I find that the (R1800 the larger version of he 800) is the best photo printer Ive used so far. Excellent color, very good print permanence.

I posted a couple of shots from the 12-24 here in case anyone wants to look. It's a superb lens, it gets me back into the wild wide world of wide angle.

Nikon has stated publicly that they're not building a full-frame sensor, Pentax is putting out lots of lenses for the smaller sensor. Canon has full frame cameras, for a lot of money, but they too have smaller sensors in some of their cameras, and they make lenses for them.

If you're really into megapixel madness, wait for the 645. Otherwise, get the *D or wait for its successor.

Years down the road, the APS-C might seem small for huge megapixel counts. But that's what medium format is for. Full frame 645 sensors are not too far down the road, the ones in use now are almost full frame. But they cost more.

All RAW files embed a jpeg of what the camera thinks would have happened if you were taking a straight jpeg or tiff. I generally ignore them, except maybe to check that I actually got the shot.

RAW processing is an art. Just like the negative was the score, and the print was the performance (according to Ansel Adams), the RAW file is the negative and the final image is the print.

FWIW, I use Adobe DNG converter as the first stage of my intake. That way all metadata is embedded within the file rather than as an xmp sidecar file.

Yeah, me, too. There's always something!

Actually, the same adapter is available for various lens mounts, including the M42 and the K mount. They're made by a third party manufcturer. You could use your Pentax glass on an E-1 if you thought it was worth the trouble.

I'll stick with the *st D, thanks.

I just hope the next one has a less awkward name!

Before you gush too much, just remember that Pentax originally did not make the DSLR's fully compatable with M and K series lenses. Some of those lenses are older than most people on this forum, but they're excellent glass.

After a howl of protest went up, Pentax released a firmware update for the D that allows the use of the old manual lenses.

Hopefully they will get rid of the "crippled" KAF2 mount, and make the next camera easy to use with all K mount lenses.

I though Phase One was up to 32 megapixels. The Canon has a lot of pixels, but they are small. Wait for the digital 645 or get a Mamaiya and a back. Larger sensors mean each photosite is larger, so the dynamic range and quality can be better.

I find that six megapixels is plenty. Just a few years ago they were using six megapixel backs to make posters the size of the side of a building.

I think there's a point where your technique, attention to detail, and choice of lighting are more important than how much electronic junk you have in your hand!

I, for one, am glad that Pentax holds off on the in-camera sharpening. I usually shoot RAW, but if I shoot JPEG, I'll do my own damn sharpening in Photoshop, thank you very much.