One of the funnier aspects of digital photography is listening to retail sales personnel explaining megapixels to customers. Basically the line seems to be that the more megapixels you have, the better. How come then that my Nikon D70, with its 6.1 megapixel sensor, produces consistently better images than my Leica D-Lux 3 compact, which boasts 10 megapixels?

The answer, crudely, boils down to two factors: a larger sensor and better lenses. When I was talking about this with a colleague, Dave Phillips (also a D70 user), he pointed me to this useful tutorial by Sean T. McHugh, whose site also includes some terrific photographs of Cambridge.

The view from Sutton Gault, looking towards Welney.

Spotted in a colleague’s office.

I hate using flash but sometimes it’s the only way of getting pictures. Like most DSLRs, my Nikon D70 has a pop-up flash and it produces the kind of horrible washed-out images one comes to expect from such lighting. The solution (I naively thought) was obvious: put my trusty Nikon Speedlight atop the D70 and use it in bounce mode. And then I discover that the fiends in Nikon have arranged things so that my analog flashgun won’t work with their digital cameras. Worse: a digital-compatible Speedlight costs an arm and a leg, or at any rate £224.35 inc. VAT.

Enter the LumiQuest Softscreen — a cheap gizmo made in China.

It fits on the top of the camera like this:

and gives quite reasonable results.

It’s not pretty, but what do you expect for less than £10? I got if from Warehouse Express.

Walking on a beach today, we came on this pattern in the sand made by rivulets heading towards a small pool. My guess is that a satellite image of the Ganges or Nile deltas would show a similar pattern (minus the footprint!)

Tom’s photograph of a cygnet on Lough Eske.

Looking westward from Donegal.

Near Ardara. Perfectly peaceful. Deserted except for us. Nobody else for miles. I only wish I could get these panoramas right.

For Dr Who, perhaps? The tunnel runs by the side of Broadcasting House in London.