austen

Apart from a portrait lens, I only have the kit ones that came with my camera ( which are apparently not very good) I want to get a great Canon lens but it is about $1200 and can't really afford that much. Someone recommended the above lens ( Tamron BOO8) . They were happy with it and said it was about $400. Just wondering if anyone on here has any experience with this lens?

No - this is a large park, which is not off leash and is located in a suburban area in Sydney. There are two parts to this that annoy me. First is, they shouldn't be letting their dog off leash ( you have no idea whether a strange dog is friendly or unfriendly) and secondly , I know rabbits, possums are regarded as a massive nuisance, but I still don't know that you should be giving your dog free rein to kill them in a local park.

Just had a "discussion" with my sister over lunch re her dogs. We always walk our dogs on leash around our neighbourhood but they have been attacked a few times by other off leash dogs and I am sick and tired of being scared to walk certain areas because I am a bit scared that they are going to be attacked by off leash dogs. My sister was making the comment that they let their dog off at the local park quite often where it will go hunting and on occasions kill rabbits or possums etc. I took issue to this comment and stated that it really annoyed me that people walk dogs off leash and that secondly, I didn't really think it was the right thing to do that her dog should just go off and kill wildlife, even if it is just rabbits. Can anyone tell me if it is actually against the law to allow your dog to kill rabbits and possums at the local park? Was just interested to find out what is the situation in regards to this in case it ever comes up in conversation again.

I also wanted to know if you think this is too expensive a lens for someone who is a relative beginner and often just leaves camera on auto?

I've got the 50mm lens - it is great but I mainly use it for close up shots. Just read on a blog that the 24- 70 mm is a good all purpose lens. Has anyone got any idea how much it might be though?

Thanks for that - it is better to always buy the Canon lens rather than something like Tamron?

Have had a Canon 400d for a while now and really like taking photos. Still only using the kit lens I got with camera (18-55 mm) and a portrait lens which is okay. Just wondering what you would reccomend as a reasonably good all purpose lens that can be used most of the time. I have been reading about Canon24-70mm f/2.8 lens, although it is fairly expensive. Has anyone had experience with this lens or can reccommend another one?

What a unit, why not be happy with the joy of giving quietly and anonymously , or would you like to bask in the glory of generosity, would you like updates on what your particular donation was spent on? Thanks for the bank info Austen. ????????????????????????? I know I said I wasn't going to say anything further but I don't know what this means either? I didn't say anything about bank info to anyone? Megz - haven't seen any useful comments you have made, apart from making sarcastic comments about other people. There are a lot more important things in life then trying to score points off other people.

Sadly, that was my first thought when I read her reply. Also, love how this thread has already gone from helping a family to being all about Squid. What a surprise :rolleyes: Did you read the mother's comments about the dog who killed her child? If she's able to feel something for the animal that did this to her family, I'm sure she's capable of processing the fact that maybe other dog owners aren't irresponsible morons and do want to help her and her family cope through this. Even if she doesn't, what the hell does that even matter? Donations should be to help her family, not push an agenda. " Exactly, that's why it doesn't matter where donations come from. - as I mentioned in the rest of the quote ( which you haven't included) . So sad to see this thread becoming a" he said, she said" - I think some of you seem to have a bit too much time on your hands if you don't have anything more useful to do than bickering/ picking fights with one another. Just give it a rest. (and this shall be my last comment on the matter.)

Don't think it's appropriate and don't honestly think the parents would be in any frame of mind to appreciate or even process the fact that a donation would show that not all dog owners are bad. If people want to donate money, why not donate through one of the many fundraising projects that I am sure people have already organised for this poor family. I also don't think it's appropriate to use the death of this poor child to start a thread bickering about who said what and why etc. Just leave it alone.

Oh dear - did this barking go on for a long time? The only part that the dogs will be able to see is the front door of the chicken pen - was even thinking of putting up a piece of material or something so that the dogs couldn't see the ckickens. At the moment, would just not be comfortable tempting fate. Don't think our dogs are really interested in killing - just want to play and get over excited.

