For Sale Nikon Lenses

A college has for sale a number of Nikon DX lenses, as he has change over to Panasonic 4/3rds equipment

Tokina              SD 12-24 F4 (IF) DX (inc filter)                       £260

Nikon               AF-S 18-70 1:3.5-4.5 G ED (inc filter)             £110

Nikon               AF-S 18-200 1:3.5-5.6 G ED VR (inc filter)     £230

Nikon               AF-S 70-300 1:4.5-5.6 G ED                           £290

Box's and instructions inc and all are in excellent condition

If any one is interested please contact John Hopkins on

01287 631788 or E-mail - john-sps@ntlworld.com

Permajet in association with ePHOTOzine - Competition for Black & White photographs

Closing date 30th June 2014.

Imagine ‘British life’. What do you see? Is it fashion forward thinking? Is it bunting, high tea, supper, smiles and sun? Or do you see something quite different?

PermaJet have teamed up with ePHOTOzine for this free to enter Printed Life in Black and White competition. It offers photographers the incredible opportunity to show their work to an international audience of photo industry professionals & be awarded hundreds of pounds worth of prizes.

• Check out the list of Award Prizes.

• Learn what our judges will be looking for by reading our Guidelines.

Birds of Prey Photography

I am writing to all clubs in the region to let you know that our new Falconry Centre has opened at Walworth Castle, near Darlington on 29 March 2014. Some of your members may already know of us, as we were formerly Northside Falconry, based near Barnard Castle.

As well as opening 5 days a week during which there will be two flying displays daily, we also provide a range of the experiences that are detailed in the attached brochure. However, the following two experiences might be of particular interest to your members

Photography Experience in conjunction with Going Digital - A wonderful day spent taking close-up and action shots of hawks, falcons and owls in exceptional and natural surroundings. Those attending will have unlimited access to the birds throughout the day. They will learn how to take great portrait and flying shots of the birds and the workshop includes classroom instruction, two photography sessions with ample time for shots of the birds, and a review and opportunity to discuss your images as a group. Further information and bookings can be found at http://www.goingdigital.co.uk

Photography Afternoons – An opportunity to take close up and flight photographs with the birds, using your own skills and knowledge. We have many photographic props for you to use around the castle to ensure that you get unforgettable photographs. The birds that you will be able to photograph include: barn owls, kestrel, Tawny Owl, Scops Owl, Little Owl, Peregrine, Turkmenian and Indian Eagle Owl, Red Tailed Hawk, and Harris Hawks to name but a few.

You can meet some of the birds at our blog http://www.walworthbirds.blogspot.co.uk.

These afternoon events run from 13.00-16.00 hours with a maximum of 10 people, and costs £35 per person (includes tea and biscuits). The current available dates are:     

11th June 2014

9th July

13th July

6th August

27th August

10th September

Bookings can be made by emailing: mailto:enquiries@walworthcastlebirdsofprey.co.uk?subject=Photography Enquiry

And further information can be found at http://www.walworthcastlebirdsofprey.co.uk.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require any further information.

Kind regards

Tori Goodall

07815 756 386

Walworth Castle
Darlington
DL2 2LY

NCPF Weekend at Beamish

Guy and I are planning to go to this on Saturday 31st May, leaving Stokesley at about 9am. We have room for 2 passengers in the car so if any club member would like to go with us please get in touch.

NCPF Website Updates

The following updates have been made to the NCPF web site since the last update message and all can be accessed here.

1. News item
Ten more members of NCPF Gain awards from FIAP and PSA.

2. Diary and NCPF Programme
Full details and downloadable Application Forms now available for the PAGB Awards for Photographic Merit Workshop (October) are now available.
Also details of the NCPF/Sony Lake District Day of Photography (July)

3. Home Page
Info re a new unified definition for Nature and details of a discount for members entering this year's Northern Counties International salon.

Never Delete Images from your Memory Card in the Camera

I found these very interesting comments on a forum which I visit with respect to deleting images from your memory card while out shooting.  I have permission from the author to reproduce it here.


When I worked for Kodak, they absolutely insisted on two basic principles:

• Do not ever, under any circumstances, delete ANY images in-camera. They were so insistent on this that it was a sacking offence to do so (and, yes, they did check every job). The point was that assessment of images on the small camera-back screen has a number of inherent drawbacks:
  

1. Irrespective of the shooting mode, the camera-back image is a JPEG processed with camera default settings. It bears only a passing resemblance to the RAW image actually shot.
2. The resolution camera-back is so relatively low that detail is often simply not visible. This detail may be important.
3. There is no way on earth that we could accurately assess anything on a 3" diagonal screen which would subsequently be viewed on a 27" diagonal screen.
4. An apparently 'duff' shot may not be usable in it's own right - but it may be a source for cloning to improve a different shot. (Think of cloning open eyes from a duff shot onto a better shot which suffers from closed eyes.)
5. So-called 'Chimping' is best left to the experts - the Chimps. Useful for checking for closed eyes / nice smiles but very little else in terms other than sheer curiosity. No monkeying around!
   

• Only ever format the card(s) IN-CAMERA.
  

1. Different cameras (even within the same marque, different eras) have different ways of organising the data. At that time (and possibly still, to this day), many but not all cameras used a 12-bit FAT. This was not always compatible with the computer OS - some 16-bit, some 32-bit, now many don't even use a FAT as the camera knows it. Format in computer, while very tempting, may lead to unusable cards. Plus, it's logical to format in the equipment being used to record subsequent images.
2. Different brands of card could occasionally throw up compatibility problems with certain cameras. We had a fair number of difficulties specifically with Lexar cards in Canon cameras and settled on SanDisk as being the most reliable brand - or, rather, the least unreliable!
   

Since those days, I have always worked on those two principles (with a third one of never shooting any job on less than 4 cards - simply to spread the risk of loss). One problem with digital is that anything other than a full capture tends to be completely blank - with film there was at least something which could be rescued in some form.
Perhaps it's a matter of supreme caution but adhering to those two basic principles will come as close as possible to guaranteeing results. You may 'get away' with a less rigorous technique - but then again you may not. Why take the risk?

Carol Hudson's LRPS Panel

John Hopkin's LRPS Panel

Simon Allen's LRPS Panel

Congratulations to three new LRPS's

Many congratulations to Carol Hudson, John Hopkins and Simon Allen who were awarded their LRPS today.  Pictures from their successful panels to follow.

PAGB E-News 115

Click here to view Issue 115 of the PAGB E-News.

NCPF Website Updates

The following updates have been made to the NCPF web site since the last update message and all can be accessed here.

1. Diary and NCPF Programme
Further details including the date for the PAGB Awards Assessment Day. Dates for other NCPF Events also uploaded.

2. Directory Updates
Seven new judges have been added to the NCPF Judges List, their details are included of this page

3. Knowledge Base/Distinctions

Photo Competition closes 16th May

North East Fungus Study Group

Two of our club members, David Smith and Paul Forster, have galleries on the North East Fungus Study Group.  Click here to take a look.  If you hover over each galley thumbnail you will see which is which.