Fly on the shed

 Had to get low with my Canon IXUS and point and hope. 

Gulls in the street

 And a pigeon... 

Had a go at photographing the gulls flying around the houses. Using the 75-300 at the long end, manual focus. I don't photograph birds in flight very often and and I  thought I'd give it a go. I tried one shot with autofocus, but I found for most shots manual is good preferable.

Some mono shots

 Seeing as Deviant Art has gone belly up I have downloaded some older black and white photos before I lose them. 

Talking of binoculars...

 Back when I was 14 I think my mom bought me a pair of Russian 8x30s. They were my first pair of bins and they came with yellow filters for the eyepieces (I never used them). The eyepieces themselves were awkward if you wore glasses,, as I did. Fold down eye cups weren't a thing back in the early 80s. So I would use them by looking over my glasses, and enjoying the views. I can remember it like it was yesterday! Later I removed the hard eyecups and made my own using sticky backed foam. Then the left ocular came out and I messed around with the arrangement of the glass elements, which was quite interesting.

Anyway I've kept those binoculars and even though over the years the screws have got a bit rusty and the left ocular has become lost (I'm blind in that eye anyway) I still have them and they are still very sharp, and quick to focus. Russians built things to last! I wonder how long my Bresser Hunters will last! 

Fly Wing

 From a prepared slide at 40x and 100x.

I need to look closer...

More micro stuff

 My partner bought me some prepared slides. Not bad quality too! 

Here's a few snippets

Onion skin

Water flea

Bee leg

My binos

 Having tried numerous options for bird spotting/star gazing I've settled on these Bresser Hunter 7x50s. Great pair of binoculars, very sharp and lightweight.