Raw gives you a bit of headroom when you want to post process your photos. Especially when it comes to dynamic range and shadows / highlights. If you shoot jpeg you lose a fair amount of that ability as there is a lot of information lost during compression.

You do not need photoshop, which is at least overkill for some basic post processing but you will need some software to deal with RAWs. Your camera might have come with one but a couple of paid for choices are Lightroom and Aperture. They are both RAW post processing applications as well as cataloguing / organisational tools. Both are rather good though Aperture is Mac exclusive and also hasn’t been updated for a while. I still prefer it to Lightroom as I find Lightroom not as user friendly.

I would start with talkphotography as a forum. Might be worth checking fuji’s specific forum as well.

Hm nobody?

I’d assume the difficult part for JPEGs on the GF1 are noise processing and high contrast scenes. So maybe stick to RAW when you need to take pictures in low light or pictures that contain very bright and very dark parts. Other than that play with the JPEG settings so they look good to you and stick to JPEG.

And yes throw away silkypix get a copy of CaptureOne/Lightroom/Aperture

One of theeeese! Time to hunt down a couple of primes

In same place and thinking about the photosport. Don’t want to take pics on the move but I do want to be able to take the camera out quickly and easily out the bag and back in. The side loading of the photosport looks ideal. I will only be carrying an Xe1 with a 35 or 18-55 lens which is quite small compared to most dslrs

Will be really looking forward to your experiences after you do it! Is it on or off road?

Sounds good, who is the tour company you booked through or are you planning on doing it self guided?

Hmmm.. Thanks guys.

vrapan – Member
Don’t bother with the S4, if you want an Android phone either save cash and get a Nexus 4 or buy the HTC One.
Why wouldn’t you bother with the s4? This was the one I was swaying to, I know what you mean about them looking/feeling a bit cheap compared to the iPhone but it will be covered up anyhow. Cheers.

Sense UI 5 is cleaner than Touchwiz or whatever SG phones have, the screen is most definitely better on the HTC One too. That plus the much better built and you have a better phone than the SGS4. If you don’t care about those improvements go for the Nexus 4 and save a bit of cash in the process.

Don’t bother with the S4, if you want an Android phone either save cash and get a Nexus 4 or buy the HTC One.

I have the iP5 and the HTC One. Prefer the 5 but that is mainly because of me being used to iOS. The HTC One has a better and higher res screen, feels as well if not better made and it is not as awkward to me to use one handed as was the Nexus 4 or the S3 (never owned the S3 but played with one a while ago). It is also very very fast (paid for in battery life unfortunately).

If you are a bit vain about how your phone feels in the hand then the S3/4 are just out of the question as they are feel very cheap/plasticky made.

The best Android phone right now is the HTC One. No contest really. Build quality on par if not better than that of an iPhone 5, screen is fantastic (and full HD if that matters to you), really very very fast and the only Android phone I have owned that can tempt me away from my iPhone 5 for long enough to swap sims for a few hours.

The three drawbacks are as follows:

1. Sense UI 5, better than Sense UI 4 but it is an acquired taste.
2. You depend on HTC to get their phones updated with the latest Android version (applies to all non Nexus phones but HTC are notoriously slow on updating their phones)
3. Battery life is fairly poor, though to be expected given the spec of the phone.

If you just want to play with Android to see if you can get on with it get a Nexus 4. At 279£ it is a comparative bargain with great spec and a nice screen and build quality though not anyway near as good as the HTC One. It is also unlocked at that price so you can put your current sim in it without hassle. If you decide Android is not for you you will have no problem selling it as they are quite in demand given the price.

You might also want to keep an eye for what is coming in iOS7 as it is rumoured to be a fairly major rewrite. Personally I have owned a Nexus, a Nexus 4 and an HTC One but I keep returning to iOS as my main daily platform.

iPad Mini on Nexus 7/10 , these are the devices you should focus the rest of the Android tablets are just not quite there yet. I’d personally take the Mini, I’d take the Nexus only if you really need a wider aspect screen.

Comparable IQ to your DSLR and pocketable = RX100 nothing else really. G15 is slow and massive , lx7 and XZ2 and X10 are all bigger with smaller sensors. The RX100 is as pocketable as you can get for that kind of IQ

So far with the data EE allows you I see no point. If you get anything near advertised speeds you can burn through that silly 5 or 8GB cap in no time with not much effort.

