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STROBE
S2 licensed
Quote from Jakg :Basically I can see me (somehow) scratching the lens. Yes I can have a lens cap, but i'm sure that somehow I will scratch it.

A lens hood sounds good, but again that wont stop me somehow scratching the end of my £50+ lens. Whereas if I scratch a £5 filter it's no the end of the world - even if lowers IQ a bit its still better than what I have now.

If I were to get a UV filter, what sort of fitting should I get? (I would geuss any Nikkor 18-something VR lens would have the same fitting). Any other suggestion of accesories at all? I have a neck strap from my current camera I hope I can salvage and I also may need a lens cap (but sort of hoping my new lens comes with one...)

Lens wise I'd love a 55-100+ lens, but i'm looking to spend as little as possible so it'll be whatever I can get cheap...

If you can't look after the large front element of a DSLR lens, then my advice is to not use one. Go back to your compact/point&shoot camera. If you're going to put a £5 filter on anything then I can only assume you're not bothered about capturing the best images in the best quality you can. Unless it's stolen, shooting through a £5 filter will be like photographing through a lump of perspex. Just don't bother.

I could answer the "what sort of fitting" question, but the rest of the paragraph leaves me bewildered. It very much strikes me as a situation where you're desperate to buy bits and pieces and accessories to make you feel like a photographer, without actually knowing how to use them or what you need. Here's a tip: when you realise you're missing some essential accessory, go and get it. You'll learn much more. In the meantime, I wish you good luck using your DSLR without a strap or lens cap.

I'm sorry if that sounds harsh but it's something I see quite often at my camera club. One guy, who really isn't in a position to splash out on such things, wants to buy a trio of SB900 flashguns simply because he saw a great shot in a magazine that used three top-end flashguns. He has no clue about how to set up or use a lighting arrangement, and even less clue about how to achieve a similar effect on a more realistic budget. But he wants the gear, even though it'll be lost on him.
Another member of the club recently showed some pictures of robins in the snow. Beautiful shots, superbly focussed and fantastically sharp, with lovely bokeh in the backgrounds, easily worthy of a christmas card or seasonal publications. She admits to having zero experience at handling a camera. How did she get such good shots? Well, she happens to be loaded and uses quite simply some of the best kit money can buy. In these situations, is it her achieving these shots, or her equipment?

Quote from SamH :I don't generally use creative filters, but I bought a couple of ND8 filters the other day. By adding both of them, I've been able to have a bit of fun taking long exposures even in the middle of the day:

Ooh, nice shots. The traffic trails would benefit from being shot on a less gloomy day, but of course we can't control this shitty weather. It's been so dark every morning this week that it's been a battle to get up for work. The other ones look great through. What kind of processing has been done to them?

They remind me of some images I saw on a forum somewhere, where someone had got hold of a crazy filter - ND32 or something - and was taking 5 minute exposures in bright daylight. They looked superb, with cloud trails and wierd water and so on. Got an ND8 filter myself but never had the chance to use it "properly". Been so busy with work/career stuff that I've barely touched the camera since October, other than Xmas/New Year family snapshots.
STROBE
S2 licensed
I don't put filters over the front of my lenses. If it's a cheap kit-lens then in terms of pixel-peeping image quality it's probably not going to make much difference, but it seems a bit pointless in the same way that putting chrome spinners on a Corsa is pointless.
If it's a high quality lens you've bought separately that is worth some bucks and offers a real step up in image quality, putting a £50 piece of glass in front of a £500+ lens is equally pointless, in the same way that it's pointless buying a Ferrari, then restricting the fuel inlet so you don't crash.

Accidents happen, I dropped my plastic Sony A100 and very plastic kit lens onto a concrete car park floor from head height, but it survived. It didn't land on the front element, but if any lens of mine today landed front first, the hood would take the brunt of the impact. Deep, quality-sized hoods are great. They keep the front element out of harm's way, whether it be protecting it from a crowd of people, drizzle or bad weather, or a rapidly approaching ground.

Hoods > protective filters

Quote from Jakg :What should I buy to clean the lens with?

A rocket blower (as already pictured), or microfibre cloth, or lenspen, or all of the above.
STROBE
S2 licensed
Quote from Stiggie :Were those comments aimed at my photo's, or was it still regarding electric eye's pictures? If so, thanks for the tip. The thing is, it was already getting dark when i decided to take a walk and take some pictures.
That's why most of the pictures i made are too dark, and have a blue shade over them, somehow. I tried fixing it in PS, without much succes, unfortunately.

