Apologies, I should have updated the thread here.

Both lenses are spoken for, now. One is paid for, one is promised.

Would someone please buy this, so that I can figure out what to reduce the price of mine to

In anticipation of your question, I posted a link to the 'how-to' notes on exactly that in my earlier reply.

Just a thought, but I wonder if you're trying too hard with the reflections.

The big boulder in the foreground just about adds enough difference, but you've posted several recently where the reflection is so nearly identical to the scene, that the image almost becomes an abstract.

Not that I know anything much about this sort of thing, but I find that when the reflection is too identical to the scene above, the effect is less, not more.

I much prefer the colour version, btw... though I agree that the light isn't the best. That said, sometimes the scene itself makes up for flattish light. This comes close to that.

Post a couple so that we can have a look.

As I say, sensor dust is a lot more obvious at small apertures. And on plain backgrounds.

Question.

In the first one, the reflection is almost as bright as the mountain, yet the reflected snow isn't white at all.

Unlike the 3rd, 4th and 5th ones, where it is.

Why is that?

Dust on the lens only very rarely becomes apparent on the image.

Are the dust specks in the same place on every image? Are they a lot more apparent at small apertures than large ones?

If so, it's on the sensor, not the lens.

You have three choices:

- Blower (just tends to move dust around, except with very large lumps)
- Arctic Butterfly (search for it - expensive, but good for dust that isn't stuck)
- Wet clean (swabs and fluid - sounds scary but isn't.)

There are lots of threads giving excellent advice on this one on this forum.

Usually a fan, Simon, as you know. Not this time

Way too busy, I reckon. Much too difficult to see what I'm looking at - losing the colour seems to remove important information.

And there's no real form that is emphasised by the removal of distracting colour.

So it's not for me at all I'm afraid.

I'd quite like to see the colour version, just to see where it came from ...

The composition is a little central for my liking - in the original and all the subsequent versions.

I'd have preferred to have the treetops in shot, and hence a bit less of the river. I find the symmetry of the reflection is often less satisfying than I expect in cases like this, unless there's also some interest in the very near foreground. So emphasising it by placing the mirror plane centrally isn't as good a plan as I think.

Is this from the barge?

They certainly have, since I spent quite some time discussing that very issue with both Chris@SRS, and the Pentax rep, during the Pentax open day back in November.

It's a sorry story, discussed at great length in numerous places, both here, and at PentaxForums.com.

Not only is the level not level in many cases, it also doesn't always stay level, even if it starts off level.

My K-5 was miles out (2 bars, so 3 showing) when it went back under warranty, and the one I first picked as a replacement was worse. The second one out of the box was perfectly level in the shop, and also after I got it home. However, after a week or so, it was off by one bar.

I'd lost the will to live by then, but I'll see about getting it sorted before the warranty runs out.

It's an extremely annoying fault, not least since there's no calibration function available, even though mobile phones with the feature do have such a function.

Completely inexcusable that it's still a problem with the K-5, since there were complaints about the same thing with the K-7.

Doubtless some people's are Ok, but a lot certainly are not.

By the way, you don't need a spirit level to check it. Put it on a flat surface (not necessarily a level one), and note how many bars off it is. Then turn it round - it should indicate the same number of bars off in the opposite direction.