Best….

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Not too expensive and loads of different Fender tones.

Worst…

Old El Paso Fajita mix..yuck.

Good Idea…i’d be up for it :-)

Really enjoying the Syd Arthur CD, amazing, understated playing…and you couldn’t knock it up in Ableton ;-

I’d have to disagree with you about the 5D size. I tried one a few years ago and thought it felt massive…it put me off and I bought a 550D. I ended up ditching the 550D for a 7D as the body is far to small to hold when you have anything but a kit lens on it.

Having used a 7d/5d I can’t see how I ever felt the 550D was a sensible size for a camera.

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2J8A3814.jpg[/url] by Lodious[/url], on Flickr

I recently went from a 7D to a 5D3…I think the difference is small in comparison with the differences you can make with composition, lighting and technique. I’m glad I got it, mainly as it’s stopped me wasting time debating ‘should I go Full Frame…’ I’m now concentrating on learning, which is making a difference.

You only have to look at how many amazing pictures are taken with crop sensor cameras to see how much you can achive without going FF.

Having owned a series of Mondeo’s and now own an Smax, I can’t see why you would choose an Smax over a Mondeo unless you have 3 kids?

TBH, I’d stick with it. Both Canon and Nikon have +/-‘s, but for the most part, the differences are small. Spending time learning more about about photography in the wider sense will make a much bigger difference to your pic’s than spending hours reading fat American’s whining on DP review about Camera x/y/z.

That’s said, I agree with Alex about the cheaper Canon’s…they are much too small….does the Nikon have a bigger body?

I’d change teacher. The teacher should be offering the stuff which you can’t get from the internet. You need to be able to go to him and tell him about a weakness in your playing and get him to suggest stuff to sort it out.

I also think that even with the best teacher in the world, you probably need to change things around every once in a while, and try different teachers…it’s unrealistic to expect a single teacher is going to inspire you in everything you want to cover.

I’d deffo keep using a teacher though….even if it’s once a month, the only time my playing really improves is when i’m having lessons.

I have used Spotify premium in a reasonably hi end system without a problem. It’s not quite as good as uncompressed audio, but I still find it more than adequate. I think you have be pragmatic about it. There is lots of good music on Spotify, so it’s great for sampling stuff, and if I like it, I buy the CD.

What system have you got? If Spotify is your main source, I can’t see the point in spending a lot on a DAC, but if you have other sources, then a better DAC is going to benift everything. Without an indication of how much your thinking of spending and the context of your system, it’s hard to give advice.

Sounds like the Kuhmo KU31 get pretty good reviews, I can get them online for £119 a tyre, I just need to find a decent local fitter.

Thanks for the suggestions, the tyres are 235/45 R18’s…. why do they do they put these on people carriers :-(. I’d forgotton about Camskill I’ll check them out. There doesn’t seem much in the midrange in this size of tyre.

The middle section of Le Freak is one of the most perfect moments in modern music ;-)

Although i’m not keen on all the presenters (esp. Keaveny’s transition from northern self deprecation into full on self obsessed tool), there are some DJ’s playing fantastic music, which until 6 music came along was just totally ignored by British radio. Gideon Coe, Cerys, Heuey, Jarvis, Marc Radcliffe, Tom Ravenscroft…they are playing music which personally I love and I’m immensely grateful they are doing it.

Congratulations, I trust your weening her on a puree of pan fired sea bass with a rosmary jus ;-)

In my experience, I’ve never been able to properly sort focusing issues with micro adjust. I’ve driven myself round the bend trying to MA a number of different Canon lenses, the problem being that you sort it for a certain distance (Canon have a calculation to determine the focusing distance to perform the MA at, based on focal length) and it throws it off at other focusing distances. Even with the 5D (which allows different MA adjustment at different zoom lengths) I’ve never been able to get it spot on.

Could just be me though, as others appear to get them dialed in easily. Sigma’s latest lenses allow you to hook them up to a PC do calibrate them like the do in the factory….which seems life the way to go.

I thought m4/3 was contrast detect, so you don’t have to MA…it’s effectively closed loop control? A big plus for m4/3’s I think.

The Sigma 1.4 does have a rep for poor focus calibration, with many people complaining of copy to copy variations. I’m planning to get one from Amazon UK (Sigma negatively discriminate against grey imports for servicing), test the focus, if it’s off, send it to Sigma and get it calibrated. If it’s still not right I can return it to Amazon within 30days.

You do have to be a bit careful with Amazon and Sigma though, as some of their lenses come from Europe, and are considered as grey imports by Sigma UK, even though they are bought directly from Amazon UK (not resellers).

