I have both the Sigma 10-20 and 8-16, and the 8-16 is a much better lens imo. I love the really wide view at 8mm, and it's sharper than the 10-20 from 10-16mm. The inability to fit filters is an issue for some, but it really brings out the blue of skies well, so for me filters are not an issue, and a polariser wouldn't work well with such a wide angle anyway.

Pentax cameras don't record focal lengths below 10mm, so if you want to use lens corrections below 10mm, you have to modify the exif using ExifToolGui or similar.

A few shots from the 8-16mm. The last one would have had a beige sky with any other lens.



[/url]Petronas Towers



[/url]Stairway



The office


[/url]IMGP7277

Just received this email, no mention of compensation though...

"Dear Mr. Jon Bowles,

I am writing you from Bayt’s Legal Department. This email responds to your emails (“Emails”) to our feedback department dated Sunday, June 15th, 2014.

Bayt respects all photographers’ copyrights and it does not, nor has it ever had any intention, to violate such rights. While our marketing team has not yet confirmed the source of the image used in the advertisement you had mentioned in your Emails, we have immediately removed it to ensure that no copyrights, if any, are infringed upon. Furthermore, in an abundance of caution, our marketing team was advised to verify the source of all images in our advertisements (both online and print) and ensure that all copyrights are respected.

I hereby confirm that the advertisement you referred to in your Emails and the image in question have been removed from, and will not be used in any of our marketing material.

Best regards,

Lena"

Thanks, not heard anything back yet.......

As Ken pointed out, the use of someone's images without permission amounts to theft. I am not in the business of giving away my work for free. I certainly do not take the unlicensed use of my work as a compliment: why anyone would think I should feel flattered that someone is using my work, without accreditation or recompense, is beyond me.

Though I don't consider myself a professional photographer, it's paid for all my equipment and a holiday, and provides an erratic but steady trickle through stock and print sales. I don't expect free services from anyone else, and neither should they expect them from me.

After copying the html from their ad I can see they actually copied the image from my Facebook photography page...

Thanks, Gary! I will follow your advice. The authorities are apparently cracking down on copyright infringement in this part of the world, so hopefully this company will listen to reason.

Images are protected under international law in the GCC the same as in any other country. I've had enough of people using my images for commercial gain without even acknowledgement, let alone payment.

I have made them an offer of an out of court settlement of 30 000 Qatari Riyals, about £5000, so will see what their response is.

I've just come across a large Dubai-based recruitment consultants using one of my images illegally, advertising their services on Facebook. I'm taking legal action, and have found a copyright lawyer,but any advice from anyone with experience of this type of thing on how best to proceed would be welcome.




Link to my original image here link

DS Colour Labs are very cheap and I have had some great prints from them. If you don't want to mess about with profiles they will print straight from an sRGB profile, though I have had colour casts/slightly wrong colour on a couple of images printed this way, especially sepia or toned images, so it would be best use their own profiles which you can download here. link