Grumpygamer

The Cowon S9 32GB is without doubt the best music player I've owned. Previously I had an iRiver Clix 2 4GB that I was very happy with as it combined good sound quality with the ability to read books. I've also got a Creative Zen 32GB which was great as I could get my entire CD collection on it. However the Zen didn't have a book reader.

I began shopping around for a player with a 32GB capacity but also a good book reader. Sound quality was the major factor and after reading many reviews I settled on the S9. I'm really glad I did.

The sound quality is excellent, both through my CX300 in ear phones and my PX100 open phones. The battery life is outstanding and the screen is amazing. It's a delight to watch movies on and TV programmes downloaded from BBC iPlayer.

The book reader is very good too - making it very easy and pleasurable to listen to music and read at the same time. The radio reception is the best I've had in any music player I've owned.

The user interface is very good indeed and tweaked via the freely available CLAW UCI it's even better. My only criticism of the player is that it uses a propriety USB cable rather than a regular mini plug. But that's no big deal. All in all I'm thrilled with the S9.

If you're in the market for a touchscreen music player with good format support, excellent sound quality, an amazing AMOLED screen and super video playback (including BBC iPlayer support) then the S9 is the player to go for.

Dorset Sunset 2, originally uploaded by Harry Neary.

This is very close to what came out of the camera as I tried to capture this sunset. The photograph was taken handheld and I had a soft ND grad filter on the lens.

However I did develop the shot three times with Canon DPP at different EV levels then recombine them - the aim being to capture what I saw rather than create a HDR monstrosity.

The result is actually so close to the image that came out of the camera I probably could have achieved the same result by fiddling with curves.

Camera: Canon EOS 50D
Lens: Tamron 10-24mm

Pushing Up Daisies (Reprise), originally uploaded by Harry Neary.

Another shot of the gravestones here at the bottom of the hill in Charlton Down, Dorset.

I'm assuming there are no actual graves here anymore, especially now the chapel is a fitness centre. But the stones themselves have been left here.

There's something oddly beautiful about them.

I snapped these few shots this evening - I've not had chance to get out and about with the lens yet. All shots were taken on a Canon EOS 50D and developed using Canon's DPP software set to the Faithful picture style. The only post processing has been to resize the images and then add a little unsharp mask.

I picked up the Tamron 10-24mm wide angle lens today to replace the Sigma 10-20mm I stupidly sold some months ago.

I decided to go for the Tamron due to the extra 4mm at the long end which means for me that'll get more use on the camera than if it was merely very wide angle only.

My first impressions of the lens are strong, it seems well built and is quick to focus. As I suspected the 24mm is very usuable indeed for more general photography - it's the equivelent of 38mm on my Canon EOS 50D.

Meanwhile at 10mm it's very wide indeed and vignetting and chromatic abberation are well controlled. I do see a little of the latter but it's easily fixed with Canon's Digital Photo Professional or DXO Optics Pro.

So far so good. I'll have a more detailed review once I put the lens through its paces pointing at some more interesting views than our back garden.

Lulworth Cove 04, originally uploaded by Harry Neary.

I found myself clambering over some rocks at Lulworth Cove that had "broken ankle" written all over them, which is not idea when carrying a grand's worth of photographic gear with you. The rock pools are very pretty though and the algae and seaweed on the rocks a very vivid shade of green.

Photo taken with my Canon EOS 50D and Tamron 17-50mm f2.8. I also had a Hoya circular polariser on the lens to remove the reflections from the pools and rocks.

Minimum post processing in DXO Optics Pro, just a little straightening and contrast.

Les Paul Neck, originally uploaded by Harry Neary.

My new Epiphone Les Paul guitar.

Photo taken with an Canon EOS 5 using Ilford HP5 400 Plus. Lens Tamron 70-200m f2.8.