I can't find one on the K10D.

There's one that specifies whether you can release the shutter while the flash is charging, and there are a couple that govern what the AF button does, and whether a half press also AFs.

But AFAICS, the only way of allowing it to fire when not focused is setting to manual focus (well, or AF-C, but that's slightly different).

The implication of this is that it's not possible to use AF lenses in MF, and use the trap-focus technique the way you can with MF lenses with the body set to AF.

Is that right?

The K10D manual is smaller than A5, and nowhere near as thick as the K-5 one.

My only experience of Samsung manuals is the one for the SEF-54PZF, which is the Pentax AF540-FGZ flash but with a Samsing badge. The manual was much shorter than the Pentax one, and left out a lot of useful information. I downloaded the Pentax one and it was a lot more helpful.

I don't think they're too bad for actual content. The indexes are Ok, and there are a lot of page cross-references when you're reading one topic and it needs to refer to another.

The reason, I think, that we end up feeling that they're not helpful enough, is simply a lack of patience. There's a huge amount of information to digest, and mostly we don't have the time or the inclination to digest it.

Where I think it could be improved is the removal of all the repeated, identical instructions ("Press the menu button X times. The camera is ready to take a picture."), which would reduce the bloat a bit and make it easier to see the wood for the trees.

Manuals are actually very hard to write.

Part of what I do includes writing software manuals, and it's not a trivial exercise to make them comprehensive, easy to read, approachable yet not patronising, and suitable for all ability levels.

And welcome from an imminently ex-K10D user.

It served me well for four and a half years - last week I acquired a K-5.

My ME Super served me well from about 1990 to 2007, so I've made much the same journey as you - not an unusual one, I suspect.

Less exposure than with film, so you don't burn the skies out, would be my tip. Then pull the shadows up - there's often a surprising amount there.

By the way, I really like the first one too. Just right on the sharpness, and funny too.

Unusual to see them on the Niger seeds - do you also get Goldfinches?

The second one is really excellent, for several reasons.

Firstly, the composition. It's in thirds, and unusually, the feeder adds to this, rather than making the picture look a bit contrived, as is so often the case.

Secondly, it has the perfect combination of fluffy and sharp, which maximises the "awwwww" factor.

Thirdly, you've caught the perfect angle. I've got into bird feeding recently, and I have a number of feeders in use. If there's one thing that becomes increasingly clear, timing is everything, and you've timed this one to perfection.

Finally, with only 6 MP to play with, and a 100mm lens, you must have been pretty close, which doesn't make anything any easier.

I'd be very proud if I'd taken this picture.

Yes, me too.

It's this bit that made me laugh, at my own complete technical illiteracy on this subject...

Eh?

I'm happy to clean a sensor with a wet swab, but that really is my limit.

Interesting. According to the manual (p158 ), that setting is not relevant when using a pre-A lens, or an A lens that is not set to A.

Those three custom settings refer to Hyper-Manual mode, which is available only in A mode.

If you have results that suggest that this isn't true, I'd be interested to see them, with the conditions carefully ensured to be consistent.

The camera would need to be on a tripod, with carefully controlled lighting.

My K10D has been set to setting 2 ever since I got it, and it still gives the exposure errors in stop-down mode, so unless there's something different between the cameras or their respective firmware versions, I'm a bit sceptical.

That's the thing, though, isn't it. I doubt if any frequent visitor here would be so daft as to pay more second hand for something they could buy new from SRS.

So there are the folks selling, and the muppets who can't be bothered to do their research.

Guess who I think is more deserving of the money

It's all very well to bemoan their madness.

IMO, they shouldn't be discouraged.

Excellent, just what I was after, many thanks.