521s I have, with Bonty Big Earl tubeless ready (with sealant) tyres. It was as though the tyre was such a loose fit on the rim that it just wouldn’t seal, even with a compressor. I’m wary of buying other tubeless tyres to try in case I just end with more ones that are loose.

Rusty, the above, and some other experience of ghetto that worked but was finnicky (compared to the UST Fulcrums), make me want to aim for a true UST rim. Looks like having the bulbs in 36 hole is the downfall of that plan though.

With the yellow tape are the ZTR flow rims effectively UST (i.e. tyre a real tight fit too)? Thinking the Hope Hoop Pro 2/Flow combo might be the best overall option…