I think that this single post is longer than all of Cotty's messages for the past year combined...
Rick http://photo.net/photos/RickW --- On Tue, 5/26/09, Cotty <[email protected]> wrote: > Been prepping and packing today, > ready for an early doors departure > tomorrow morning. Flight from Heathrow at 10am, bouncing > over to Newark > and then onto Charlotte. Stef and I are being hosted by GFM > staff > snapper Helen Hopper for the duration, which is very kind > of her and we > really appreciate it. If you're coming for the first time, > you'll meet > her and be as impressed as I am. > > Stef was choosing his weapons yesterday (as he is taking > part in the NPW > contest - but doesn't yet know it!) out of the various bags > of kit. We > only have the one DSLR now, an *ist Ds so he's used to > that. But > lenses....? The 18-55 kit lens, yep good choice, a > cheap and cheerful > all-purpose bangabout bottle. Not my choice but hey it > works. What else? > > He rifled through and instantly fell in love with the K17/4 > fisheye: > > <http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/lenses/primes/ultra-wide/K17f4-Fish.html> > > ...despite it being bastardised for Canon use! (it has had > an aperture- > lever-ectomy so can only be used in stop-down metering > mode) but after a > quick lesson about depth of field he's already an 'F8 and > be there' guy > and waves the wide about like he's got the copyright on > it! > > Poked around for a while, picked up the odd prime: 28, 35, > frowned and > discarded without a thought. Looked at the K15/3.5 rather > suspiciously > for a moment although couldn't try it out as I haven't > converted it back > to K mount yet. "That's one hell of a mother," he said. I > was never this > mature at 15. Not even at 20. > > The final choice is an excellent one: Tokina 90mm f/2.5 > macro: > > <http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/sold-items/53674-sale-sold-tokina- > x-90mm-f-2-5-macro-excellent-condtion.html> > > <http://tinyurl.com/atx90macro> > > ...which is rather heavy but if you're gonna have one prime > lens that'll > do 1:1 macro, is reasonably fast, and doubles as a good > portrait lens, > you could do a lot worse. > > In fact he tried the A*85/1.4 and was mightily impressed > but wasn't keen > on the weight. Didn't believe me when I said he could stub > out a > cigarette on the front element and it wouldn't harm it - > not that he > smokes of course - but the lens does ;-) > > For carrying capability, he selected a LowePro > Micro-Trekker - no > tripod! Well, youth has no patience. He's a run and gun > type, i can see > it right away. He'll be all over the animals I suspect, > little time for > the subtle studies of light and shade over a breath-taking > scenic like > us old farts eh. > > I won't be shooting stills, the R-D1 will be staying at > home sadly - the > Mrs has demanded she be able to use it in recompense for > being allowed > to come out to play. What she doesn't know is that it will > be up for > sale in a couple of weeks as I have a massive tax bill to > pay. > > I will be shooting some video - so if you're coming along > expect to see > me leaping about looking like a right old eejit, and I > might even ask > you if I can film an interview with you about your GFM > weekend. You'll > know it's me as when I put the camera down, i still leap > about like a > right old eejit. Beer just slows me down slightly. > > Just read Paul's email about him not coming along and while > disappointed > I won't get to meet him (again! this is my 4th time) he has > of course > put his daughter first as any of us would and so I'm sure > we'll be > thinking of him. I'll raise my brew in honour. In fact i'll > hoist a > glass to the vast majority of people reading this who won't > be coming > along. I'm very very lucky. I remember years ago reading > stuff like this > about people going along and my heart leapt at the thought > of going as > well, and then sank at the prospect of not being able to > through time, > money, or both. For those of you with those thoughts now, I > will be > thinking of you as it is the most humbling experience to be > amongst > great friends and great experience, with a common passion > for making pictures. > > See you real soon, and be back on list in a week. > > -- > > > Cheers, > Cotty > > > ___/\__ > || (O) | > People, Places, Pastiche > ||=====| http://www.cottysnaps.com > _____________________________ > > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link > directly above and follow the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
