Thank you all. I am also a fan of Cambridge in colour and as you know Mike, it also has links to more erudite though usually more messy sites, but hyperfocal distance is a stage too far for me at present and the drift of it seemed to end up a matter of what the eye can really see or not.

I agree with Tannin about buying the best lens(es) one can afford and is prepared to carry.

I did use the CinC DOF on-line calculator (chart provided with Nikkor 80-400 VR a bit small to read at 400mm end) and was rather shocked by the results for 400mm at minimum (2.3M) range, but this is merely confirmation of what I was finding with flowers and dozy birds. I need to think a bit more about the combination of aperture size and speed advisable at relevant distance and focal length. I have no regrets on choosing this as my main lens, just a matter of learning how to get the best out of it.

My lens fund is a bit empty and I was finding your ruminations in the other thread interesting, Tannin, but not necessarily going to slipstream you! I am also a bit frustrated over getting the sensor clean on D80, so less keen on dozens of lens changes. Ken Rockwell suggests converting the lens for quasi-macro using Canon D500 close up ring and am inclined to try that in due course.