I see that Jessops profits are down (http://tinyurl.com/yfkm3n)- blamed on a shortage of Kanikon kit. Maybe they should have stocked up with Pentax gear!

Now I remember why I am going to hang on to my DS!

Back to the subject of metering, with the DS (haven't had a chnace to try it with the K10D) I found the metering to be reasonably accurate, and after a while you could get a feel for how much compensation to use. But as John says - bracket! Or at least start from the exposure time suggested by the meter then try it at 2x and 3x times. Use the image replay and the histogram and you get a good idea of the final image. And with digital you aren't wasting film by experimenting, it's only electricity!

and here's another link worth looking at http://www.jr-worldwi.de/photo/index.html?ir_comparisons.html

Last year I managed this (with a lot of help from MattM in post-processing!

Given the cloudy skies here, very few photons in the near infra-red have reached the ground, letalone the sensor on my K10D! I did see somewhere a photo taken in the IR with a K10D, I'll try and dig up the link.

EDIT
here's the link http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00JKfj

I used to shoot people, then they caught me.

JimN,

Because the CCD in a camera like the M20 is much smaller than that in an DSLR, noise becomes much more of a problem, so on the M20 ISO200 is far noiser than ISO200 on the K10D, therefore when you carry out your tests for the best possible image, try to keep the ISO set to the minimum that the camera allows (ISO64), then use a tripod or other support if necessary.

It's probably because I normally use an SLR that I have my Optio set up this way:-

In the Rec menu I set the ISO to it's lowest value (80) and I have programmed the Green Button to step through WB, Focussing Area, Sensitivity and EV Compensation.

I ignore all the "picture modes" and keep it set to Program.

Here's a link to a picture taken this afternoon at 15:14 as the light was fading:-

http://www.ammonyte.plus.com/images/IMGP0974.JPG (Not a great shot, I was just recording the level of the water in the Moat)

Jim,

Your picture seems a bit small at 1.6 MB, I get pics of up to 3 MB from my opitio wpi (6 MP), and the ISO is set at 125. I keep my optio set to ISO80 and manually change it. These compact cameras have a habit of dropping the resoloution and quality if the light is a bit poor. Double check that all the settings are on max quality.

This is the only example of a pic from my optio wpi that I could find in a hurry http://www.ammonyte.plus.com/images/IMGP0965.JPG

It's the DS with all the macro bits on!

Liam,

When I click the link for the full-sized images I get:-

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