I’ve used Blurb a few times. They seem good, the only slight problem with them is that I don’t think the final proofing tools are fantastic. I didn’t have quite as much confidence that what I was getting was exactly what I wanted as i’d like. A friend had exactly the same problem, and his came with text he didn’t expect on the spine.

Nice quality though, esp. with the hardback covers and posh paper.

Off camera flash triggers?

I used a ND10 and there is not a hope in hell of AF working. I use AF, then switch to MF, then mount the filter.

I’d go for a grey import 24-105f4….should be about £550 from the usual suspects.

I’d have thought that the 17-40 F4 L would be the best bet, if you need wide angle and weather sealing. The 17-55 f2.8 is really nice (and a better bet on a crop camera like the 7d), but the build quality is not that great, and it’s not weather sealed.

I don’t know if you know this, but some of the L series lenses need a filter to complete the weather sealing (I think the 17-40 is one of them), and not all L series are weather sealed.

Panamoz are doing them for c.£450 is paid with bank transfer. If you buy from a uk dealer (so not Panamoz!) then you can get £55 cashback at the moment from Canon.

I’ve been off the booze for 6 weeks now for health reasons (banging headaches which always turn up this time of year).

TBH, I don’t feel much better, I’m miserable, and starting to realise I’m pretty boring in a social situation without being drunk.

I miss it :-(

Much better than the first version…I think they look really good!

I must admit, I’d like to like it, but I subscribed last year, and I afraid I didn’t find anything I was interested in. I just can’t get on with the writing style….it just too much like the guy who’s a bit cooler than you talking down to you in the pub, which is fine now and again, but all the articles appear to be written that way. It just feels too cliquey and written for it’s own amusement.

It didn’t really give me much confidence when the mag was relaunched, and everything but the quality of the content appeared to be targeted.

I really want the mag to do well, as it was such a breath of fresh air when it was launched, but the content really needs a shakeup (IMHO).

My ambitions are pretty low….I wish I’d seen Bo Ningen in Hull last thursday :-(

Whichever way you look at it, there is a fair bit to go at :-)

…and it’s been done before here…

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/zappa-where-to-start

This is not a bad place to start….

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/frank-zappa-mn0000138699

It’s ‘duct’ tape

Ahh…a smartarse.

And you recommend that without knowing what format/sensor size the OP is using?

Even on FF, 105 would be pushing it in most UK houses, IMHO. So I think it’s good advice.

Expensive British hifi.

I’m 43, looking at the anunity rates, you need £100k to give a pension of about £3,300 p.a. so I guess you need c.700k in the pot. I think growth is unlikely to return to the levels of years gone past, so I think I’d need to stick c.500,000K to have a half decent pension.

It’s just not going to happen. I’m thinking of cutting my losses and giving up on the pension…it’s just good money after bad. I don’t trust the financial instituions, I don’t trust the IFA’s. Looking at it in the cold light of day, the figures just don’t stack up. I’d rather pay the tax and put the cash into savings, or an investment I have control over.

No wonder the goverment has a problem, the thought of saving doen’t interest many people at the best of times, but when people realise that it’s the bankers and fund managers who are creaming off your cash with no incentive to perform.

I can’t see how anybody sane would think that pensions are a good idea at the moment…i’d love to be shown otherwise, because it’s all a bit depressing.

I can’t see why anybody would be arsed to ship a Majik to hong kong, so on that basis, I would probably avoid doing it. That said, I flogged a load of Linn gear about 5 years ago, and quite a lot of it went abroad. It all worked out OK, and certanly at that time, the export market was strong for british hifi.

I’ve never got on with multi effects. I’m not a great pedal user, but I prefer the immediacy of a pedal with knobs than using a menu based preset system. The major problem I’ve found is that you need different FX settings for different amp settings, so unless you always use the same amp with the same settings, you end up having to be very organised with your presets to keep the two in sync. It’s also only the more expensive fx which allow some effects to be used at the front end of the amp, and delay / reverb in the fx loop.

I’m using a Joyo tremolo and Boss DD-20 at the moment, which is probably about as complicated as I can stand ;-). Happy with both pedals….the DD-20 is ace….really easy to use looper and delay at the same time.

There is a Peavey Reactor U.S. made strat in the Sound on Sound classifieds for £70…that’s a bargin

http://www.soundonsound.com/readersads/AdBrowse.php?Cat=13

I just can’t see how he get’s referred to as a political ‘heavyweight’ in the media? He pretty much encapsulates everything I dislike about career politicians.

We tried it and it didn’t really work. It was probably user error but it came out too dry

What cut did you use?

I love the Cibo Matto video…but can’t work out what is going on:-)

I slow cook beef joints now and then, I like it, but it always works best with the cheaper (fattier) cuts. Using Silverside always turns out a bit dry….cheaper is better IMHO.