@Blademonkey & @Digimonkey - Iain & Paul, Have you seen the Tish film on the BBC Iplayer? Thought of you guys when watching it. Personally, I'm a sucker for social history being captured in photographs. A thoroughly moving film. Richard ..read more

Hello, I have encountered an unpleasant event. My 64gb sd stick from my camera has failed and all my photos are gone. The card is no longer readable on the camera. When I connect the card to the PC it shows up as empty and asks for formatting. After a bit of googling, I realised that you need special software to recover photos. I even tried a few, but did not achieve the desired result ...... Does anyone know how to help me ..read more

Hi all. I've recently started trying this after a few years of interest in astronomy. I started out wanting to do some wide field Deep Sky Object imaging, so over the course of the last year or so, saved for and purchased the items needed. All in, a decent kit can be had for £1500-£2000. This should include a DSLR (ideally astro-modified by one of the various online vendors), Star Tracker, a decent lens such as the Samyang/Rokinon 135mm f2, a good tripod, and a few other bits & pieces such... Read more ..read more

Used my Gillette single ring today, tried the FRAM but a bit rough so went new Gillette and great result. It’s stamped E 95401 so must be close on 100 now? I have more modern Gillettes but this baby is just as good if not better. Difficult to improve on perfection I guess ..read more

Hi, I thought it would be nice to show your first own camera you shot with. Like a little tribute for your old babies. Doesn´t matter if it is an analoge or digital camera. Images desired but not a must. Starting with my first own analoge 35mm camera. It was a Minolta X700. No autofocus and slow maximum sync speed of 1/60 second. I used with the camera several Minolta lenses like 28, 35... Read more ..read more

Picked this up the other day, early valets work for me with the GEM blade. Can’t use Feather, seem too coarse. Anybody else have similar experience? Norwich Evening Record 18?? - 1952 Connecticut USA, not the Norwich in England. Does anyone have any comments on the origins of this type of branding? Maybe the newspaper gave them away to readers? Have a great weekend everybody ..read more

So as promised here’s my first pic. I bought these three together probably in the 80s from an antique shop. the observant among you will notice the brush has been debristled, my first renovation project, new badger knot to be installed today. The shaving bowl (which I now use) with cute flowers and razor (bone handle? which I’m now honing) are unbranded but I’m guessing early 20th C? The brush has a number 40 stamp, anyone? I thought I’d start with this set as it demonstrates how three...​ Read more ..read more

Hey All, I'll preface this with the fact that I am an absolute novice when it comes to cameras. I've had a Sony alpha 5000 for a while now. I wanted a decent but easily portable camera, which for me it has done what I've wanted it to. What I'm struggling with at the moment is close up shots. So to that end, does anyone have any experience with the camera and is anyone able to recommend a macro lens that might be suitable? I know you can buy the made to measure one and that may very... Read more ..read more

Hello chaps, I know that aside from the keen interested in shaving your whiskers off, plenty of your good selves are just as skilled with camera (be it SLR or a phone lens) as they are with their shiny little toys. So why not share? And no, it doesn't (and IMO shouldn't) have to be shave related. Just post a nice shot you have taken today, and share the joy with community. A little story to go with it will make the things even more interesting. Let me know what you think, and let's get this... Read more ..read more

I have a few digital cameras but my newest - the mirrorless Nikon 1 J1 - is now 10 years old and I don't want to take a system camera out wild camping. I don't want to be carrying/swapping lenses but I still want a camera with at least a 1" 20MP sensor. I'm not interested in video but it seems that it has to be in there for cameras to be marketable today...my interest is in good quality still images. I have sort of narrowed my search down to the following three, but would appreciate any... Read more ..read more