It was aimed at yours, because except for the bench shot, they're noticeably under-exposed. As IlGuercio says, snow makes for a bright scene, but your camera doesn't know what it's looking at and tries to produce an image of "average" brightness, so you need to over-ride it and force it to produce a brighter image.

I wouldn't take +2 as gospel; if I dial in +2 Ev on my camera for a snowy scene, I'll get stacks of blown highlights. It's a question of each camera's metering system as to when you need to use exposure compensation, and by how much.
STROBE
S2 licensed
What the hell is wrong with all the spastics out on the UK's roads? How can people be SUCH a poor judge of how much grip is available?

I've been driving around at 10-15mph through a little slush on treated roads, stuck behind someone driving as if they were on sheet ice. They would barely move, wouldn't go anywhere near another vehicle, basically just acting as a mobile roadblock when you could quite safely do 30mph.

And then when it IS icy, with the road glistening and reflecting and the car squirming and sliding under the slightest provocation, why do I get tailgated by arseholes (usualy taxi drivers or 4×4 owners, I have to admit) who seem to think they drive around on a magic stretch of road that does not possess the same slippery physics as the rest of us?

Grrr. Finally, someone on the radio while I was driving to work this morning came out and spoke the truth on the media. It's not the fault of "Britain" as an entity for the roads grinding to a halt and not coping with the snow. It's the drivers, because 98% of them haven't got a clue how to adjust their speed and driving technique to cope. I'm quite happy driving in such conditions, and feel quite confident picking my way carefully through a variety of slippy surfaces.

I feel very much less confident that some retard isn't going to go barrelling into me, regardless of what I do.
STROBE
S2 licensed
Don't forget to dial in some positive exposure compensation when shooting snowscapes.
STROBE
S2 licensed
I debated whether or not to join this topic, but succumbed in the end.

What will LFS be in 10 years?

Not very far from what it is now.

For me (and I can speak only for me), LFS is the only racing sim I play because I won't rent it like iRacing demands.

The only problem is... I don't play it anymore. Oh, I've tried. I stopped playing regularly in (I think) Nov 2008, and in November or December this year I set my wheel up again, thinking a year's abstinence would've re-ignited my fire.

But it didn't.

I didn't recognise any of the servers, other than the always-reliable (and superbly clean) Dead Men Racing, but that isn't always populated. I didn't recognise any of the racers, the regular names I used to see when I was racing actively weren't to be seen. Worst of all, it felt as though everyone around me was a complete liability based on some of the racecraft I saw. Instead of relishing a battle when side-by-side with someone, I would find myself dreading getting too close to someone. I didn't know them, I didn't trust them, regardless of how fast they were or what team colours they were dressed in.

The other big downer was that I'd lost my collection of setups since 2008, and one thing it taught me is that you can drive on the absolute tyre-cooking limit, but someone with a locked diff will cruise right past you.

I hunted around for some interesting combos where my lack of setup library would be less of a hindrance, and in the process reminded me of LFS' other significant flaw. The only thing you're guaranteed to be able to choose from is either cruise, drift, or GTR@AS3. Pass me the tylenol.

I tried a few different servers, but my, insim controlling apps have profligated an awful lot whilst I've been away. On some more popular servers I even had messages flashing up telling me my stats weren't going to be aggregated on that server because I was too slow compared to the server record. Yeah, sorry, I probably forgot to weld my diff up. I know the reason I was slow, but what about the new player who genuinely is slow, even if he gets given a fast setup? How is that going to encourage them?

In the end, I ended up on the [TC] Montana cruise server a few times, just for the fun of throwing an LX car around. Then I got bored of driving with people half my age who can't even drive a real car, and haven't played LFS since.

Some "comeback". Why didn't I feel the magic again?

Part of the problem is that it's nearly 2010, and apart from some subtle physics revisions, LFS still largely feels, looks and sounds the same as the title released in 2005.
Another is that as the community has grown, it seems to have got younger, by a far greater margin than what I've got older by. I think this is evident both on the forum and on the track.

There are people who say, "if you're bored with it go play something else", I believe this includes the devs. Well, I've tried that. I've not just played something else, I've spent countless hours tied up with work, with friends, with family, doing photography, following other interests, and still felt decidedly non-plussed after coming back to LFS. Besides, I've been around since S1 days. What will it do to the LFS community if everyone that has supported and experienced LFS for several years just buggers off until something significant happens? Truth be told, I think the extent to which that has already happened has damaged public pick-up racing a fair bit in LFS.

