thanks for the info Richard

I'm very pleased with my 60-250, optically it has become the benchmark for all my other lenses and I'm now getting far too fussy for my wife's liking ! I managed to get mine before the prices changed too .

Interesting, for the copies tested by Klaus, the MTF no.s for DA*200 are a bit better at f4 but 60-250 slightly better at f5.6 and f8.

Must do my proper comparison shoot off vs the DA*200, subjectively I felt the 200 was significantly sharper when I did last did some informal pics but we'll see. I'll aim to do it in the next 4 weeks, sorry very little free time at present due to family concerns so can't gurantee sooner than that. Any special requests ?

digital asset mgt tool photools imatch may help you with this, quoting the help file, you can query the database to :

"
-Find duplicate images in your image collections, even if the images have been resized, rotated, cropped or resized
-Find image with similar colors or similar shapes based on original images you select
-Find images with absolute or relative size or dimensions
-Find images with similar file names or images that match a specific file name pattern
-Find images based on an absolute or relative date and timestamp
-Find images from a sketch you draw
-Find images that contain specific colors or color combinations
-Find image with specific properties or properties similar to some original images
-Find image based on the GPS coordinates within the images
-Find images based on complex combinations of criteria, like "Find all images named like bea* that have been added within the last 3 months" or
"Find images that are mostly red and smaller than 640 x 480, but only if they are newer that 6 weeks"
You get the point…

"

I have not needed to do this myself so no practical experience but no doubt it can do it, within reasonable limits, it is pretty much a does what it says on the tin type of package

worth a look imho: http://www.photools.com/

Hi folks
I had thought that the pro 300 version of the kenko teleplus TCs wasn't made in pentax fit, however jessops are advertising this :

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/74708/show.html

anyone seen one of these in the flesh so to speak, or have jessops got it wrong ? (the pic doesn't look like PKAF to me, but retailers often use the same pic for all brands)

I was bemused to find this whilst surfing ....
http://www.amazon.com/Kenko-420-1600mm-Vari-Super-Telephoto/dp/B000MX5N8O/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=photo&qid=1261177116&sr=1-2

I wonder if it's long enough to meet peoples needs for long lenses

it seems to be T-mount, goodness know what it's like, personally I'd be somewhat dubious as to the quality or usability, but hey, it's there ...

I've started using zenfolio for hosting my pics, http://www.zenfolio.com/ , I'm gradually adding my stuff to it.

Prices : http://www.zenfolio.com/zf/pricing.aspx

Free trial with full functionality available for a month IIRC

I just didn't like smugmug personally - it looked like the name sounded to me! I don't feel the need for all the social networking stuff of some other sites, I see my friends often enough to share things with them

for quick stuff I use photobucket as it's free, but I don't particularly like it.

If you choose to go with zenfolio then feel free to use my intro code 9DY-KTD-HKZ to get a discount, enjoy your decision whatever you choose !

Hi folks, short & sweet :

What do you think a fair price is for an SMC-F 70-210 in good condition ?

http://kmp.bdimitrov.de/lenses/zooms/long/F70-210f4-5.6.html

thanks

just to add my 2d worth....

I use silkypix DS Pro for RAW conversions, cropping, CA removal, curves, cloning out dust spots etc, capture sharpening and noise reduction, the usual exposure and contrast adjustments, USM available for output sharpening, it's batch processing capable and able to add watermarks, copyright or frames with a little effort.

for quick and dirty work faststone is very usable (free / donation)

I have used irfanview for slideshows so far (free / donation)

I use photools imatch as a DAM tool

and if I need layers, which I try to avoid like the plague then I have a copy of photoshop elements v6 available, but I think my old copy of elements v2 would do the job too.

oh, nearly forgot, there's always the copy of pentax photo lab which came with the pentax camera for converting raw files (free)

about a million yen was the entirely speculative rumour IIRC ?

Agree 100% with you, if we could get the dynamic range up a bit more that would be great.

I seem to remember slide film gives about 5 stops and colour print film about 7 stops and I read somewhere that digital sensors manage about the same as slide film. An extra 2 stops would be fab.

22Mp so we don't need a 1.5x TC and can just crop to zoom in would be nice but not as useful to me as the dynamic range.

all that said, I'll be looking at a K20 and a K7 in SRS before Christmas ! Just looking though, ....honest, ....really, ....sigh.

thanks for the link stefan, read this just b4 end of my lunchbreak so was skimming and didn't have time to read all the site