Instant coffee
Donald Trump
Yorkshire

Small items like phone cases etc (IMHO) you’d be best getting a little light tent, then either lighting it with flashes or a known colour temperature continuous setup and working from there. That makes the position pretty irrelevant.

Backdrop paper and model (again IMHO), you’d likely be better at pos 2, so you’re not backlighting the area too much and potentially underexposing the subject/having to fire up the big lights to balance things.

So, what do the snappers of STW think?

I think I hate being referred to as a fish… 😐

(Less facetiously: utterly depends what you’re shooting, how much light’s coming through the window, whether you’ve got curtains/mesh/drapes up, whether you want direct or diffuse light, whether you’re adding flash or any other internal lighting, etc etc ad nauseum. There’s no simple answer.)

yep my middle name is indeed XYZ

That’s a funny middle name.

But generally speaking more expensive lenses do have better optics, build quality and materials etc.

No, they have bigger optics and more parts. There’s very little difference in the quality of the glass elements themselves, even in the coatings, there’s just more bits to account for. Materials, again, is a devious one. People assume metal lenses are ‘better’, but modern plastics and composites are less prone to heating/cooling issues, lighter to handle, nicer to handle in cold weather, less prone to condensation issues…

What does ‘poor glass’ mean? A lens that isn’t as optically accurate, or a fancy way of saying a lens that doesn’t go to 2.8?

It’s usually a way of trying to convince people to spend more money, based on the fallacy that more expensive lenses have better optics, better build quality, better materials etc.

The Tokina stevextc mentions is a good lens, but it’s dated. The 2.8 aperture doesn’t really offset the VR on the more modern Nikon you’re looking at.

You get get into all sorts of pixel-peeping comparisons about MTFs and all that, but they’re of little consequence to 90% of purple and largely irrelevant if you’re only using pics on the web or small print.

EInfinity, from what I can gather, stock grey imports and refurbs. Personally, I wouldn’t buy from them.

The Great British Beige Off.

Yup, they’re all definitely, incontrovertibly, beige. Some are beiger that others. But who is the most beige? Only time will tell.

mikey74 – Member
MPB? 270 is a bit big for my intended purpose, I reckon.

mpb.com – Decent second-hand dealer. Camera Jungle are also worth a look.
I had the older 18-135mm with an old D80 and it was great as a ‘wider range than the kit lens but not silly money’ lens. The 18-140mm should be a really good bet, as should the 18-105mm.

I went the other way and just spent silly money…

See you there Col 🙂

Like others have said – t’other way. Hike-a-bike the zig-zags and enjoy the long downhill back. Last time I was there there was a couple of ruts that would have been unrideable* on the way down there

(*for most people anyway. Jedi-enhanced Riding Gods excluded, of course)

JohnClimber – The first one of those two and your Icelandic ponies shots from a while back: Are you adding the vignette in or is it a product of the camera? Those are both two lovely shots but the vignette feels a bit overdone and claustrophobic to me. Top left and bottom right on the plane fuselage shot in particular.

Some of my workmates think I’m an IT genius who’ll drop everything to deal with their minor technical issues at the expense of my own short- and long-term project management work.

Some of them have used this reasoning and found out I can also be a snarling a-hole who’s perfectly happy to tell them where to stick it.

Chucking a chip in a bin. / Throwing a sausage up an alley.

There was a similar one used in WWE wrestling back in the day. “Even a 747 looks small when you’re flying it into the Grand Canyon”

@pyro; had the memo about 15 years ago. Apocryphal or not, I like them.
Any you would like to add?

Only the classic Frank Drebin quotes:

“Like a midget at a urinal, I was going to have to stay on my toes”

“Like a blind man at an orgy, I was going to have to feel things out.”

“I like my sex the way I play basketball, one on one with as little dribbling as possible.”

“Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti”

So a mountain rises like, er, another mountain. Good work lads, strong imagery.

There’s also the massive poetic license in that it’s 300+km from Kilimanjaro to the edge of the Serengeti. You’d need good eyesight and a good place to stand to see Kili rising over the Serengeti…

Usually I hate the ad engines on here, but this one tickled me, tight here in this very thread…

Did you only just get that circular, Frank? That’s been going round for a decade or more, and as far as I know most of them are apocryphal.

Things to do in Yorkshire

Get out, before any daft-ass local tries to convince you it’s ‘God’s Country’… 😉

Not sure why anyone wouldn’t want to get to know their work colleagues a bit better?