I’d wait for the other three to roll out 4G before I even consider it even though I have a 4G phone.

Three will also be compatible with idevices not sure about Voda.

Not that I make much use of the extra travel, I am roads on the ground kinda guy, but my Anthem has had 120mm Rebas for a couple years now and I like it quite a lot.

On board graphics will be fine (are these chips coming with a 7xxx built in GPU? Not very well versed on AMD chips at the moment). You do not need to spend much if anything on a separate GPU if you don’t game I don’t think. Even if you decided to go for one I’d go for a fan-less low/mid range one, my 460 is quite loud and annoying but I only use the PC for gaming. So something like a 7750 or 550 if you can find it still.

You should be able to find the K-30 at the same price as a K-5 if not for less. It is a newer model but it belongs to a lower tier (kinda the replacement of a k-r). It has better/faster AF, same if not better weather sealing is a bit lighter/smaller and feels a little bit less well made but overall a great camera.

The 18-135 is a good but not great lens but has the newer version of the motor and thus is faster to focus. The 18-55 and 55-200 are not great optically but the 55-300 is a little gem and before the price hikes probably the best value in the Pentax lens lineup.

I have one together with a couple of the pancakes lenses and 3 of the DA* ones.

Handling better than any other mid range DSLR including the D7K which I owned for a few weeks. The IQ is the best you can get on a 16mp apsc sensor but not by much compared to the d7k. Massive advantage that it has built in image stabilisation and the really cool and tiny primes. Also if you have a thing for medium telephoto lenses the 50-135 is one of the nicest lenses I have ever used.

As mentioned above AF though accurate can be slow especially with first gen SDM lenses.

All that aside why not have a look at the newer , faster K30?

Funny enough after my Citizen died on me went swap the battery and left the store with a w 59 . The illumination is rubbish but love the retro appeal go for it

Had one for a few weeks trying to see if I can get on with Android after 5 years or so with iPhones.

If you get on with Android (ie had Android phones in the past) then the Nexus 4 is the best phone for the money you can get that is a fact.

I returned back to my iPhone because I couldnt get along with Android but also because the Nexus 4 despite is greatness it is not as well built as the iPhone 5 and chances are that the HTC One will be much better than the Nexus 4 as well.

The phone is very slippery and feels big. Near the top of the screen the glass with a bit of pressure caves in a bit, despite its processor the version of Chrome was very jumpy (might have been sorted with the new version of Chrome). The screen was nice but not as nice as the iPhone though in my opinion better than the S3. To me it generally felt a bit cheap on the hand.

Having said that if I liked Android and couldn’t afford the HTC One, I’d get a 16GB Nexus 4 without a doubt.

Why don’t you get a sim only rolling monthly contract until the rest of the carriers have their own 4G in place?

Can you do that with the landline even if it is part of a sub to one of their tv/broadband packages?

Yes the i3 in your machine is one of the first batch. There are two generations after it and they are indeed a fair bit better. Other than that the rest of the components have come along but not by leaps and bounds let alone that it sounds like it was a decent spec four years ago. You also don’t say how much you bought it for? Does not sound like it would have cost £400 4 years ago… The other thing is that for what you do any new machine will work fine.

Having said that the very bottom of the market hasn’t changed much that is for sure, the major changes are happening to prices above the 600£ mark with high res displays, SSD disks, much thinner/lighter profiles.

I’d look at the Lenovo store online, they have some very decent sales every so often. Might be a bit more expensive a bit less specced than your average brand but they are nicer machines to use.

You can get the GX-1 with a pancake zoom 14-42 they go for 350£ s/h. IQ will be better but admittedly the lens is fiddly.

The X10 can often be found on the refurbished site of Fuji for well below 300 and is an excellent option if you need a VF.

Sure. It was just you mentioned it in your first paragraph so I figured that was your motivation. Dropping the price for a quick sale makes sense.

BACS, incidentally, can be reversed if it’s done quickly – it has to be same day, I think.

I’ll drop by my bank tomorrow and ask , though he seems fine with the idea of meeting me half way and going through amazon.

Hi Cougar,

I am making a profit on the item regardless. I am not interested in making money out of it anyway I just want to sell it, I was considering it because it was the first offer in a while really.

His reasoning was that I stand to earn a bit more and he stands pay a fair bit less. As far as I am concerned though I’d rather have the reassurance of an Amazon transaction than an extra 40-50£.

I hope I am making sense.

He is offering me a lower price than I have the item listed for.

