You can either have a digital preview, as you seem to be using, where the camera displays an image on screen, but doesn't record it to the card, or you can have Optical preview, when the camera simply closes the lens down to the selected aperture - just like traditional 'Depth of Field Preview'. This is what John's refering to. The options are in a custom setting somewhere (I don't have the K10D so can't tell you where).

Dan

Fair enough - hadn't re-read the whole thread...

Dan

Just a thought. Is the eyepiece covered or uncovered when you're doing these tests? i.e. could it be ambient light coming in through the viewfinder that's confusing the meter?

If you've got the camera tripod mounted, I'm just thinking you may be looking through the finder some of the time, and not at other times...

Dan

...or not!

£219 here.

Who are they, by the way - if they treat you right and give you a good deal, don't hesitate to spread the word!

Dan

Hi Brian,

I was refering to the 40mm lens, not the camera - that's around £400 ($915CAN). Seems as though UK and Canadian prices are about the same at the moment then.

Re-reading your posts, I can see that I mis-understood what you'd ordered from the US.

Dan

Go on, make us Brits sick - tell us how much it's costing you, and we'll say whether it's half the price of our local store.

If you were gettinng it in the UK you'd need about CAN$495.

Dan

I'm guessing that "Bracebridge, ON Canada" is not in the UK John.

Perhaps some of the other Canadians on the forum have preferred suppliers that may be able to help.

Dan

Hi Tom,

Excellent shots again! You do realise Crickets can bite, don't you?

Image 4143 is especially good, showing exr=tra detail around the mouth and antenna, whilst keeping the eye sharp. Looks as though your sensor could do with a quick clean though, working at these small apertures really shows up any dirt stuck to it.

You've done well with the exposure too - shiny black insects are not the easiest to get right.

Show us more!

Dan

Just thought I'd try the C1 method I mentioned above on my image:




Used the output profile 'Phase One Grey Profile 2,2', and just played around with the white balance etc until I liked what I saw. Looked a bit odd when I put the profile back to Adobe RGB though.

Dan

Using Photoshop Elements, I don't have the Channel Mixer, so I quite often use the following technique, which includes 'toning':

Create new adjustment layer, selecting Hue/Saturation.
In dialogue box, with 'Master' selected, turn saturation to -100.
Then adjust individual colours to suit (the drop down box gives options of Red, Yellow, Green etc). I often increase the lightness of reds and yellows, decrease blues and cyans, replicating a red or yellow filter.

This gives a basic B+W image that you can then adjust contrast using Levels or Brightness/Contrast adjustment layers.

To 'tone' an image, I create a new layer and fill with a warm yellow. I change the blending mode to 'Darken', then adjust the opacity to around 10%. Create another layer, fill with a deep blue, blending mode 'lighten', opacity around 4%. These all depend on the image and the effect you're after - this is really a split toned effect. Please note, I've never actually toned a real B+W print, so I'm not necessarily trying to replicate an actual process - I just like the result.




Also this I did today:



Original Image



Toned

Turning off the Hue/Saturation layer, I found I liked the colour version with toning too!




If you're converting RAW's using Capture One, you can select a Black and White profile, and adjusting the white balance and of course the levels (deselect 'preserve colour balance') will give a black and white result with a fair amount of control. You could then apply these settings to the rest of the images for a quick B+W batch conversion.

Dan