I'd like to blame it on the devs for not communicating their plans and current positions, but Scawen recently gave a (very informative, genuinely welcome) status update and yet now at Christmas we have a flurry of bitching threads, bemoaning the lack of progress and VWS. I'd like to blame it on the lack of content, but we have plenty that the public pick-up racing community never touches - i.e. anything outside it's comfort zone. I'd like to blame it on the community, but many of the older, more experienced, mature guys that were here from the start are only doing what Scavier asked them to do - go away and stop complaining until they feel like coming back.

If there's one thing the devs can do (other than the obvious: get the updates, advances and new content coming sooner rather than later. And as a patient customer I really don't want to start hearing about house moves, renovations, families and suchlike. We were told to expect some great releases this year, but I haven't seen any yet) it's to re-engage with the community. At the moment they seem very... distant. In the past we've had LX month with the associated skinning competitions and officially run servers. We've had teaser pictures and promotional sites. It felt like there was a genuine passion and excitement about these new things. I don't sense that vibe any more. Now it feels like there's so much more could be done by which the devs could re-engage with the game at the community's level.
Last edited by STROBE, .
STROBE
S2 licensed
Quote from DevilDare :I was wondering how hard is it to sell your photos to your local newspaper for example.

Do they even buy them?/Consider them? Or does it depend on the agency?

I'd say unless you have a real scoop of something incredibly newsworthy (in which case it would go beyond a local paper anyway) then it's impossible. Newspapers have photographers on their staff to cover events for them. If they don't send a guy to cover an event, chances are they don't want pictures on it anyway. Any generic, non-event photography will be sourced through a stock agency.
STROBE
S2 licensed
Aaahhh... well I'd suggest you learn such basics as focal length, aperture, etc, and then turn your attentions to getting a dslr. It's pretty simple stuff to pick up, I'm not sure how easy this is to follow but looked reasonably comprehensive upon first glance:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_lens

Never forget that simply having a dslr doesn't make your pictures better. It's only a tool that you have to know how to use, which helps you take a better picture.
STROBE
S2 licensed
I've been lurking a fair bit, and seen you around plenty.

More's the pity.
STROBE
S2 licensed
Recently watched on bluray from LoveFilm: Taken with Liam Neeson. Absolutely hilarious the way Neeson goes around effortlessly kicking the shit out of anyone that gets in his way. Excellent switch-your-brain-off-and-enjoy-the-ride movie.
STROBE
S2 licensed
Quote from IlGuercio :
No AF points?
Really?
Why is that?

Given the deep financial shit that Hoya/Pentax are in, maybe they couldn't afford to.
Quote from IlGuercio :Is any of you guys using the video feature from his or her dSLR?
Im very interested

In a word, no. My SLR doesn't have a video feature, and I'm glad of that. If I want to shoot video, I will use a video camera. My SLR is for taking pictures, and I'll never buy an SLR that has been compromised as a tool for taking pictures by the addition of stuff like video and live view.
Quote from Jakg :crazy lens number

What is a "crazy lens number"?
STROBE
S2 licensed
Quote from Jakg :I hate DSGi sometimes...

Hmm, having done weekend work at Currys about 10 years ago, it's reassuring to hear that nothing seems to have changed within DSG.
Quote from Jakg :Yeah - the CF really puts me off the A200 as I already have a nice SDHC card and nothing to read a CF.

Heh, curious how people have such different tastes. I can't stand SD cards in SLRs - SD cards are great for mp3 players and compact cameras. When you've dropped, stood on, or washed your CF cards you'll soon understand why they're far preferable to flimsy little SD cards with their exposed contacts. I would really advise against choosing an SLR based on it using a less ruggedised memory format simply because you haven't got a card or reader, when they can be had so cheaply, and if you upgrade to a higher grade body in years to come, that will use CF anyway.

Regarding the Pentax K-x, I'm curious as to why they would make an SLR with no visible AF points in the viewfinder.
STROBE
S2 licensed
Quote from Jakg :Ok - no idea if the A200 comes with lenses, though, need to check tomorrow...

Gutted I didnt look earlier, found a Sony A700 for £275 body only / £400 with kit lens, but all gone now... :/

Pretty sure an A200 will come with the 18-70mm kit lens. Like most kit lenses it's nothing great but I used mine on my A100 for 1½ years and it's absolutely fine for general photography.

