mockney piers

Well Quids can get a genuine rise out of me on here, but I've rarely met a nicer, more decent chap in RL. I would never let experiences on here spill over into the real world. In fact I've been trying to tempt the likes of snorky and Alan Dale out for a drink unsuccessfully for ages, and if Louisa would ever like to share a nice glass of plonk and a bite to eat at Iceland I'd be more than delighted. I too was annoyed that I didn't know Miekcg was there as I'd have given him a big doff of hat for having the balls to come along after winding quite a few posters up, but then his online behaviour softened slightly but noticeably after that experience too. Many of us have had to mature our approach to the EDF since its inception, and I like to think there's hope for everyone.

like we need more financial bad news Not surprising mind

no no, horses are notoriously talented writers I tell you!!

Actually, apart from the metheun issue, is this such a bad plan. Horseys are nice, and less noisy and smelly, no really, and it would appear that the average road speeds in London have budged little since the late victorian era. And trams are nice too

Basically ever since the enlightenment every time we've assumed that human rationalism and applied science will solve issues, or allow us to control disease, our environment, our markets or even our wars, we've been brought down low. The level of progress, advancement and problem solving in the last 300 years, is indeed unprecedented, but then so is the severity of our failures. Surely the current mess is an indicator of just how little we can predict or control. I understand what you're saying Mamora Man, essentially that your pint is half full, but it smacks, albeit in the nicest possible way, of the sort of hubris which always seems to be followed by his old enemy. There is no room for complacency in the challenges we face, one of the reasons why I keep banging on about investment in education, universities and scientific research needing to be vastly increased. Fusion really is a maybe. we've poured a lot of time and effort and infrastructure over the last 50 odd years, into getting to the point of using enough energy to power a small town to create a few brief seconds of fusion. Hardly an encouraging pace. The sea-change in our behaviour needs to start now, and can only be a win-win for humanity as a whole. Through cooperation and reasonable behaviour, rather than faith in reason, will we succeed (though the latter might end up helping a lot of course).

Thing is no entry level DSLR is going to compete with medium or large format whether film or digital. Hasselblad do a mighty fine large format digital camera back, 39 MP and a snip at about 16 thousand pounds, so back in the real world...

You're asking the wrong man Hal ;)

For 5x4s 8 megapixels is absolutely fine, plus it's a good quality sensor despite the crop factor and has excellent performance at low iso levels. See this review, which has much in common with many reviews that often cite the kit lens as the weak link. I noticed the quality of my images rise as soon as I upgraded the glass. Mark's 50mm 1.4 is an excellent and very sharp lens and might be worth taking him up on his generous offer. (i have one too, but it got a bit squashed on my honeymoon and has never been quite right since). Would also agree that shooting in RAW is much recommended as it will give you much finer control over the final image, though there is obviously more to your workflow. A particularly good advantage is that you can make your white balance decisions in the post-processing phase, very very handy!!

Agreed that internet apps have come leaps and bounds in the last few years, especially thanks to ajax and things like JQuery (so easy to use and very powerful in terms of adding usability to web browsers). It's when you want to do something away from the norm that there is no real susbstite for a real voice a the end of a phone. One of the reasons why I will never use Lastminute.com again, as that is never an option (well it is, but you have to work very vey hard to get there). I have to say Halifax telephone banking is excellent too, have never had a problem.

All perfectly sensible, though would clarify the last point to say restrictions on speculation on derivative futures products. Futures themselves have a perfectly sensible use aimed at reducing risk exposure to possibly harmful conditions in the future (ie to damaging fluctuations in FX rates or commodities prices, say a big building firm having the right to buy steel at a capped price).

Bumblebees are wuvverwy.

Well as my only concrete recommendation was a tripod which should be a part of any enthusiast's arsenal, I don't think it was bad advice, which in this case would mean no need to use that awful built-in flash unit, win win. Have you been setting the resolution down Carrie?

350D is a decent enough camera to rule out your first few issues Hal, though agreed inadequate lighting and/or camera shake could very well be an issue. I don't think the kit lens is a particularly sharp lens either, and if anyone takes their photography seriously enough to take it up a level, then better glass really is the first step. Carrie, a fast or slow lens mainly refers to the largest aperture or F-stop of a lens. The idea being obviously the larger the whole the more light you let in more quickly. Your kit lens has a max aperture of f3.5, which isn't bad but isn't particularly good either. But to get quality images at that end of the scale the glass needs to be much better quality and hence faster lenses shoot up in cost. My 24-700 f2.8 is a lovely lens and pretty fast but rrp is over a grand, though you can usually find it for about ?800 these days. Prime (fixed focal length) lenses are one way of getting better quality at cheaper prices, but obviously they are less flexible. The 50mm lenses are very fast, f1.8 for about ?80, f1.4 for a little over ?200. As you're photographing art the lens doesn't need to be fast as it isn't going to be moving, so you can take longer exposures, but you absolutely *must* have a tripod, which I'd recommend anyway for ensuring a sharper picture. Also the wider the hole the narrower the depth of field so focussing issues become more important. A half decent tripod will cost in the order of ?100, a lot cheaper than most glass. Difficult to say if 70mm will be wide enough as I don't know how big the paintings and the rooms are, but bear in mind that the 350D sensor is not a full frame (like the 5D and the 1D) so has a crop factor of about 1.6 making a 70mm really a 100mm (ish)

I think upgrading from the kit lens is a great move for starters, and Tommy's recommendation is a fine lens and a bargain to boot, but agree with lozzyloz that for your purposes you need zoom flexibility coupled with a tripod which will save you a fortune by allowing you to buy a slower lens. Something like the 70-300 at a mere ?132 is another absolute bargain. and thanks DM, very sweet :)

Great fun evening, just sobering up in time to wander down to upton park for some complimentary drinks...eek. blimey, that was a bit of a runnning altercation outside last night, great entertainment as I waited for the bus mind!! Reminded me of the old days in Hitchin. Anyhoo, as usual great to catch up with those I met and gutted I didn't get to meet many of you, bon3yard, mikecg, charliecharlie, and more, typical forum drink in that respect I guess, pshaw will be having a go at the clique's introductory masters anon!!

Lovely to meet you too Annie, it was a tip top evening. charliecharlie, i can't believe I didn't get introduced!!!!

"sean, keep a look out for me, i just have to say hello, to see if you are as uptight in real life, winking smiley" Let me assure you that of course he is, and I for one are looking forward to meeting you also; I'll be wearing a copy of the guardian in my carnation, can I expect you to be suitably attired in your usual hockey mask and kitchen knife ensemble ;-)

is he a renowned pork swordsman of gary 'untouchable' lineker proportions?

I must say I'm curious, feel free to PM to interested parties err, that'll be me.

It don't get much better than this, well, if you like this sort of thing. Scout Niblett & Will Oldham - kiss

They seem to have hacked bits out of it for 'legal' reasons on the iPlayer version. Pity. Funnily enough it seemed to be echoing lots of the concerns voiced on here over the last few days.

She's still got it! Not sure about Chatelaine though

Crikey, where'd you get that?!?

Ripping loads of my music and dug this up, blimey I was a bit besotted with Toni Halliday back in the day curve - fait accompli

Oi!!!! Still, 12ish quid a goal, doesn't feel so bad now, can't wait.