purplealien

<p>Happy Wednesday everyone. Lovely photos as always. I especially enjoyed Ilkka's ballerina series, Dieter's volcanos. and John H's flower.</p> <p>I haven't taken my new 85mm off the camera yet. At the beginning of the week I was mostly still pointing it at my daughters......</p> <p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17781128-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="427" /><br> Then two new family members arrived (please excuse slight user focus/DoF error).... <br /> <img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17781129-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="451" /><br> and they've been getting all the attention since......<br /> <img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17781974-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="477" /></p> <p> </p>

<p>Thanks Rodeo. </p> <p>From the lack of responses, I'm guessing that these aren't in common use.</p> <p>I am in no rush, so I'll wait until some internet traffic has built up around them and in the meantime I'll do my research on buying & importing from the US. Who knows, perhaps the exchange rate will shift in my favour!</p> <p>Chris</p>

<p>Paul</p> <p>Thanks for the nice comment. Glad you like the pics.</p> <p>I nearly bought a macro lens instead of the 85mm, but I think I made the right choice (for me). It's a lovely lens.</p> <p>Chris</p> <p> </p>

<p>and the dog.....</p><div></div>

<p>My youngest, Lucy....</p><div></div>

<p>Happy Wednesday everyone. I love your squirrel pics Roberta :-) </p> <p>My 85mm f/1.8G finally arrived. Hurray! Here are some of my first attempts with it......</p><div></div>

<p>I've been looking for a low budget way to add additional lights to my very basic strobist set up. I currently only have a single SB-700 which I usually have off camera in a softbox - triggered with a budget non-iTTL radio trigger.</p> <p>Even with just the one flash it's a pain having to leave the camera to adjust output. When I add background and hair/rim lights to my kit it will get even worse; so I'd like to invest in a unit which allows me to do this from the camera.</p> <p>The V6 seems to offer what I want:</p> <ul> <li>radio triggering</li> <li>adjustment of the power output of several flashes/groups from the camera</li> <li>compatibility with my SB-700 and a wide range of other flashes</li> </ul> <p>I've found <a href="http://www.gadgetinfinity.com/cactus-v6-rf60-wireless-flash-transceiver-advanced-kit-a.html">this</a> deal on-line including 3 trigger/receivers and two flashes, which would get me from where I am now to three lights for a modest $424 (+ shipping), but being UK based I have no experience of Cactus.</p> <p>Do any of you have any experience with Cactus, and/or the V6 triggers and RF60 flashes?</p> <p>Does anyone know of a dealer in the UK that stocks Cactus products?</p> <p>Thanks. Any advice would be much appreciated :-)</p> <p>Chris</p>

<p>Thanks Andrew, that <em>is</em> helpful.</p> <p>It's early days with this lens, so I'll see how I go. I suspect it won't be long before I'll get an image where I have to do something about CA. I can just about live with what I am seeing so far.</p> <p>Chris</p>

<p>I'm not a fan of CA either, and my new lens clearly produces some. It's obvious on my daughter's left shoulder/arm in the portrait above.</p> <p>Most comments on CA are usually followed by the phrase "easily removed in post"! This is my first lens to show any noticeable CA; does anyone have any good tips for removing it? The CA reduction tools in Capture NX2 don't seem to be very effective......</p> <p>Thanks</p> <p>Chris</p>

<p>Thanks Dan :-)</p> <p>Don't let me put you off using Calumet, Francesco; but I doubt they will be any faster than any other supplier.</p> <p>In my case, they admitted that their customer service hadn't been very good (lack of response to e-mails etc), and made a special effort to put things right by going direct to someone senior at Nikon to find me a lens. Obviously, they can't do that for everyone.</p> <p>I had a rather nervy couple of months waiting and on a couple of occasions really thought I'd lost all my money. However, the extra effort they made to put things right has restored my faith in the company.</p> <p>Best of luck with finding a copy. I agree with Owen; it is a lovely lens :-)</p> <p> </p>

<p>Some of you may recall that in March I posted about a lack of 85mm f/1.8G stock in Europe. I had ordered my copy from Calumet UK the very same day that the US Calumet went into receivership, and was worried the lack of stock was somehow related. </p> <p>Thank you to everyone that replied and calmed me down!</p> <p>Judging from a quick trawl of major suppliers' websites the supply problems in Europe continue, but my lens arrived yesterday. I complained to Calumet and they "pulled a few strings" on my behalf with Nikon. I waited 2 months in the end.</p> <p>The lens is wonderful - if you can get hold of one! </p> <p>Oh, and by the way, Calumet UK is still in business despite the website disappearing and problems with some of their e-mail accounts.</p> <p>Chris</p> <p> </p><div></div>

<p>Path above Falmer Stadium...</p><div></div>

<p>Merlin stopped for a snack.....</p><div></div>

<p>Happy wednesday everyone. Lots of wonderful pictures this week. </p> <p>My three were all from recent do walks near home.....</p><div></div>