An A700 for £275 is such a bargain, it's almost criminal!
STROBE
S2 licensed
Quote from Jakg :What about a Sony A200?

Can get one through work for £134.97 - no idea about lenses, mind.

At that price, it's an absolute no brainer. It's a cracking little camera, and in terms of features and handling, considerably better than the shitty A230 which replaced it. I shoot with an A700, and often considered picking up an A200 as a backup body since they share the same batteries, memory cards, etc. I never did in the end and now there's only the A230/330/380 which are appallingly designed and crippled.

Lenses aren't really a concern any more - although they don't have the same range as Canikon, the only things missing are the speciality, niche pro-grade lenses that you wouldn't exactly be putting on an A200 anyway. All the usual standard zooms are available in varying designs and price tags, along with a few macros and primes to choose from, a new cheap 50mm/1.8 which is pretty decent, plus you can do wireless flash (once you buy a flashgun) "out the box" i.e. no extra cables, equipment, triggers required.
STROBE
S2 licensed
Quote from danowat :Anyone with half a brain would see "Daily Mail" in the link and give it a miss.

So are you saying the article has no truth to it?
STROBE
S2 licensed
Quote from SamH :Did I post any shots from my day in Whitby? I don't think I did, but if so, apologies for any repeats..

No, I don't believe you had, but I've been there a couple of times this year and it's nice to see someone else's photographic take on the place.
STROBE
S2 licensed
If your numberplate was partially obscured (which is actually an offence in itself) then it's quite feasible they were following you for so long due to trying to guess the bits they couldn't read and running it through the PNC to check your insurance and tax details (or getting the PNC to do a match from a partial index against your car make and model).

However, that doesn't account for the tailgating and bad driving, unless the cops were seriously short sighted. It doesn't surprise me that it was an Astra, and therefore just a local beat car with a couple of normal bobbies in it. These guys have probably had no specific training on traffic policing, although you'd think the advanced driving test (not to mention common sense) should prevent the tailgating. Nonetheless, I've seen some dreadful driving by beat cars and police vans; the traffic cars tend to be driven by guys with a bit more of a clue.

Their threats to ticket you for not indicating correctly (if there are no other cars within range of you that would benefit from you indicating, then I do believe the highway code says you don't have to indicate?!) and braking are bollocks - I would expect you could just contest them in court and explain the situation there. Whilst a formal complaint for their driving and attitude would be over the top, a firmly worded but polite letter to the force's chief constable (or relevant person in a professional standards/training dept) surely wouldn't go amiss.
STROBE
S2 licensed
Quote from ATC Quicksilver :Care the explain what is wrong with that article? Other than the fact you made up your mind that everything the BBC does is evil before you read it of course.

The article by itself looks fine to me, but must be taken in the context of the BBC completely ignoring Climategate for as long as it possibly could, and then only starting to mention it as part of articles pushing the global warming theory.

The BBC's coverage of the whole issue is painfully one-sided; everything they output comes with the assumed subtext of "of course global warming is happening and due to us." They give airtime to the PM saying we are right to be angry about the inaction on controlling CO2 emmissions (I'm angry with this govt for a lot of things, but funnily enough CO2 isn't one of them), they feature a substantial report on the usual great unwashed protesting around London (isn't that causing a traffic jam, and thus making more CO2?).

But the original story about the leak was never featured at all. When broadsheet newspapers had started to carry iton their front pages, BBC News still carried on, like it was in a different world where it had never happened and the most important thing was whatever bollocks, wealth-stripping initiative Our Great Leader Harriet Harman had pulled out her arse that particular day.
STROBE
S2 licensed
Found a shop (not online) that is selling the Sony 70-200/2.8 G SSM for £250 less than the online prices. Nnngh, can't decide whether to go for it. I don't actually need it, and it's still expensive, but... well, we all want a 70-200/2.8, don't we?
STROBE
S2 licensed
Thanks for the independent link Sam. Glad to see this destruction of our freedom has finally hit the headlines.
STROBE
S2 licensed
Quote from danowat :Next you'll be saying that teenage mums get pregenent on purpose, just to get themselves a flat.

But they do. I know that it happens not from the papers, but one of my own colleagues at work. Fortunately I have nothing to do with her, but she advised her 17 year old daughter to have a baby so she can get her own flat. To the best of my knowledge, said daughter is now living in her own flat and has never worked a day in her life.

