Hey, you're being unnecessarily modest! Just write it autobiographically -- how you do things. I'm pretty sure that some tales of how you got particular shots in a particular way will be worth any amount of 'in theory' writing.

I can't imagine why an owner of the camera wouldn't want to do it. It seems to offer an improvement in autofocus and clears up some minor bugs Pentax has found since launch. I' imagine the camera will fine without the update, but a little better with it.

Mistake, partly, though not one I regret. As a schoolboy in the days of film, I admired the Pentaxes and Nikons of the time, but had only budget for a Praktica (won a holiday cruise with it, so it did the job!). For various reasons my interest in photography was then put on hold for a few decades, until a couple of years ago I found myself looking for a dslr. Looked at Nikon and Pentax, naturally ... and plumped for Pentax on the back of the wonderful reviews of the K5. Put my order in just as the sensor stain was spreading, so waited a bit for new, clean stock to arrive from Japan.

I love the camera, but although I'd done my research on the camera , I hadn't appreciated how far Pentax had fallen from grace. It was a bit of a shock to realize that one of the leading camera brands of the 60s/70s -- and perhaps later -- was no longer in the front rank in terms of size and output. If I'd known, I might have gone for that D7000. It's always slightly worrying to invest a lot of money in the products of a company that is prospering perhaps only very modestly. But for once I'm glad of my ignorance. No regrets.

I thought for quite a while about getting one, but in the end decided against. It can be used impressively, but like all ultra wide angles, it can too easily be misused. After a bit, once the novelty has worn off, acres of sky and foreground become tedious. And, counter-intuitively, given what it can pack in, it's not really the best lens for landscape shooting. I did borrow one for a week and had fun, but not too many regrets about handing it back. In its own terms, it's a very reasonable lens. I think you can believe the reviews.

After all the discussion about the s version, my expectation was raised somewhat above the reality, at least as shown in these studio shots. Looked at without enlargement, there is only the most marginal difference between the shots. Either I was expecting an unrealistic jump in definition or my eyes are showing their age -- probably a bit of both.

Good fun. Its effect is more about the idea than perfect technical execution, so others can help with PS ... but it's amusing regardless! (But you'd have us believe the bathroom's decor hasn't changed in 40 years

I agree, but it has its perils. If you look very carefully at this otherwise unremarkable stitched landscape shot, you will see our one dog featuring twice.

I may have misinterpreted the brochure, but I don't think the colour preview pictures are by HCB - it seems to be an exhibition about the inspiration a range of colour photographers took from HCB. I don't believe colour ever won him round!

I was in one of the Saturn stores in Berlin last week -- it's a 'pile it high, sell it (not particularly) cheap' sort of operation. It seemed to have most of the current Pentax line-up, though not yet the K5II/s. The K30 in blue looks great in the ads but I was a bit disappointed by that colour in the flesh. Still, it was good to see so much displayed in a mass-market retailer, though if you wanted a choice of lenses you'd probably come away disappointed.

I agree -- but it's readily overcome. I've fixed a short heliopan extension that remains on permanently and just peeks slightly beyond the hood. It allows the fixing of a square filter system, even if the filters cannot be as close to the lens as may be ideal.