Wonderful colours in the sky, and the roofs and chimneys add interest. Could it possibly be an idea to remove/clone the aerials (or tree branches) on the left hand side of the first image?

Hm... maybe I should try to follow your example and get up earlier in the morning to catch the sunrise

Bjørn

http://www.pentaxforums.com/pages/check-shutter-count-exif.html

Bjørn

Pentax DA 12-24mm f4

Thank you all for your comments!

I purchased my K20D in december 2009, and have loved taking photos with it. A truly wonderful camera. But when I discovered the joys of capturing the Northern Lights, I realized the K20D was not really up to the task. Sure enough, one can use the K20D for Northern Lights and night photography, but then one needs to invest in serious noise reduction software and be prepared to spend a lot of time on PP. The K-5 is miles (light years) ahead of the K20D in terms of high iso performance. I have only had one session with the new camera, but when studying the images (above), I am utterly amazed at the possibilities of my new photographic tool I had to sell some of my precious Pentax glass to afford the K-5, but I believe in circulation, and the lenses are already forgotten. So Andrew, I would seriously consider an upgrade, especially with the outstanding offer there is on the K-30 in your country.

I adjusted the WB, added some contrast and adjusted (reduced) the dark tones in the curves panel in Lightroom. No sharpening or noise reduction whatsoever. But I do believe that the default "high iso" and "long exposure" NR of the camera has done some work in the background. But I am amazed at how clean the images are.

Thanks for the info! If the weather permits, I am ready

Best regards
Bjørn

Thank you for your comments exevalley, John and SM! I have always liked the handling of the K20D, and also the ISO100-400 performance. In the right context, the K20D is a truly wonderful camera. But for night photography and high iso usage it has its shortcomings. I am looking forward to getting to know the K-5

SnoozeMoose: Thank you for the youtube link, I have been wanting to learn more about the Deep Sky Stacker.

I might not be the right person to comment on portraits, but I like these. A great set altogether, but my favourites are number 1+2, very expressive.

Bjørn

I received my new (old version) K-5 yesterday. Wow - what a difference compared to my K20D. Had I known this before, I would have upgraded a long time ago. The shots below are from my first shooting yesterday. For future attempts with astro I will need to find an even darker place, there was too much light pollution where I took these, and I need to find out more about stacking images. But all the same - ISO128000 - what a revelation

DA12-24mm and 20 sec exposures.

1. Milky Way (ISO12800)
[IMG]http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz50/bjolester/IMGP0005-2.jpg[/IMG]

2. Saab and Milky Way (ISO 6400)
[IMG]http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz50/bjolester/IMGP0015.jpg[/IMG]

Great shots! The last two weeks our garden has been "invaded" by large flocks of Waxwings. They are possibly attracted to the slightly neglected fruit trees and berry bushes in our garden, and fortunately they take care of the left over plums and berries Wonderful birds!

Bjørn

I have placed an order on a K-5 today, and I am wondering about what memory cards to go for. Will a SanDisc Ultra 16GB 30mb/s class 10 be a good option? What benefits are there from using the much faster SanDisc Extreme 90mb/s?

Bjørn