The only hat I've worn for years is a Tilley, made in Canada (by those crazy Canucks). High UV resistance, so it keeps the sun off, and equally effective in a monsoon. Can be embarrassing, though. A group of young chaps I passed in Marseilles a few years ago started whistling the Indiana Jones theme tune. I took it as a compliment. Some interesting testimonials here.
link


Off to the jungle now.

Al

With Cokin P-series ND grads, which I use (not often enough), you screw the filter holder on to the lens and then slide the rectangular filter itself into the holder.

The cut-off between the ND and clear portions of the filter is roughly half-way down, but the filter is sufficiently large to allow you to slide it up or down to place the transition point over the horizon.

There are several theories for metering with these filters but I tend to lock in the exposure for the darker areas with the filter off the camera and then slide in the filter to cover the sky, or other overly-bright area, and expose. The holder can be rotated to place the transition line anywhere in the frame.

It's useful to have filters of different densities to cover different variations in brighness. I have one- two- and three-stop NDs, with a "soft" transition to blur the line where the ND portion comes into play. I'm no expert with these things but accomplished landscape photographers use them a lot.

Hope this helps

Al

The sky really makes this shot. Lovely. The Pentax/Samsung multi-segment metering tends to give the effect you describe. If you feel you're losing quality in the darker areas, an ND graduated filter is probably the way forward. If the ground was properly exposed without a filter, the sky would be blown and you'd lose the whole impact of the shot.

Cheers

Al

Hi,

That's right, you won't need any other gizmos, Hiljon. The 360 is triggered "wirelessly" by the built-in camera flash. The on-camera flash communicates exposure information to the 360. It works this way with the K10D/GX10 and K20D/GX20, so I assume it will also work with the K200D. Your camera manual should confirm this (or not). You just set both the camera and flash to wireless mode. I'm sure Mattmatic will be along at some point with the definitive answer. The wireless function and high-speed synch were the two main selling points for me with the 360.

Good luck

Al

Hi, Oula. Postage to Finland seems to be £47.99, including insurance, for the international standard service. Delivery is 5-7 days. I can accept PayPal. PM me if you're interested.

Thanks for looking.

Al

Price drops:

GX10 and lens now £250 including next-day special delivery. Shutter count 2330.

MZ-M, now including Pentax FA35-80 f4-5.6, £40 plus postage at cost.

P30-T, now £20 plus postage at cost.

Additional item: Pentax SMC-M 135mm f3.5. Super condition. Glass crystal-clear. £25 plus postage at cost.

Al

This may be a shot that's best left in colour, although the B/W versions are interesting. I honestly couldn't decide between A, B or C. Possibly some combination of A and C would work best. It's hard to say on an LCD monitor. Send me a three-foot-wide version of all of them on canvas and I'll let you know. I'll send the other two back, honest.

Al

Well put, John.

Al

You can change a film in not much more than 10 seconds, so it isn't a problem, even in fast-moving situations. You also picked the timing for each shot more carefully, so 36 shots actually went quite a long way. My God, how time flies.

Al

The possible difference is that, in Anglo-Saxon countries, the presumption is that you didn't break the law. That's up to a court to decide.

Al