Some people just don’t really want to know about other people, especially when knowing them a bit better means disliking them more.

[/quote]

I’m definitely in this category. There’s a handful of people, mainly my direct team, that I get on well with and am not averse to heading out with for a coffee or a pint. But there’s other people within the organisation that I probably wouldn’t even say hello to in the street. The little I know of them has convinced me I don’t want to know any more.

I’m one of those people who will go along to a leaving do for someone in my team/department, but thinks the office Christmas Do is his very idea of hell.

Loaded up and heading north (Hebden, in the Dales)

Caher – Member
Just wondering how it is explained to the potential next employer?

However you want it to be. Can be as vague or as detailed as you like, sometimes honest is best, sometimes diplomatic is best. I went for vague and diplomatic.

If there isn’t a huge gap, it takes less explaining.

Yup, one previous job. Issues with the boss and my colleagues and general unhappiness at the way things were handled in the company meant my performance was dropping. A moment of clarity when it drinking with a mate showed me that a ‘quit or be fired’ situation was the most likely outcome, so I handed my notice in the next day. They accepted it and put me on gardening leave for the month.

I took two weeks off to clear my head, went round some agencies in the third week and had walked into a decent temp job, just to cover the bills, before my month was up. That was 7 years ago, I got made permanent off the back of the temp job, and am very happy where I am now.

Looking for a permanent solution that doesn’t require me to have to enter -site …. each time I search.

You didn’t specify that, though 😉

If you’re using Chrome, the Personal Blocklist extension might be worth a look.

Ooh, if only someone else had had this problem before and asked about it on the internet…[/url]

The Profanity Paradox

You’re f***ed if you do, and you’re f***ed if you don’t?

Assuming it’s on the normal AfC banding, I’d agree with the ‘no’ responses you’ve got so far. I’m a Band 6 NHS back-office monkey, and despite having been doing the same job as a contractor for 5 years, they couldn’t slot me in on anything higher than the second spine point in the band. From the discussions I had with my manager and director, they can usually put in a case to start you on the second point but that’s as high as you can go as a new starter, irrespective of qualifications or experience.

I’d say if HR have already looked and rejected it, that’s it.

or

???

why ‘normal’ people went along with something so unpleasant and so mad

Is there an simple answer to this one?[/quote]

Nothing simple, I suspect. I remember seeing quoted somewhere, I think it was Rudolf Hess saying that the biggest issue (and also biggest advantage) in the German collective psyche in the build-up to war was obedience.

Have a look for REC or BASP, both do outdoors-tailored first aid courses, both are worth a look. Providers vary in their styles but have to prove their course content covers everything necessary.

I’ve done REC courses with two or three different providers over the past decade-plus, and all have been good. A decent instructor will tailor things as well, I’ve had noticeably different courses with bikers, kayakers, hill walkers etc.

For North Wales, try Ty Isaf just outside of Bala.

I’ve used the Goodridge kits for quite a few years, always worked well for me

Another +1 on the Speedplays. Couldn’t get used to single-sided roadie SPDs, I was forever skating a foot off the back of the pedal and just about crotching myself trying to get started, now I’ve gone over to Speedplay and I’m much much happier.

I thought this was going to be a Misty’s Big Adventure reference.

Sadly not.

I’ve got the Fizik gel pads (http://www.wiggle.co.uk/fizik-bar-gel-2-set/) on mine and think they’re great. Was having a lot of trouble with losing sensation in my fingers, but the pads have cut that out.

I thought I was in for some abuse pulling into Tesco in Thirsk with my cross/gravel bike on the roof of the car. One bloke’s peering intently at it as I parked up, and as I got out and walked over to the shop he’s making a rough beeline towards me. Braced myself, glanced round towards him…

“Nice Cotic, mate. I’ve got a Soul. Ace bikes!”

Yeah, the loop from Urgha Beag, north to near Maraig, south east on the road towards Rhenigidale, then back over the bealach is the classic loop in the area. Bit of a carry after the footbridge on the return, but a fun descent, just watch for the rain bars.

Because the ends of the pins are splayed out to hold them and the plates in place, so re-using a pin breaks or bends that end when you punch it out, which usually* leads to a join that’s weaker than the factory-set ones, and often ends up stiff if you don’t get the pin placement bang on.

*always, to be honest

Counting Crows – Round Here

Was their debut album as well, which makes it even betterer.