F-Stop Junkie

Says the man who sells singlespeed tensioners... I think that the rule should be enforced at least in Masters because riders in the top classes should compete in the same way they would at the Worlds. I realise a lot of riders zip-tie up their mechs once the bike passes scrutineering, but lets work to the spirit of the rules here.... For Novice, I'm sure it makes no difference, and no one would protest if a singlespeed rider did well. 9 times out of 10, it would be the same for Expert too. But I am entirely in favour of keeping the rule because the way I ride, I would be disadvantaged if everyone else was running singlespeed and I had the penalty of running gears. I realise I'm in the minority these days of actually using their gears though. This is not a petty rule, it's been the way for many, many years, and as Phil said, it's what defines the class. If the rules were relaxed so it was a completely open technical competition, we could see riders with 20" front wheels, 24" rear, singlespeed and bashplate with no seat. People would run prototypes, each more specialised than the last. Bikes could get more expensive, and increasingly less relevant to normal riding. Street riders will ride whatever they like, because there are no restrictions when you're just messing around with your mates. It's down to whatever bike is nice to ride. With competition you need a level playing field.

I find my 10D can sometimes get crazy if I'm using a lens slower than F2.8. I've taken many good shots with it, but missed quite a few too. The 20D AF consists of more sensors, and is regarded generally as more accurate. Quote from dpreview.com All-new 9-point AF system The EOS 20D gets an all new (not seen on any other SLR) nine point AF system which has its AF points in a diamond pattern. It's quite noticeably faster than than the EOS 10D and has better low light working range (-0.5 EV compared to 0.5 EV). Note that the center point is a 'cross type' sensor when used with lenses with a maximum aperture of F2.8 or faster. Spot metering is useful on small areas. The 10D/20D metering centre circle covers about 9% of the image from memory. I've certainly had need for spot metering, for example in Rome when I'm after specific metering of a complex image. If the guy owns - say - a 24-85 and 70-300, then why get a 18-125 too? It replicates far too much of the range. Why not get one lens - say a 20mm, or a 17-35 - to cover just the the wide angle aspect he needs? This will give a far better controlled distortion than an 18-125, generally have far higher max aperture, and give better images. A 20mm lens could be a useful wide angle step as an option. That's what I did when I just had a 28-75mm. I'm not suggesting that a full selection of primes is the way forward. Down that path madness lies!

Just to add, supplies of 20Ds are really drying up now. That said, I'm certain the price of the 30D will fall another hundred or two in the next couple of months.

Just to contradict the previous post, don't get a second hand 10D, the 20D is a significant step forward, especially in the AF performance and burst buffer. The 10D suffers from pretty inconsistant AF performance, especially if you're using lenses slower than F2.8. The 30D has a bigger screen, spot metering function - very handy in some circumstances - and users are reporting slightly improved AF performance over the 20D, though this hasn't been officially verified. You can also switch the motordrive speed from 3fps to 5fps if you wish. If it was my money... I'd go with the 20D unless there is a good enough reason to spend an extra £100-£200 on the 30D. For me, the spot meter is a good enough reason, but that's not something I'd really use when shooting trials. Prices for the 30D are now sub £900, and even £800 if you look around. If you do want a new 20D, then move quickly as stocks are being run down. Big camera shops here are jessops.com warehouseexpress.com Park Cameras and London Camera Exchange. It can often be cheaper though to try other European dealers such as http://www.technik-direkt.de or even bhphoto.com or digitalrev.com if you're willing to go outside of Europe. As for a wide angle, it depends how big the hole in your lens range is, and how much you want to spend. The 18-125 may cover too much focal length if you have other lenses - say a 24-85. Depending on how much you want to spend, I'd consider a Tamron 17-35 for £330 or the Sigma version for £300. Going to L lenses - such as the 17-40L are going to cost upwards of £600. What may be more suitable is going for a wide angle prime lens. I love my Sigma 20mm which you can get in a Canon fit for £250, or even a fish eye - though Sigma have just bumped up their prices on this. You may be able to pick one up for £300. You may lose a bit of convience without a zoom, but the quality is second to none. They're also especially fast, the 20mm is F1.8!

