[quote:3496ace15f="johnriley"]Edward Snowden take note

There's no real doubt that the iPad is currently still the one to beat. As with all Apple products, it carries the premium pricing that comes with being leader of the pack. I have used the Samsung and it's fine -- just not (yet?) as good.

My, I'm afraid not v helpful thought, is that life is too short for such nonsense. Behind the verbiage, what is the real issue here? If the group is (rightly) concerned that it should have sufficient permission to publish the photos in any publications, including its website (assuming it has one), then it needs a licence, not ownership. The source of the photos (ie the photographer's name) would usually be incorporated in a caption, or if no caption, unobtrusively on the photo.

It doesn't make sense for a group relying on the good nature of its helpers to use the convoluted language you quote here and to try to tie them up in quite unnecessary restrictions.

I readily accept that the second generation K5's have better focusing ability, particularly in low light, but I don't recognize your characterization of the K5 in relation to my copy of the camera and front/backfocusing. It doesn't do it, and shots at f1.8 (my widest aperture) are spot on. In other respects -- speed and focus points -- Pentax remains behind some of its competitors, but that is another matter.

Some copies of the K5 clearly do have problems, suggesting imperfect assembly or (which amounts to the same thing) exessive tolerances. But I don't think the fault is inherent in the model's DNA.

I can understand why, say, a professional landscape photographer (or even a highly accomplished amateur) might feel the urge to upgrade to FF, which currently means leaving the Pentax stable. A likely dilemma for Pentax is that their share of the market is small and the market for full-frame DSLRs is also currently small. So, x% of y thousand, where x and y are relatively small numbers, is a financial conundrum.

That seems even more true if Pentax gauge their chances of pulling across established professional photographers currently using other brands as slim.

It is hard to know whether 'full-frame' will eventually become the new standard for DSLR cameras. It may, particularly if the manufacturers' costs, competitiveness, and optimism drive prices down. Timing counts for a lot. Pentax are not necessarily disadvantaged by not having FF now -- the lack might be wise -- but if the ball starts rolling, they need to be ready to play.

Of course they also need to produce a distinctive FF offering ... but that's mere detail.

It'll wrap up all previous changes as well, of course, as offering the new...

Exactly. A photo where the gods were looking over me and had arranged the right light, the right angle of view, and sometimes a fortuitous combination of circumstances.

I still have a B&W print of a photo I took as a schoolboy (negative long lost) of a traffic warden arguing with the commander of a light tank, who'd parked on yellow lines outside the army recruiting office near Charing X station. He was leaning out of his turret, she was waving her pen at him.

My camera was a Praktica and the lens certainly inexpensive; plus, I developed the film and printed the photo myself. So the result is a bit grainy and could be sharper. But it still pleases me as a composition and as a conceit: the British Army meeting its match in Lovely Rita the Meter Maid.

... if you mean in relation to the tiger's canine teeth, I have to agree In fact, in that final shot cropping in closer to the face gives even greater impact

If that apple had been in the Garden of Eden, Eve might have had second thoughts ...

Cleverly done, Shaun

Inspired by Puma, I had a go with my veggies. The result is technically and aesthetically short of his standard; but I had a bit of fun and it was good to feel that I was getting some additional value from the food shop