all manual focus

if you want all the settings info ill post it but its a pain to find lol
any views welcome

[xfraser]

Very nice for first pictures. I like the color on the second one, and the DOF on the third one.

Carol

[slip]

great shots and congratulations on your new K10!

cheers

randy

[little laker]

Nice pic's james.

If you want, tell us what program you used to process them with and someone might be able to tell you how to save the pic's with all the info attached. It's what most of us do, all that you have to do is R-click on the pic and then L-click on Photo Info to look it all up

[Rick]

Okay... so we upload our first pics?

Well, these aren't exactly my first pics. There was a bunch of photos of the boxes things came in, the dog running away from the flash, the dishes on the table after supper while playing with all the bells and whistles... you know how it goes. Oh... and promptly getting dirt on the sensor, don't forget that part.

But these are from the first trip out of the house into the yard. Still haven't made it out in the bush yet.

[USCdeacon]

congrats on the k10d James! I got mine just this last March and am loving it!

and Rick...what in the world - what kind of insect is that?! I would never let anything like that on my hand!

[Classvino]

It's a Giant Water Bug (Lethercerus Americanus) - we call 'em Swamp bugs - that one looks about average size. Can't find the pics I took...

Apparently they can bite (supposedly very painfully) but usually don't...

(I know this because, though I'd seen them before, this year we seem to have a banner crop of them in our neighbourhood, and a couple weeks back, I found my 5 year old son "playing" with one... After a momentary panic, we headed over to the bookstore and bought a "Bug Book". Now he wants to be an Entomologist when he grows up (or sooner)

Giant water bug - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Rick]

and Rick...what in the world - what kind of insect is that?! I would never let anything like that on my hand!

Its' common name is the Giant Water Bug. They are voracious predators of small fish, tadpoles, invertebrates, etc. They don't look like much, but they seize their prey with the big front legs and basically have a hypodermic syringe in their mouth; they inject their prey to paralyze it and then suck all the nutrients out.

A friend from Texas says they call them "toe-biters" down there; apparently their "attack" instincts are mindless enough that they will go for feet or whatever is in the water no matter what its' size. I've found them to be docile when I've handled them before and have never been jabbed even when handling them like this, but if you don't want to risk an owee, then you're obviously better off holding them by the edges of their body. They're extremely awkward on land, so they aren't hard to handle. I surmise that those who get bitten do so when the bug is in the water and in "food" mode; when on dry land they're in "gotta get to water' mode and don't seem to jab defensively.

I kept one in an old aquarium for a summer. Fed it whatever I could scoop out of the water on fishing trips to local lakes and rivers. And lots of mosquito larvae found in standing water near the house - I took a certain vicious satisfaction in watching THEM get harpooned instead of them doing me. Anyways, watching them hunt their food is very interesting the first few times you watch it.

The lens couldn't resolve well enough for me to get sufficient detail on the red objects scattered about on the bug's body. I don't know much about the life cycle, but I'm wondering if they might be larvae or eggs that the critter packs around with it. My Sigma 17-70 just arrived at the house, so I should have the capability to get MUCH closer now - but this bug is long gone, of course.

New lens - WooHoooo!

[fevbusch]

Nice series of pictures from both you guys. I'd love to know what lenses were used.
Regards, Freddy.

[Rick]

Nice series of pictures from both you guys. I'd love to know what lenses were used.

Mine were taken with a 15 year old Pentax FA 28-80mm/3.5-4.7. The photos were probably (maybe?) shot with the lens priority program line.

For the really critical photographers out there, the lens probably falls in the "mediocre" category. But, I have done very well with it in the last 15 years, where it has taken part in military airborne drops stuffed inside my combat shirt or stuffed in my ruck somewhere(ahem... AIRBORNE!), whitewater kayaking trips thumping around in a dry bag, and assorted other outdoors endeavors. I try to look after my kit as best as possible, but...

Up until now I have always been reluctant to spend a lot of money on premium lenses and high end bodies. The reality is that when camera equipment goes on military taskings or similar other high energy trips, it does NOT get preferential treatment. So it isn't exactly unknown to drown a camera, for somebody to throw a crate of mortor rounds on top of it in the dark, etc. As a result, you don't buy more than you want to cry tears over - unless photography is your profession and the equipment is the price of making a living AND a tax deduction...

So my lens collection sits in the middle of the "drug store lines", I guess. But I'm pretty sure the quality of the lenses still outstrips my abilities as a photographer, so I don't lose any sleep over it.

However... I have this brand new Sigma 17-70 sitting right here that I just pulled out of the box... can't wait for a break from work to get out in the boonies and check it out.

I wonder what the chances of finding that bug are again...