Handbags

[Greg Beetham]

I know you've all seen these before, but I thought I'd refresh your memory...
Greg

A100 KM28-75 (Crop)


Now, some people don't realize it's been a lot of years since the ban on shooting them came in, and while I've never seen one here (just down the road from home), I guess there will be a first time....at some point.

A700 KM100-300

[aster]

Hi Greg,

It looks like a predator most definitely. Must be exciting to have these as town's 'pets' down the road!

The colour is a very nice gray and incredible texture. No wonder some people went after them at some point in time.

Thanks for sharing,

Yildiz

[Dr. Harout]

Brilliant idea for the title. Had a good laugh (and a remembrance for me that I cannot shoot a well known item and title it "Latex" )

[Greg Beetham]

Thanks Yildiz, Doc, Crocodylus porosus can be very dangerous, the greenies say we have to learn to live with them, I bet if there were still T-Rex's running around they would say the same thing about them as well....
Greg

[Greg Beetham]

I took the new camera down to the zoo for a quick test run day before yesterday, so here's another pre-Cretaceous monster, and a swamp hen for good measure.
Greg

A700 KM100-300apo


A700 KM100-300apo

[aster]

Hi Greg,

Congratulations and enjoy your new A700! Saint Nicholas came your way early as it appears...must be the Global warming...

Nice shots but of course we hope to see more in the future.


Yildiz

[Dr. Harout]

Wonderful toy is the A700. Enjoy it Greg.

[Greg Beetham]

Thanks Yildiz, Doc, I've been disgustingly well behaved, so I must be in the good books....hmmm now I can revert back to normal ha ha!
Greg

ps. That A700 shutter button-shutter is a wonderous thing, I still marvel at it, and the viewfinder is also a joy to use..the A100 OVF isn't 'THAT' bad but the A700 one is definitely better.
Still getting used to the way the WB button/settings work, quite a bit of difference to the A100 in the response to 'Shade' -1, -2, -3. and 'Cloud' -1, -2, -3. much "redder" than the A100 in that regard, I abandoned the +1, +2, +3. settings on the A700 fairly quickly. On the plus side though I must say the Auto WB on the A700 works a lot better than the one on the A100.
I think there might be some default DRO setting turned on, I'll have to find it and try with it turned off.

[Birma]

Nice Croc shots Greg, and congratulations on the A700, it is intersting to hear another A100 users thoughts about it. Back on the crocs - they really do look like the creatures that history forgot - I am very glad that there are none of them wandering about at the edge of the town where I live

[Greg Beetham]

Thanks Birma, yes they are the genuine article, right from the dawn of time, they never in a couple of hundred million years were able to advance further or modify the encoded prime directive of kill or be killed, it's rather an enigma that a creature could operate at such a basic level of savagery for so long and never progress.
Well they say that the saurischian archorsaurs (includes the crocodiles) gave rise to the dinosaur kingdom, (an animal kingdom of incredible savagery), who are now all extinct (apart from their offshoot, the birds).....and the archorsaurs live on.....
Greg

[jbtaylor]

Looks like that last guy has a tooth infection. Maybe you can get closer next time and help him out.
Congrats on the a700.

[aster]

Hi Greg,

Looks like our Santa is around too. Apparently he got himself stuck to the balcony of a lovely traditional Turkish House on our street.
All I have to do is wait for him to come across to do his rounds on our land piece...maybe there's a Sony Alpha with lovely features in there...

Yildiz

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[Greg Beetham]

Thanks JBT, and yah I wondered about that tooth at the time, I was able to restrain the urge to jump over the barrier to get a better look though, I was the only one at that particular enclosure, the rangers/guides had a flock over at the koala's at the time I think...That baby (about a 14 footer) watched me the entire time I was there and he never moved an inch, just closed his eyes briefly a couple of times. Thing was, I knew he was watching me, not only that, I'm sure he knew I knew....creepy.
Greg

ps. I zoomed in on that tooth and it looked like it was part of his last meal still compacted around the tooth, dental hygiene not quite up to scratch.

[Greg Beetham]

Hi Yildiz, you never know, if you've been good like me, (kaf kaf), Santa might have the replacement for the A700 on board, Santa gets the inside scoop you know, or he might have packed an A850 instead, if it's still too early for the A700 replacement...even for Santa.
Greg

ps. That's sure is a fine looking house alright, I bet it's the same there as it is here, with our trad Colonial type weatherboard houses, nobody could afford to buy the 'real' timber to build one anymore, the cost of the hardwood bearers, joists and studs alone would be mindboggling.

[aster]

Hi Yildiz, you never know, if you've been good like me, (kaf kaf), Santa might have the replacement for the A700 on board, Santa gets the inside scoop you know, or he might have packed an A850 instead, if it's still too early for the A700 replacement...even for Santa.
Greg

ps. That's sure is a fine looking house alright, I bet it's the same there as it is here, with our trad Colonial type weatherboard houses, nobody could afford to buy the 'real' timber to build one anymore, the cost of the hardwood bearers, joists and studs alone would be mindboggling.

I don't know how good I've been but I've had this nice itching feeling between my shoulder blades on two particular spots. I may just be growing my wings and becoming the proper angel that Santa likes after all... I made a nice list that he'll enjoy fulfilling!

Greg, that house was fully restored a couple of years ago. Restoration went through a long period of three years and almost each piece of wood was either restored or replaced by original wood type. Only on very rare occasions where rain water would be a problem did they use specially manufactured industrial 'wood' types.
I was there when the restoration works were in progress. A carpenter who is an expert on Turkish Houses did the whole work on his own with a small team. The wood pieces were really, really heavy...there wasn't much cheating.

Even then, the overall cost of the restoration was around/over $2 million. The owner is a wealthy man who made sure everything was seen to in detail. I call it 'the Pearl of our street'.

I like the owner's character and personality very much. He is very respectful to cultural legacy and takes pride in them. And for that he earns the 'Pride of Our Nation Award' for sure! It's the most beautiful building on our street... I'm thankful that we have smart and loving people like him and his family who are always thoughtful.

Yildiz