Hi Drew,

I don't think there's any reason to 'let you have it', I don't see that anything you've said is contentious. Certainly, Canon gets it's fair share of insults on here, but I've always taken most of it to be tongue-in-cheek. Whenever I meet a photographer who says that he uses Canon, I'll reply "Oh well, never mind...", but I'm only joking.

For the vast majority of uses, any make of camera will give acceptable results. Different makes do different things differently, so Canon have gone down the cheap and cheerful (at one end of the market) route, but also catered for professionals who already used their EOS SLR's because of the high frame rates and fast USM lenses. Canon really flew out of the blocks with DSLR's, and if you have a need for 9 frames a second, then I don't think you really have a choice.

Nikon have pretty much caught up with Canon at the high end - pixel count and frame rates (I think ), so the professionals who stuck with them are enjoying the benefits.

Pentax simply don't have a camera to compete in this area, but they're getting there. What they do well at is a well specced camera at a fantastic price. When you go into a camera shop and say "I want a DSLR and have £700 to spend", you shouldn't just get a Canon 30D and a Nikon D80 shoved at you, which is what happens in a vast majority of places I think (certainly in the UK, seems to be a lot better in Canada ).

I care what other people are using if it's a result of biased or misleading shop staff/mag reviews. Pentax need to do a lot more here to push the brand, and that means get equipment to reviewers quickly, with a range of accessories and lenses (including the unique 10-17mm), donate them as prizes, ensure staff in camera shops are properly trained in the merits of the brand (send Pentax staff to stores for 'Pentax Days' etc, I've seen Nikon and Canon ones, but never Pentax). Without this investment of time and money, there's still the real possibility of Pentax cameras sinking without a trace. They need to follow up the K10D with marketting and new models.

I don't think people are necessarily saying they're smarter than anyone else for choosing Pentax, it's just that we've recognised that our particular cameras suit the way we work (either because we've already got several lenses, or they feel right in our hands, or we like the viewfinder etc). We haven't been swayed by the people saying "you've got to have a Canon/Nikon" because frankly you don't.

And what's wrong with being a little odd?

Dan

..perhaps 8 to 16?

Dan

They look a little bit safer than a few planks of wood on a cliff edge, but I'll still pass on that, thanks Tim.

Dan

I don't know about anti-shake, I reckon a pair of bicycle clips would come in handy to protect the people below.

Dan

Probably got a synthesizer now.

Dan

Beautiful shots Will, make me want to wrap up warm and head north.

Dan

If you're handy with a soldering iron, and can get hold of a few bits and pieces, you could try the following (I've no idea if it would work satisfactorily, but it might... ):

Basically, make a remote release that fires the camera and flash on seperate circuits - using one, double-pole switch (somethinglike this: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=2345&criteria=PUSH%20SWITCHES&doy=29m12). Double pole means that it has 4 connectors, but they're in pairs which are seperate from eachother. So as you press the switch, the contacts are made between the two connectors in each pair, but not between the two pairs - so you can have two independent circuits, which both get switched on at the same time.

The camera needs a lead with a 2.5mm jackplug (can be a mono one if you're using manual focus) and the flash is probably the same fitting on the flash itself, so you'd need to make a lead to run between the remote and the flash.

When you pressed the button on the switch, it would close the circuit for the camera remote, firing the shutter, and on a seperate circuit, trigger the flash.

If you've got this far, it might sound like a good solution, but I feel there may be a problem with the shutter firing fractionally after the main output of the flash - it depends on how long the flash discharge lasts for I think.

If that makes some sense, but you need it explaining better, let me know. If you try it and it works perfectly, let us all know!

Dan

If you search Google for 'aladavlis' you'll find he'she has joined an awful lot of forums in the last couple of days...

Oh, and according to 'SurvivalForum.com', they come from Afghanistan, yet on 'Podcast Pickle', they're in the USA. And what is this interest of his: 'Car Drifting'?

Dan

Peter, I do hope you haven't got a Canon upon which you wish to fit your Pentax lenses. Or did you mean to get an aperture (apparature) ring on DA lenses to use on your Pentax's?

What is the plural of Pentax? Pentaxes? Pentax's?

Dan

Whose side are you on? We need to make them buy Pentax, to see the error of their ways!

But anyway, I suppose you could make an adaptor that would move the 'aperture activation lever'* to the required position to close the aperture down to the required size. Probably have to be geared somehow, otherwise it would need a very small turn of the ring to go from min to max. Also, not sure that all lenses would have exactly the same lever design, so variations in exposure might occur between lenses. Also, might have problems with lenses of differing maximum aperture.

Apart from that, should be a doddle. Weekend's coming up, get the cornflakes packet and sticky-back-plastic at the ready!

Dan

* Probably a proper name for it, but you know, the wobbly bit that makes the aperture close down.