The temperature dipped well below freezing again last night so I thought it time to pay tribute to our immediate neighbours who suffer the rigours of a Tyne Valley winter without complaint.
The truth is I have acquired a new prime lens and I was keen to try it out – not that I travelled far for my ‘art’ exactly, these were taken from our drive immediately after breakfast. I didn’t stay out long.
The verdict: very pleased, the problem is that once converted to jpeg, the resolution dropped to 72dpi and then compressed by the wordpress gallery process, the obvious improvement over my previous lens has disappeared.
(Thanks Patrick – father follows advice of eldest son and isn’t disappointed!)
northumbrian : light 
I love how the three sheep in the foreground look almost identical in your first shot!
Thanks Josefina – All sisters I guess 🙂
The real plus of the fast 50mm prime lens is the really shallow depth of field you can get – see for example http://www.flickr.com/photos/patrickdown/7666831170/in/set-72157630799427434 – which comes across a bit even when shrunk to 600*400 web images
Agreed Paddy – I have a collection of ‘interesting’ shots of a table lamp to prove the point. I was intrigued to see if on the same settings the prime looked sharper than the zoom – I have convinced myself it does. I have always been slightly disappointed with the Nikon’s image quality using the original lens. I am definitely tempted to swap out for all primes and then upgrade the body.
I can feel the cold in your first photograph. Perhaps your neighbors are looking at you thinking you forgot to wear a heavy coat like theirs today,
They would be right Mary!