Bought one of these from 7dayshop last week. Arrived on Monday and have been having a play with it today. So far, all positives; seems well engineered and synchs perfectly between my K5 and AF360FGZ. Really can't go wrong for 8 quid.

Adrian

The Panohelp website link has some useful, basic, information about taking and stitching panoramas particularly about pivot points. Might be a useful place to start.

M

I'd really, really think hard before doing this. I messed up when attempting this on my Super A a number of years ago. Not only did I make the stains on the mirror worse I also damaged the foam sealing around the mirror box. The camera was then, effectively, useless. So, unless you really need to do it, and know exactly what you're doing, I'd say it's infinitely better to put up with whatever crud is on the mirror rather than make the matter worse.

Adrian

I wonder if Pentax really help themselves though. Over the years, I've bought pretty much all my Pentax gear from one particular Central London dealer and, in fact, one particular sales assistant (I won't name names to protect the innocent). When I got my K-r a few months ago I was talking to him about the amount of Pentax stock they held. The answer was zero and, once the last few K-r's were out of the door, they were not going to stock anything Pentax again. The reason given was the poor support that Pentax gave them over returns when the K5 was experiencing its sensor issues. We didn't go into specifics but I was told that the owner had refused to ever stock Pentax gear again despite them both really liking the cameras and lenses.

OK, that's just one salesman's view of one small chain's relationship with Pentax. I in no way vouch for the veracity of the story or who is in the right or wrong. But if a well regarded dealer thinks that it's just not worth dealing with Pentax any more, is it any wonder that its products are getting harder to find?

Adrian

My head tells me I should like fast primes and to shy away from zooms. In practice:

Most used - Pentax DA 16-45.
Least used - Pentax 50mm f1.2A

Almost never leave home without the 16-45, almost never use the f1.2. Can't figure it out.

Adrian

PM sent re 21mm.

And I was getting excited expecting something about the new Pentax mirrorless or the K5 replacement. I'll get my coat now.

Adrian

Hi Graham

I've had a similar photographic journey to you. I've got a K10D and kinda fell out of love with it because of the weight and, until recently, unresolved back focus issues. I even went outside the fold completely and got a Panasonic Lumix LX3 which I used almost exclusively for a while.

But I really missed my Pentax glass and got a K-r a few months ago. Whilst the body is certainly smaller and lighter than the K10, once you put a zoom lens on and maybe a throw couple more lenses in the bag the weight difference becomes negligible. I'm not trying to discourage you, but getting a lighter body like the K-r, whilst a step in the right direction, is probably not the panacea that you're looking for. That said, it's a really capable camera, outperforms the K10 in image quality (IMHO) and the kit lens is by no means shoddy.

Not sure if that helps any.

Adrian

I agree with this absolutely. Cheap rapid chargers killed so many sets of my AA batteries that I eventually ponied up and bought this link

It's now reconditioned most of my existing AAs and, those it couldn't, I've been sure I can consign to the recycle bin.

As an example, a portable radio I use would go through a set of batteries in about a week when charged from a cheap rapid charger. Conditioned then charged with this Technoline charger and I'm getting over a month out of a single charge.

Adrian

Jules

I bought a Dell U2311H a couple of months ago to replace an aging no-name 17" TFT and am really happy with it. Whilst I don't have a 2209WA to compare it with, I did consider one but the fact that the U2311H was £50 cheaper, and easier to find, were big factors.

One thing I would say is that, if you get the U2311H, take care with the calibration. Out of the box it had a distinct green cast which calibration with a Spyder 2 didn't entirely cure. I then used some sample RGB settings off the Dell support forum and recalibrated from that. This was a big improvement. I know that you're not supposed to do it like this but this was the only way I could get the colour the way I wanted it. I think the reviewer on TFT Central also had to do something like this as well to get the image the way he wanted.

Hope this helps.

Adrian