From my experience with customs and the like, they're not daft. Something that's expensive - say a video camera - that's obviously worth more than £20 then they'll charge you appropriately. Also trying to get around import charges is technically tax fraud too.. That said, not everything gets checked as it should. Also very few tax brackets are clearly defined, so it's almost impossible to accurately estimate what the charges could be. Camera lenses can be anywhere from 7% to about 15% duty, depending which description you use. Also - iirc - the duty is paid on the combined value of the item and shipping, and then VAT is applied to the sum of item value, shipping and duty. Plus there's a handling charge on the top. For something small, you'll probably get away with it, but don't count on it. There's a large amount of luck to see what your final bill will be. If something is $63 shipped, then that's about £37. Assuming duty at 8% (£2.96) and VAT (£6.99), then your final price will be £46.95 + customs handling charge (a fiver?). This is a guess, but it may help you as a guide. For something of that smaller amount, I'd guess there's a higher chance of it just passing through customs. Mark it as a gift

Smaller front and rear cogs putting increased load per pin on the chain? 16t is stupid anyway. 22t is low enough for a 26".

One of the first disc brakes? No, Rock Shox were a late comer to the game. Hope had their mechanical disc out for ages and were getting into hydros, Formula had their hydros out too on the San Andreas and the like. If I remember correctly, the Rock Shox brake was basically the same design as the AMP Research one, which had been out since the early 90s. Hayes also had a semi-hydro unit out the same time as Rock Shox. And to think, Dave Cullian won the '93 World DH championship with XTR cantis...

Wandering around near my hotel, found this: And they were doing this:

Very cool! A little too saturated for my tastes in a couple, but very good. Seems the WB is wandering a little bit in a couple of the shots. Love the wide, wide crop of the sidehop one.

Anyone else reading this as "Please do my job for me"?

I'll certainly make an effort to post more unusual stuff here, as well as dig through my archives.

The on camera flash is good for fill only, unless it's really bright sun or you're quite a distance away. It's not great, but it's good enough! Only problem is you can't bounce it. Try Irfanview for resizing. It's freeware, but handles files well and you don't lose quality because of it. Couldn't agree more. The great thing about digital photography is that there is no per shot expense compared to film. Best thing in the world is to go out, try things, and see what works! Those that don't, don't, and nothing is lost... Remember that a lot of my work doesn't get posted in those galleries. I've had to keep some held back for copyright reasons because I've submitted it to magazines or photo libraries. I also have a lot of non-trials stuff I've not posted, heck, I've got three ring binders full of slides covering 99-03, most of which have never seen the light of day. Often the most creative or different stuff of mine doesn't get posted on Photobox or on here because it's used elsewhere. The stuff on Photobox may not be amazing, but it's there for riders to purchase if they wish. I don't just put up my 10 best shots of the day.

When I say bad composition, I mean ones like the guys bike and legs shot in this thread, or AndyT's B&W entry in the photo comp, or the Koxxdays one of an arm holding a bike. They're usually on the wonk (Sorry, from the hip if you're from the world of Lomos...) and they cut off half a rider. Most to me look like an accidental photo. Maybe it's just me, maybe I just don't get it. The action shots arn't badly composed at all, just don't like riders shot from behind - so to speak. Ups are incredibly hard to shoot, unless they're something like a rail. A-V mode? You mean have mode I guess if you're playing around with DoF. Some Canons do have a tendancy to over-expose, so some people dial in a little exposure compensation to get around it. The first flower shot is a good use of DoF, the second less so. You have to be careful though that you have foreground interest, instead of looking like a good flower photo with a trials rider accidentally in the back ground. Any other tips? Play around with flash, look at pictures you like and copy the style initally, then develop your own once you're really happy with your shots. Oh, and it may be worth looking for some decent image software if you're using paint! Photoshop Elements is cheap, GIMP and irfanview are free!

