That file seems just to be the documentation, and they haven't put the link in it properly.

If you go here:

http://www.pentaximaging.com/customer_care/show_firmware?firmId=7717476

... and click the appropriate link at the bottom, depending on whether you're Windows or Mac, you can download the executable.

This will self-extract on Windows (don't know about the Mac) to a readme file and the firmware file itself. The readme.txt file in the extracted version has the version number on it, as well as detailed instructions.

It's a computer program. It's used by the camera's internal processor to do all the cool stuff it does - from displaying the menus, to responding to the button clicks and knob-turns, to displaying the preview on the LCD, to converting the RAW data to JPG and saving it on the memory card.

This is why you should only ever use the one intended for the specific model - put the wrong set of instructions in, and the processor won't be able to interpret them, and it will turn the camera into an expensive doorstop. It can be fixed, but not without returning it to the manufacturer - since the firmware uses itself to update itself with a new copy, put the wrong one in and you're stuffed.

As I say, only EVER update with the firmware that is specifically intended for your camera.

If you have a freshly charged battery (so that it doesn't stop half way through an update and thereby leave itself corrupt), and you follow the instructions to the letter, there's no problem with updating the firmware. It only takes a couple of minutes. Highly desirable, since they periodically fix bugs and release new features.

That said, if you're not having problems, and you don't need any of the features introduced (sometimes they're a bit obscure), it won't do any harm to leave it with the original firmware.

Maybe start here (lots of other hits if you Google for it):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extension_tube

And here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macro_photography

Only in JPG...

My special lens is a Sigma

Not that it's optically all that amazing, probably. It's the Sigma A 28-200 F4-5.6, manual focus, and it's special for sentimental reasons.

I've had it for about 20 years, and despite needing repair when I dropped the camera with it on - it ripped the mount out of the lens, but optically it was fine, as was the camera - it's been with me pretty much everywhere I'd taken any pictures until I got the K10D.

Pretty much perfect nick, apart from the zoom is a little looser than when it was new, and ISTR I compared it with a Kiron of the same focal length range, and concluded that the Sigma was slightly better. The test method involved taking my ME Super into the Jessops in Cambridge, taking some shots of a distant wall with each lens, getting the film processed, concluding that the Sigma was slightly sharper, and buying it.

Irony is alive and well in the north of England, I see.

He hasn't really disappeared. He was entering competitions elsewhere this morning.

And there was I all hopeful, that I'd finally see one of George's photos.

But 'twas not to be

Last week, we were expressly forbidden to post other than competition entries on this thread.. has this rule been relaxed?

It does seem sensible to me to keep one thread per competition just for the pics, and maybe another thread for related discussion.

The lamp post is the only thing wrong with this, IMHO, and there's not much you could have done to avoid it. Catching that guy sharp enough between and behind the others is an achievement in itself.

With action photos and candids, you simply don't have the control that you do with a still life, or a studio portrait.

What do you do, miss the shot completely just because of a lamp post? Or miss a fantastic moment of expression on a face because the composition is "wrong".

I say not.

And as far as forgetting you've left the camera on some now-unwanted setting is concerned, I say, let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Hear, hear.

Much more confident that getting the modern gun will be a worthwhile investment now. Thanks, Matt.