Do you mean blackberry, Pete? They often feed on ripe blackberries.

The 50D and higher Canons have it I think, Nick, also the Sony A850 and A900 full frame models. Regrettably the Sony A700 doesn't have it. About a year ago I noticed a very slight backfocus on mine with all lenses that I had at the time. There is a manual adjustment under a base sticker incorporatin...

Me too. Don't forget to post pics.

What a great series! Thanks for sharing them.

Xmilehigh and I visited today. It was a howling gale around the hillsides but we still saw lots of adonis blue. It must be a wonderful place when the weather is better. Also seen were common blue, wall, painted lady, red admiral, small heath, small tortoiseshell. We couldn't fathom the NT map with t...

Gruditch wrote:

eccles wrote:If you're thinking of jumping to Sony

I'd rather jump off Tower Bridge.
Gruditch

Wow! You must really like diving.

Gruditch wrote:I ain't got a 40D

Gruditch

Hmm, the last photo of yours I saw was taken with a 40D if I recall correctly, so either it wasn't yours or you've sold that one too. If you're thinking of jumping to Sony, the A700 is at a cracking price at the moment....

Gruditch wrote:
You can have my 50D for five hundred quid, I.......Must........ have........new 7D.

Gruditch

Interesting that you're keeping your 40D in preference to the 50D. Is it the better of the two? I'm not ready to jump ship, just curious.

I rarely use manual focus, preferring to use the AF points and do a minimal crop for framing afterwards. I handhold except with a longer lens because of its weight in which case I use a monopod. I am happy to use iso400 because the quality loss is minimal. I sometimes use the onboard flash but am ra...

Bad cheese old chap. That's not cricket, what?

Brill. Thanks, Denise.

Denise wrote:It would be with a 1.4X converter and a great lens for the elusive Hairstreaks etc.

Denise

Like the BH we encountered at Shipton Bellinger you mean? Forget the DSLR and get a spotting scope and Nikon P&S.

A couple of gulls in flight at Chew Valley Lake last week.

Not long enough for birds, go for the 400 f5.6 L but don't visit Mifsuds if you want to hold onto your cash as they have a ton of Canon stuff.

I wouldn't mind having a play with one. :D Denise Careful, Denise. Lens lust is a terrible thing. I currently have around five different lens options capable of shooting butterflies, more if I include the extension tubes, but Mifsuds have acquired a consignment of very desirable Minolta glass inclu...

I pulled a hemp agrimony plant from a large wild stand a couple of weeks ago (I know, I shouldn't have..), brought it home and stuck it in a pot. I thought there was sufficient root stock to take hold although the tip of the root was left behind when I pulled it, but the leaves wilted and died, and ...

18MP 1.6x crop sensor? Users at this level aren't going to be swayed by megapixels in the same way that new users might be, so Canon have either pulled off something amazing or are right in the cacky. I hope it's the former because we need some sense in the megapixel war.

to see how good the quality actually is I don't think there's a 1:1 macro prime currently available that isn't sharp, and I can't see Canon selling a lemon for that price. It's whether you want the convenience of the image stabilisation vs some means of support. Denise gets by pretty well with a £2...

Thanks both. Is it just me, or does that Painted Lady in your photo look like it has longer wings than ones we have been seeing? Something about it makes me think it looks more like the size of one of the original migrants here, they did loook a bit bigger than ones we saw here that hatched as adult...