Just for Show Promise fulfilled (to Hamish)

[Dave Kendrick]

Hamish gave me his opinion on buying my new (to me) camera and requested that I post a first pic here so here I am fulfilling that promise . I don't visit here very often as a) I don't take as many pics as I used to and b) my efforts at taking good pics are rarely successful.
The camera involved is a Sony a230, second hand but seems to be in very good condition. It is my first DSLR but I've had digital cameras since they first appeared and before that I had a Canon AE1 and other 35mm before that - got hundreds of slides tucked away that I keep intending to digitise but never get round to.
The pic here I would call Eva Cassidy but that might be stretching things or be a bit too subtle for some. It was taken with the standard 18 to 55 lens, f9, 1/80 and ISO 100.

 

[Hamish Gill]

Nice one Dave!
so how are you fining the camera then?

 

[Dave Kendrick]

Hi Hamish,
Too early to be specific but I like what I've found out about it. No 'live view' on the screen, that's just fo viewing pics and looking at the technical details of the settings you've chosen when taking a pic - very educational and I expect a novice to DSLR like me to learn a lot from it.
While I'm here, I like taking pics of wild birds and a telephoto lens would be useful for this. I've done a search on ebay and Google and not had much joy - can anyone point me in the direction of a good second hand one please?
TIA,
Dave