If that wiki article is right, EV 0 is an ambient light level for which you'd want an exposure of 30 seconds at F5.6, at ISO 100.

That sounds pretty dark. But with the high ISO performance of the K-5, that's only 2s at ISO 1600, and only 1s at F4.

All of a sudden, it doesn't sound that unreasonable to be wanting to take pictures. Factor in almost anything that steadies the camera a bit, and you'd be a bit disappointed if the AF locked quite happily, but was still significantly OOF.

The fact is that as the kit gets more advanced, people want to do more ambitious things with it, so are quite justifiably disappointed when they find they can't do what the spec suggests they ought to be able to.

I would like to know whether (as Falk hints at in the paper) the issue is Pentax-only, though.

I'd speculate that, just as they've fixed the KxxD stop-down metering problem, and the K-7 shutter blur problem, they'll find a way of fixing this in the next dSLR, but (despite the suggestion that it's a deterministic error that could be fixed in firmware) won't retrofit the fix to the K-5.

Ok, so I've now found this wiki article. Is it all nominally at 100 ISO?

How dark is 0.5 EV? Are we talking 'too dark to be able to walk around without bumping into things'? Dimmish room in the evening?

Well to be fair, if you can't see to focus, the AF is all there is.

There are loads of times it's too dark to see properly when I'd still like to be able to take pictures and rely on the AF.

Well, it's not actually blur, is it. If you zoom in and look closely at lines while you move the slider, they don't get smeared the way Gaussian blur would, for instance.

It's more like reduced contrast, rather than actual blur, which is why I'd be interested to know what the difference is between that and the contrast slider. The two aren't the same, but I can't work out what the actual difference is.

Best thing to do if you're not going to use the D rings, is remove them, along with those protectors.

It's much easier than you'd think - it just needs the right tool to prise the ring open before threading it through the metal bit that attaches to the body.

And it turns out that this is exactly the tool you need.

I agonised long and hard about what I could use to get the D rings off - I had visions of something like a screwdriver slipping and gouging a nasty groove in the camera...

... but then I thought of the nail file - its handle is perfect for the job. It's tapered, and the fact it's plastic means that it slides easily in between the sprung loops of the D ring.

Slide it in, and twist off the ring. It also goes back on with the same technique - I've done it twice now, to get it off, and once to put it back on.

Here's how to do it without strapping four jet engines to your back...

Admittedly level flight isn't feasible, but it still looks like an amazing rush.

Clarity, Vibrance and Saturation are all sliders with +/- 100 available in the ACR that comes with CS5. Also Elements 9 I think, though I haven't installed that on the new 'puter yet, so can't confirm..

Nor me!

Unless the OP is asking if there's a similar adjustment in PSE *after* you've opened the image. But I have no idea what he means by 'soft option'.

I think people are usually very willing to answer questions, but if the question isn't clear, it's not easy to answer.

[quote="Gwyn"]
The clarity slider in PSE ACR adds "punch" to your picture.[/quote]Does anyone know what it actually does, though?

Visually, it seems to make it look a little clearer - but not actually sharper. In fact I can sometimes get a sharper image eventually if I reduce the Clarity setting to less then 0, and then bring the contrast and sharpness up after opening the image up.

So I'd guess it's some manipulation of contrast, but quite what it does (or why it needs a separate control for it), I don't understand at all.

Reduced again to £195.

As a general point, you can always test the links by clicking the preview button.