Yes - I agree. We have two small dogs who have TWICE been attacked by large offlead dogs not controlled by their owners. My kids are now petrified ( and I am not too keen either) to take the dogs walking around our area as there are so many offlead dogs.It's a sad state of affairs when you can't walk dogs in your local area because you are scared they are going to get attacked by other dogs.

Does he/she bark incessently or will she stop after a little while.

Oops sorry - that is probably my fault!

I was thinking of doing this too - As I mentioned in previous post, the only section that the dogs will be able to see the chickens will be from the front, and I thought if I covered the door in, they would not see them.

Well, we are constructing the chicken pen along a back fence, so the only place the dogs will be able to see them is from the front door basically and it will be completely dog proof, but am just wondering if the dogs are going to be constantly barking or whether they will get used to it. The chicken run will be quite big so don't really need to let them free range. ( but am just concerned amount of barking etc. Hopefully it will only go on for the first day or so and when the dogs realise they can't get in they will just stop it ( but am not really sure about this last part).

Further to my previous correspondence, I wanted to know what experiences people here have had with dogs and chickens. Given that this is a dog forum, I assume that most of those who have chickens also have dogs. We are building a run for our chickens which we are making dog proof. My query is as follows. Our dogs do tend to bark at anyone walking past. We took our dogs to visit neighbours two doors up ( who also have a secure chicken pen) and they spent the whole time barking and trying to get into the chicken pen. My question is this - do you think the dogs will continue to bark after the first day or two ( and drive the neighbourhood mad) or do you think it is something they will get used t and end up just ignoring? Was very excited about the whole chicken thing but am now starting to wonder if it is a good idea after all.

Used to go to a pet food supplies place (I'm in NSW, so no good for you) but it closed down, so now I go to a normal butchers - he usually has them in stock - and he saws them up for me. If not in stock, they can usually get them for you.

We feed our dogs Royal Canin twice a day and have been experimenting with different types of bones - chicken necks etc. On the advice of our vet we have started feeding lamb necks as they are much chunkier and require much more chewing. My question is how often should we be giving them lamb necks?

I stopped using it after that happened. I am now on Nutrience Holistic and the dogs are doing really well on it! Yep - I tried my dogs on it around about that time but they absolutely hated it - now I'm wondering if I got a bad batch? Oh well - guess it's all irrelevant now.

Yes - I've got the 400D - so far have only used autofocus settings with the twin lens kit and I am very happy with the photos. When I have a bit more time on my hands, I would like to do a course on photography , how to use manual settings etc. and buy some new lenses but for now am just happy using what I've got.

thanks for that - have a few things on the first half of the year so I might just play around with the camera and then in the second half, I'll book myself into the introductory course.

I'm off to buy one today - what I think I wll do if I'm just taking pictures at home with the kids etc -I won't bother putting it on, but when I'm out or taking pictures of the dogs or at the beach etc, I will put it on. What do you think? I also nearly ended up getting a Nikon d80 because both the guys at Harvey Norman were going on about how much better a camera it was than the Canon. I thought it was interesting because nearly everyone else I talked to reccommended the Canon. Do you think the sales people get more comission for selling a particular brand? Would love to sales figures for both cameras to see what most people bought.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I got my camera today and already I love it - the pictures are so much better than my compact digital. I bought my camera from Harvey Norman and unfortunately they had run out of uv filters so I am off to buy one tomorrow. I am sure that years ago on my old slr camera I bought a polarising filter and for some reason I thought i t made the photos darker (but am not really sure about that) I thought I would just start with the uv one and see how I go. Hope there is no difference in quality of photos. Thanks again for your help - it is much appreciated. (I also got a 4gb Extremee III compact flash card - apparently they run faster?)

He He - wish i knew what all those things meant - is the $20 one alright to get? Also - just wondering if anyone knew a good basic book about photography - not about exposures etc - because I think i will be just using auto for the first six months or so - but more about techniques - i.e. the way to position your subject etc.