Phil Millership

Great… thank you all for the help. Sorry if it sounded a bit thick :-). Everything seems to work exactly as you have all described and almost common sense I guess! First ride… struggling with the gears but getting the hang of it. Front brakes pull to one side a little so need to balance the lever control. Rear really just for parking as it locks up very easily but that seems to go with the territory. Went round the block to warm up then a little further on main roads and surprised that cars seem to take notice of the flag and thankfully give me a wide berth. Managing 10-15mph at the moment without too much hassle. Need mirrors though! So far knackered but great fun.

Advice please…. Just purchased a KMX trike with the 8fun 250W pedal assist. Unfortunately the previous owner is in hospital so his wife was unable to explain in full how the pedal assist works. She said that it has 9 levels of power selection on an LCD display plus a thumb control to bring in the electric drive. Can anyone give me any pointers please as to how I should use it to get the best out of the system. Thank you in advance.

Hi Gubbins, I hope you won't mind me adding to your comments ref camera files. "Most" cameras (not all though) produce really good jpeg files these days. The important point you quite correctly made was to keep the original files whether RAW or jpeg. Any editing should be saved with a new name so that you always have the original to go back to. As a rule don't re-edit a jpeg that has already been edited. As you point out the quality gets degraded each time a new jpeg is saved. Whilst RAW files give you more control they are much larger file sizes so can be difficult to handle. Also… you will sometimes need more complex software to open a raw file. If you are shooting professionally and perhaps are still learning… like you impromptu wedding! Shoot raw as any mistakes in exposure or colour temperature can usually be fixed. If you are shooting for fun… jpegs should be fine. Hope that helps a little more. Your train shot is a cracker by the way.

Thanks flecc for the welcome and the super fast replies. A little concerned now about investing!!! in the electric Revive but the standard pushbike with a front electric hub might be nice. The standard bike on ebay is miles from me so I think I'll keep looking just in case one pops up a little nearer home although I might have a long wait. I'll have aloof at D8ve's bike again thank you for the pointers.

Lens Flare Continued!!!! Another way to reduce lens flare is to use your hand to block the light from one corner for example. Effectively adding to any lens hood effect if you have one. You will usually be able to see the flare before you press the button and also whether your hand is intruding into the image. Harder if you are shooting with mobile phone but easier if you use a tripod with a more traditional camera. Attached is a mobile phone shot taken into the sunset with "Artistic" lens flare plus a little "Free" image enhancement. Have a look at NIK software… it's free and has some cool effects. If you need any help just shout. Always happy to advise.

Thank you so much for the hearty welcome. Eddie… at the risk of sounding blunt… and it's not meant to be… just factual. What you have experienced is lens flare and is essentially a product of shooting into the sun. So the definitive solution is don't :-). BUT… as it's also a product of light bouncing about (technical term) inside and between the glass within the lens, some camera lenses cope better than others. I don't know what camera lens you shot that image with but I can see that it's a wide one. It displays barrel distortion seen by the furrows bending in the foreground which you will see on wide angle lenses to a varying degree depending on the lens. "Wide" angle lenses tend to suffer from lens flare more than most. The distortion can be used to artistic advantage although strictly speaking it's an optical flaw. Likewise… lens flare that angles across an image can also look quite cool. Difficult to remove by the way so if you don't like the flare try to avoid it when you take the shot. I'll put some more tips on another message as this one is full!

Hi Guys, Forgive me for hijacking this thread which as a professional photographer is refreshing and I have to say some cracking images on show. :-) My message is primarily for flecc but any advice welcomed. Just joined the forum so haven't learned how to pm yet! I'm looking to go pedelec soon after my 250cc scooter was stolen recently. The thought of no road tax etc is quite appealing plus I can wear out my greyhound by getting him to chase after me. I'm almost 65 so more exercise with a little help up hills wouldn't go amiss. I want a recumbent or similar and have seen the now discontinued Giant Semi Recumbents on ebay at the moment. One is electric with issues, no battery/charger and a pedal fault. I don't care what they look like, in fact quite like the quirky futuristic look. Any advice welcomed… battery availability, spares etc or any gremlins to look out for. Many thanks. regards, Phil