This topic is quite amusing for the extremes that it shows. On the one hand you have thinly veiled racists of dubious interlect trying to justify their opinions; on the other hand you have the hand-wringing apologetic liberals who think all these poor Somali children are entitled to be here and it's all the fault of those evil white Brits and their former empire.

Yes, the system is clearly at fault, but so are the electorate for accepting it, and there not being any public anger at the £80bn+ social security bill each year. Does that Somali family deserve even a glimpse inside that £1.8m house? Hell no. They haven't done anything to earn it. Someone asked if they should be on the streets instead at Christmas. Well, no. Because they shouldn't be here at all. They may have claimed asylum after fleeing Somalia, but one is expected to claim asylum in the first safe country you can get to. Clearly, there are a number of safe countries that are a lot closer to Somalia than the UK. Why would they endure the risk and hardship of travelling all the way here, compared to other African states or even southern european or middle eastern countries?
STROBE
S2 licensed
Quote from dougie-lampkin :Sarcasm detector broken, or just plain trolling

When did I say it was safer to do anything? I said what I do when I'm driving, as I believe it to be the most beneficial for the car. I don't think taking the car out of gear is going to make me spin off the road and barrel roll into the nearest field, thank you very much. I don't know why you're having a spa attack over it anyway, I don't even live in your country, so when I cause an over 7000 car pileup because I popped into neutral going down a slight hill, you're not going to be involved.

And I do know better than quite a few people on the roads, I passed my test first time after 2 lessons, I've been driving almost a year on the road, and 3 or 4 off the road, with not even a scratch on anything I've driven. I've a fully clean license, not even been cautioned before. And guess what, I've been coasting downhill in neutral for the past year, and I haven't even had a car implode as a result

Sorry, did I touch a nerve?

I never take my car out of gear when moving, with the exception of going <10mph on the approach to red traffic lights when I pop it into neutral and coast the last metres for a gentle stop (and even if it was in gear, I'd have the clutch pedal depressed anyway rather than force it into first gear whilst moving).

Having the car out of gear robs you of control, and in the UK I believe you'd fail your driving test for coasting. An automatic transmission isn't a valid comparison as power is applied again as soon as you open the throttle, unlike being in neutral in a manual.

I'm not really concerned how long you've been driving (although if we're comparing e-penii, I've been driving 12 more years than you, never needed a formal driving instructor, and, touch wood, have never so much as had a scrape. W00t, go me.), it's the fact that you obviously don't understand the physics and reasons behind why you shouldn't coast. It's inherently linked to safety and your ability to control the car in the event of an emergency or unforeseen situation, and if you think there's no way you're going to have any unforeseen situation when coasting down a slight incline, then you're only proving that you've only been driving on the road for less than a year, and if I may say so, don't know shit.
STROBE
S2 licensed
Quote from dougie-lampkin :Yes, because a 26 ton diesel lorry... ...follows the exact same physics as a 900 kg petrol 1l car

You mean there are different laws of physics for trucks and cars?

So that explains why I sometimes get pimply 17 year old kids in their Mum's Yaris thinking they know best about what constitutes safe driving.
STROBE
S2 licensed
Wow. Might be time to blow the dust off my wheel and plug it in once more when this gets confirmed by the devs.

Rockingham might not be the bestest most amazingest track in the world evar, but by god it's a new track, something that LFS is crying out for.

Quote from sinbad :I mean I think we'd all agree that Eric probably made SOMETHING in the 4 years besides some facelifting and a couple of cars, so it's just one of a number of things they have on their computers.

Absolutely, no doubt there's all sorts of experimental tracks, cars, etc on Eric's computer and dead-end development branches with Scawen. It's just a question of how much of it will ever see light of day, and when.

But still.... a new track. Some new corners. Be great if it has all the variations, even if it is a little bit Kyoto-ish. And no doubt the standard of modelling will be far higher than some of LFS's earliest tracks which we still use.
STROBE
S2 licensed
Thanks for the news update, and I'm looking forward to the new tyre physics.

I know and agree that these things take time to refine and perfect, but on the other hand, it can't come soon enough. I don't think I've touched LFS for nearly a year now, because driving around the same old tracks with the same limited physical environment doesn't attract me at all.

I hope (and trust) that the new tyre physics will be great, but by god I hope the update also includes more content (i.e. track(s)) and at least one new game feature (by features I mean things like damage, engine temperature and radiator damage, brake temp, eye candy, and so on).

I think LFS really needs it.
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG