By the way, I dug this one of mine out from a year or more back - just as an example of the way flash lit images don't have to look so sharp that they acquire a speckly look about them.

This is why I'd like the OP to take a closer look at his workflow - the captures are great, and the detail is fantastic, but there may be something about the PP that makes the feathers (which in reality are quite fluffy!) look like something you could cut yourself on.

In fairness, I don't think the detail in mine is as good as the OP's - it's a fairly aggressive crop from a K10D image, and the DOF is very shallow. But I think you'll agree that the look is quite different.

Yes, I love the mouse. Especially the last two of the three.

I brought this up a few weeks back, and the suggestion was that it wasn't so much the sharpening, as the flash. I'd be interested in the details of the post-processing, since I'd like to understand the relative contribution of the direct flash, and the sharpening itself, presumably as the last step.

There's no denying the detail, and some of the captures are simply excellent (I very much liked the woodpeckers in their nests), but I'd have to say that the overall effect isn't usually to my taste.

I prefer a more natural look myself.

I read that wrong the first time... for a moment I thought you were referring to your own rowing barge

Nice light there - would the picture benefit from a little highlight recovery, followed by a bit of shadow boost, do you think?

Better than usual, mate, do it more often

If I was in the position of having to make this decision, I'd wait a little while, at least until the initial reviews and experiences come out, and just as importantly, I'd had a chance to handle one.

No one has significant experience of the K30 yet, so any view will be based on specs (and speculation!) alone.

There's a good chance the AF is better but how much better is impossible to say. The preview at DPreview looks like a good comparison.

Personally I'd miss the top LCD, and I'd need to handle it for a bit to decide where I liked the mode selector wheel on the opposite side of the camera. If it had only had the one thumb-wheel like the K-r and previous, it would have ruled it out for me, but it has both, which is a significant improvement, and makes it a less obvious decision.

I suspect I'll be lusting after the K-5 replacement when it comes out though, given that I have one already, and don't need to make this rather tough decision.

Sure, it would be a startling experience, to have the cowl come off. I doubt it's scarier than some of the near misses we have probably all had on the road, over the years.

The fact is, there were no injuries, and the aircraft landed with minor damage, which was fixed.

It is always possible to find accident reports. As I pointed out, sensationalising individual cases on the basis of a lack of knowledge will make headlines, but it won't contribute any actual information.

The fact is, we all get used to the risks we take every day, and they don't seem too terrifying. When we have no experience of other people's risks, it's very easy to exaggerate them in our minds.

I would be terrified of caving, and bungee jumping. I'm frightened on rollercoasters, yet not flying aerobatics.

It's what you know, understand and are used to, that determines your fear response.

It also remains a fact, that despite the accident reports (which I read avidly, in order to learn from), fatalities (as opposed to minor things) are pretty rare, and almost always due to people doing daft things.

Choose your pilot carefully

Ah yes, the power of the search engine.

And your point is?

Despite Algi's obvious pyromaniacal tendencies, this is of course, nonsense in all but the rarest conditions.

Even the two-terminal chargers, the good ones anyway, should cut off based on the battery voltage as it increases.

Not sure I'd go for the very cheapest of no-name chargers from eBay though - I wouldn't want it to charge too fast on a warm day, and, as Algi would doubtless enjoy, set fire to my house.

I'd put money on the K-5 replacement having one. Not a lot, since I'd never underestimate Pentax's ability to annoy, as well as delight. But a bit all the same.