Without a doubt!

I'd be interested in which part of technique is responsible for noise in shadows.
I'm not above blaming myself for problems, nor am I incapable of believing equipment is possibly at fault (equipment that has been proven to have other major faults in some cases).

In either case, I do not want these issues and if it is merely a step I can take to improve my personal abilities that would save a lot of money and time over repairs or purchase of new equipment.

So someone, please educate us with your wisdom, if you would please be so kind.

Dunno about that. There are times the K7 has just awful noise in the shadows, even in bright sunlight.
I have some downright disappointing ISO 100 images.
The K7 is nice, but there are times I think the K10D did a decent job more consistently.

I have not had the K5 long enough to weigh in on whether it suffers from low ISO noise.
It certainly appears to do very well at high ISO.

But, I do not know where DNG would make any significant difference over PEF and why PEF would be preferred for testing of tone mapping.

Why PEFs? I don't know if any third party software handles K5 PEFs yet.
DNGs would give you a better chance at working with other software.

Just note that if you go the liquid option, be careful about which one you buy.
I know of two choices; Eclipse and Eclipse2. The wrong one will damage the sensor coating.

Other than that, nothing to doing it yourself.
I have not heard of anyone with an ounce of common sense actually doing damage. (if you have uncontrollable shaking in your hands, you might want to think about having someone do that for you)
Liquid cleaning is probably about the only thing that gets sticky pollen and similar crud off the sensor.


Have not tried the Artic Butterfly, how well does it work for really sticky stuff like pollen?
Although honestly, with the anti-dust system in the K7/K5 I have not had a reason to do more than use the Rocket Blower.
Just interested, as the Artic butterfly would be so much more convenient than carrying flammable liquid, especially on a plane trip.

Are you shooting moving targets or standing ones?

To freeze action you're going to need a shutter speed of 1/500 to 1/1000.
Even with a f2.8 lens, you're going to need some high ISO indoors.
For agility or other fast action, in stadium type lighting, ISO 10000 (ten thousand) and f2.8 is not a bad place to start.

At least use a tripod or monopod. If the subject is moving, try to learn how to pan with the subject. This will allow longer shutter speeds, but obviously for animals there are a lot of moving parts -- you will not get every part sharp with longer exposures.

Noise reduction software will become your friend.
Try a few to see which work for you, Noiseaware, Noise Ninja, LightRoom3, etc...

Yeah I got 21 frames RAW+JPEG.
I just had to giggle to myself like a little child for a second or two.

That will give me an excuse to get back out skiing this winter and maybe get some great jumping shots.

I think there was discussion of all new lenses being SDM-only, but I would have to assume cameras will need to support older drive motors for quite some time.

Pentax does not advertise all the new lenses that they have available (for good reason ) ... they advertise about the Millions of existing lenses you can use. Would be counter productive to cut them out of the picture - so to speak.

OK...I tried to see if the shutter bounce was an issue but I guess I'm not really sure how to determine if it was a success or not.

BUT... five or six times AF was absolutely soft on the K5 and ten out of ten times on the K7.
BUT, BUT... ten out of ten times with Live View and contrast AF, focus was spot on for both the K5 and K7!

So, does this sound like an issue with my technique or an issue with standard AF?
Possibly an issue with the mirror bounce since LiveView keeps the mirror locked up???

Any opinions on if these finding mean anything? I'm honestly not sure what to look for. (I'm trying to find Falk's info)
I'm certainly not going to make any claims on findings from less than a dozen shots with each camera.

Sadly, it is getting too dark today to get images at 1/125s shutter speed any more, so I had to cut things short. I'll have to get more valid tests during mid-daylight over the weekend.

I've read on tripod also shows the issue, unless the tripod is sable as the Rock of Gibraltar.
I'm not certain I have seen consistent behavior with the K7 so I may not be able to prove or disprove the existence with the K5.

I am hoping to try to find out, since most of my studio work is at or around 1/125 and the K7 is a bit soft far too often -- but not consistently. But I don't use a tripod, so I cannot say for certain if it is me or the camera.