If it's the mech hitting the frame, why not just tighten the b-tension screw?

WHY?!?!? Shame Vince's hand is just in the wrong place...

A cracking photo will be forgiven if it's not technically perfect. A technically perfect dull shot, is still dull. In this case, I just think it's a dull photo of nothing. Meh, maybe I'm missing something...

Yup, some of those could really have benefitted from a flash! I think you should also be a bit more selective about what you post, there's too many very similar ones which don't really show much. The biggest thing I'd say though is that several of the shots are cropped too tight. You need to either zoom out or move back a bit. Chopping tops of heads or wheels off is generally not a good look. Also when you have riders moving through a frame, it's far better to have the space in front of the rider instead of behind them.

A light metre? How long it takes light to travel one metre? FYI - it's 3*10^-9 seconds.. Anyway, I think you've got your exposures back to front Rob. F22 will give you massive DoF, while F2.8 will give you not much - on a dSLR anyway. A longer exposure will also give you more ambient light in the shot too, especially useful when using flash. F22 is said to be sharper too, while using a lens wide open can introduce softness into the image. If the shot on a rock was taken with a reasonably long macro lens (80-100mm) close up, he'll need big DoF to get the whole image sharp. Assuming constant ISO, they will give similar images, but with hugely different DoF, especially if flash is being used. I really don't see this shot as anything special. Looks more like you pressed the shutter button accidentally. Overexposed too.

Sorry to be the baddie here, but I really didn't think these were upto much. What's this fashion for badly composed shots with off bits cut off? It's just wrong really. The decent action shots were overexposed, and the rest of the action shots are a bit dull. I've still to see a good action shot taken with the rider facing away from the camera... A good shot is all in the eyes. The first two and the last one are 'ooh, i've got shallow DoF' but not good shots. What does a flower have anything to do with trials? The last one is better, but only if you're trying to take a shot illustrating tyre fold, rather than art. Potential, but needs more work!

Well known scam - though I'm not entirely sure how it works - is that a bank transfer is made. The funds appear in the recipients account and items are dispatched. When there are no funds available to cover the transfer, the money is pulled back, with no recourse for the seller. If you can, stick with paypal. That clears payment before sending it on.

Works for me with my off camera cord, makes using the camera a bit tricky though. It doesn't really work though if you're trying to do with with wireless.

Just to throw a couple of points in here... 1) You can not buy a little slave flash thingy from Jessops and connect to the flash and expect it to work with a dSLR. This is for long, boring reasons. Those who care know my MSN address.... 2) Canon do not bundle wireless flash in any of their cameras. You will either need a wireless master unit (ST-E2) or a suitable master flash unit (550, 580). 3) Optical wirelss flash, like the Canon and Nikon systems, need line of sight, and may not work at all well around corners or in bright sun. I know several pros who don't use it for these reasons.

It's a damn sight better than their old tensioner, and dirt cheap. As nice as some of the other ones are, why pay more for something that is likely to get damaged? Heck, for a tenner, it's barely worth trying to make your own!

DISCLOSURE: I'm not connected with On-One in anyway, just thought people might like these bits. Seems the worlds of singlespeed mountain biking and trials are finally really helping each other out. A few new bits from the On-One stable: Anotherdoofer, bolts to mech hanger and QR/bolt end - tenner Groove Armada SS sprockets. Burly steel sprockets to fit a Shimano style freehub body. With groove to let dirt out. £15 each. Or... Singlespeed conversion kit. Burly 16t sprocket. Tenner. And finally... The banger hanger. Fits any QR and stops your rear mech (and hanger) getting screwed when you hit it. Not designed for Pro 2/Fun bolts, but didn't stop Waynio customising his with an angle grinder so it works! Should be a tenner, but they're currently going for £7. Hope these are of use to some folk.

I don't think it was a Pashley either. Looking very carefully at it, it seems to just any standard steel frame, with four bolt mounts welded on the back. To be honest, I wouldn't be suprised if that's a very, very significant trials bike which has had some four bolts brazed on it's life. Maybe a '94 frame?