And yes I have been thinking about it actually, I can offer to reduce the price a bit so he can buy through Amazon.

Not distressing me really, that item has been on sale there for long enough. I mean his proposition is logical (he will pay less i will earn more), just worrying if he is genuine that’s all.

OK thanks for the quick reply… he also offered payment via Paypal Gift…? That any safer although I hate paypal and I am really not in the mood of using it.

Bit more expensive but I really like my Ethnotek messenger bag. It is not very deep but will feet a 13″ laptop easy has internal padded case for laptop+ tablet, more pockets and compartments you can shake a stick at and it sits very comfortably and securely on the shoulder while cycling to work.

Not sure the 3 network allows tethering without an additional cost.

Vodafone does.

There are three tiers with 3. You have the plans that have a specific limit on data. These can be used for tethering.

They also have two unlimited types of plans. The One Plan and the Unlimited Data plan. The One plan allows tethering while the Unlimited one does not. You can add for an extra few pounds tethering on the Unlimited plan but that allows only 1GB of tethering not unlimited.

Having said that not so sure how the keep track of how you use your data to be honest and how they can tell that you’ve used more than 1GB for tethering…

I love the look and sound of the HTC One BUT and that is a biggie it runs 4.1.2 and Android being Android you will be lucky to be on the latest Android months after release if at all. I have been flirting with the idea of getting one along with my iPhone 5 just so I can play a bit more with Android but only if I can find one of the developer editions which you can root. Also the battery on it is reportedly very bad due to the fantastic screen and very powerful processor.

If you want to spend less, and be able to be on the cutting edge releases then the Nexus 4 can get some beating. Nice screen, nice build (not nearly as nice as the iP5/HTC One though but way above its £270 suggests) and cheap though no LTE if you care much about that.

Having said that I found the scrolling on Android phones to be particularly choppy even on a relatively powerful phone as the Nexus 4. I also had hard time finding high quality apps (tons of apps for everything of course just not on the design and ease of use level of the iOS Apps). Also when I had the Nexus 4 Chrome was pathetic, it was so slow it was painful. That sounds to have been fixed with a new version of Chrome for Android though.

Personally I’d stick with an iPhone for another year or two.

Yes it does

Well according to T&C it does not :p

The giff gaff unlimited internet plan does not allow tethering if you need it.

If your Virgin router is similar to mine log in to its web interface and change the WPA 2 from whatever it is to WPA2 AES only. That sorted it for me.

Have a pair of Beats Solo HD, they are not bad but they are not great OH got them for me for less than 100£ on a pre-xmas sale so for the money they are fine. I disagree they are worse than they are worse than the EarPods.

Havign said that I dropped by the Sony Centre the other day for no other reason that to browse and stuck a pair of MDR-1Rs on my iPhone and heard a few 320Kb AACs… They sounded really really good and you can find them if you search for less than £200. If the beats were not a gift from the OH I’d buy the MDRs in a heartbeat.

The fourth is ok, nothing anywhere near as good as the first three so I’d watch the first three in the off chance that the fourth puts you off watching the other three.

Starcraft 2 :) roll on next Wedensday!

B_LeachPlanescape was a brilliant game, don’t know if you have heard but a kickstarter project has gathered a fair amount of cash for Torment: Tides of Numenera.

You don’t need to spend 1400, you can build a cracking system for less than 1k with plenty of room for expansion.

iPad 1 is left behind since getting a Mini. Maybe you will be more bothered if you give up the high res of one of the newer iPads but I am not spoiled in that way so for the time being the mini is better. Battery life is very good, size/weight near darn perfect, screen size not noticeably smaller.

Complains, it could be more scratch resistant, a bit faster and bit cheaper. Other than that just buy one.

You can get the Kindle App to read books, and you can read them literally everywhere so no point really on buying books from iBooks where the only place you can read them at is an iPad. So your books are ok.

You can also get google music manager or something like that (cant remember the name) let it upload all your iTunes music (from a PC/Mac itunes library) to Google, from there you can play your music again on any Android device and through a browser on any other phone/tablet/computer.

So content wise you will have no problems moving to google.

Go with Apple for performance simplicity and polish. Go to Google for features and customisation. I’d recommend checking both the Nexus 7 and the iPad Mini though the Mini has a sub par resolution I think it is a better tablet than the Nexus 7 especially if you already are setup with an iTunes account and have some apps you like on that platform.