Here are some more to be going on with link

Al

To avoid any suggestion of seedy voyeurism, I suggest the Pentax team dress up in suitably gothic garb for next year's gathering.

Al

Number 5 works very well. I think the bright blue sky and mist are a bit dischordant, which is why I still prefer number 1. A day out of Hawick,as they say, is day wasted.

Al

Darnick, near (and now part of) Melrose. I also lived for a while at Bemersyde, just up the road from Scott's View. It's a great part of the world, particularly for photography. Where are you based, Alistair?

Al

Years ago, the Mac was the only serious choice for photo editing or graphic design. I don't think this has been the case for a long time but have at least two friends who swear it still is. Either will do the job equally well given the right software, IMHO. Price and software compatibility have kept me in the PC camp.

Al

Another vote for number 1. It's the most ethereal shot of the Eildons I've every seen. I was brought up in that neck of the woods, and lived for a while two or three miles from Scott's View, and don't remember ever seeing so much mist. Probably didn't get up early enough. Well done.

Al

That's interesting, Smeggy. First of all, apologies -- it is indeed the 35mm. It was rather late. As I said, I was pretty impresed with the early results but the jury will be out until I get a chance to print off a batch of more considered shots -- that's my main criterion. After using 50mm lenses for many years on film cameras, the 35mm seems the perfect equivalent on digital and the FOV works well for a walkabout lens. Mind you, that 30mm Sigma does quite a job.

Al

My 30mm f2.4 arrived today from SRS, just before I went to work, and I had a quick play with when I got home (in the wee sma' hours). First reactions: It's light but well screwed together and feels solid. It's obviously built to pretty tight tolerances. The rear end cap is one of those awful flexible jobbies Pentax seems to use with its cheaper lenses. That'll be binned ASAP.

The lens sits a treat on my GX-20 and the heft of the camera makes up for any lightness in the lens. They go perfectly together. Early (but not very scientific) tests indoors suggest it's a sharp performer, with the usual cracking Pentax take on colour. A few quick-and-nasty shots, many at f2.4 with ridiculously slow shutter speeds, look good to me.

I put a few of them up on Flikr here link. The brighter images were obviously taken with flash and all are straight from the camera with no PP. It would be interesting to hear your feedback (although not on the artistic merit of the photos). I'm planning to get out and about next week,when I'm on holiday, so will give it a workout under more normal conditions, but I'm delighted with it so far, particularly at the SRS price.

Al

I've used Serif PhotoPlus for many years and have yet to find a situation where a full version of Photoshop would provide more capability than I need -- layers, masks and all the rest. Photoshop certainly has more features but even the professionals I know use only a fraction of them, and all of these are available in Serif.

I'm using the X3 version of PhotoPlus at the moment and this does everything I want. The X4 version is new and, inevitably, bugs will be discovered. Serif are very quick to provide patches, but I'd rather wait for a few months before going for the new version.

Amazon (in the UK)is selling X3 for £25.05. That's the one I would go for if were you. Once you've bought a Serif product, there are substantial discounts for new versions. Serif has an excellent user forum. Check it out and see what you think. link

Al

I'd love to see a comparison of the DA35 and the 16-45 at 35mm. The 35 looks very attractive at the price but, unless it outperforms the 16-45 noticeably at the same focal length, blown up to A3 (I'm not interested in pixel-peeping), I don't think the speed advantage is enough to swing it.

Aw, to heck with it, here's another order winging its way to SRS.

Al