Personally I think Photoshop is a great application. It's the equivalent of a darkroom for digital photography. I take a lot of aerial photos, and Photoshop is the only application I have tried that will reduce haze. Sometimes just a simple Levels adjustment will improve a picture. Of course, some people go way over the top and produce completely unrealistic pictures, eg overcooked HDR's or oversaturated landscapes.

There always seems to be differences of opinion between the "purists" and those who see programs like Photoshop as just part of the process of producing a good picture.

I would be interested to know what the "purists" make of black and white. It's impossible to produce a B+W photo from a digital file without maninipulation.

Thanks yes maybe I will give it a try, though it's taken me long enough to learn how to use Photoshop! Is Silkypix an alternative to Photoshop or do some people use both? At the moment I do adjustments in Lightroom and then use Photoshop for any additional tweaks.

I have to confess I had never heard of Silkypix until I joined this forum. How does it compare to CS4, or even Lightroom, and does it have any unique features? I have also never heard of demosaicing, could anyone enlighten me as to what it means? Thanks.

I got my K7 from Mathers http://www.mathersoflancashire.co.uk/ who at the time had the K7 with two WR kit lenses cheaper than anyone else. If you are ever in Bolton it's worth dropping into their shop, very knowledgeable and helpful staff and plenty of stuff to choose from! They're also the only Pentax dealer in Bolton.

I had a Spotmatic about 20 years ago which I found in my car a few days after giving a hitch-hiker a lift in Botswana. No way of finding him so I kept it. At the time I had a Zenit so already had some lenses. Was a great camera, lost it a few years ago when moving house, along with a Ricoh KR10. Hopefully someone found it and is using it now...
When I moved to the UK twenty years ago my photgraphy took a back seat, until about 14 months ago when I bought an Olympus E520. Great little (a big factor in my choice) camera, and the Oly kit lenses are probably better than anyone elses, even though they are on plastic mounts. My wife started showing a keen interest in photography so I bought her a white K-m in September, and was immediately surprised that exposures were more accurate then the Oly, and the high ISO noise much less. High ISO noise had been a bit of a disppointment with the Oly since I first shot a load of photos at ISO 800. I'd been hoping Olympus would bring out a weather-sealed E30 but no such luck.
When my birthday rolled round last month, my wife took me to Mathers of Lancashire (who were cheaper than anyone on the net) and bought me a K7!I'm more than happy with it, though, like Greytop, still have a soft spot for Olympus. I'm just in the process of selling the Olympus, with a Sigma 10-20 in addition to the two kit lenses, if anyone is interested......

I had this problem aswell. I found that after washing the filters in soapy water and rinsing them thoroughly the problem went away. I think it was probably a thin film of oil from my skin that had been smeared across the filter over time, even though I could see nothing on the filter. The problem was always worse when using a polariser aswell.

Yes I think thats probably the best option. Will stick it on ebay. Thanks for the replies, thought it worth an ask in case it had been done before.

I would think a bit of rewiring would be needed, but I am guessing someone who repairs lenses could do that. Not sure how much it would cost though. Just wondering if changing the mount on a modern lens is feasible and how much soldering etc would be neccessary. Failing that I may just have to sell the lens and buy another.

Probably a daft question, but is there any way of changing the mount on a lens, rather than buying an adaptor? I have a four thirds mount Sigma 10-20mm lens, and would like the same lens for my K7. I am presuming that Sigma put the lens mount on last, after they have manufactured the lens, as this would make more sense than having a seperate production line. If so, can the lens mount be changed? Just seen a damaged Sigma 10-20 on Ebay with a Pentax mount, so was wondering if I bought it whether I could swap the mount over? Failing that, not been able to find any four thirds to PK adapters anywhere. Any ideas anyone?

Great review! Just off down the antiques shop.....