This confused me when I tried the DL in Jessops before - I turned the Depth of Field preview switch and 'click', the shutter fired, and a 'preview' of the shot appeared on the screen. Bit strange to me, I just wanted to stop the lens down, and you can change the DoF preview to do that instead. Seems just as easy to take a photo and look at it if that's what you want, but I'm guessing there's some benefit to it - anyone used it?

Dan

I'm wondering what Peter would think of the '35mm' section of the Pentax website (http://www.digital.pentax.co.jp/en/35mm) full of digital SLRs!

Oh, hang on, it's "digital.pentax.co.jp", how confusing is that?

Any ideas on pricing of these new units yet? I was interested to see the new Sony Alpha (Minolta 7D-alike with a 10.2Mp sensor) is retailing at around £699 inc. lens - hopefully Pentax might be aiming at the same level (with the 10Mp model), or are Sony going absurdly low to try to get the Minolta users to stick with them? Dare I say it, it looks a nice camera.

Dan

I think if I had one, I'd get a little pot of black paint and get rid of all but 'M', 'Av', 'Tv', 'P' and 'B'. Although I guess if the pict modes help new SLR users get started, we can only encourage that because it means Pentax keep making the SLRs for them to use.

The LCD looks nice on it though, and the 4-way control's better too, a bit fiddly sometimes on my D.

Eagerly awaiting more info on the 10Mp model...

Dan

Ooh, even more tempting, especially with the extra couple of mm compared to the Pentax. Perhaps I'll have a glance at some websites...

Cheers,
Dan

Nice pics Niblue, make fisheyes tempting.

Just in case you hadn't realised, you've got a blob of dirt on your sensor - just above the cows ear/to the side of the lady's head, in fact on all three pics once you know where to look!

Time to read all those "cleaning your sensor" threads...

Anyway, having done some building shots for an architect recently, I've been tempted by the 12-24, the 16-45 wasn't wide enough sometimes. I even considered using FILM and my 18-35, but couldn't face the scanning!

Cheers,
Dan

Surely the mirrors are surface silvered? Therefore not prone to refraction? However, there are more air/solid surfaces than in a prism, which I guess could cause degradation, and is a mirrored surface as smooth as a polished glass one?

Dan

Calumet Photographic (www.calumetphoto.co.uk) get my vote. Not a company I normally deal with, but recent experience has been very good.

Ordered a K10D from Calumet, via Amazon, when it was obvious they'd listed the camera at the wrong price (£468 - i.e. less VAT). I was half expecting an email/phone call from Calumet to say they couldn't honour the price, which I believe they would have been within their rights to do, but, fair play to them and great customer service too, they supplied it at the advertised price.

They corrected the price on Amazon the next morning though...

Dan

The only experience I have of this shop was that I saw on their website they had (have?) a couple of lenses I was interested in (March this year, and I'd already seen it some months before listed there). I emailed them and asked if it was still available:

"Could you please let me know what your best price would be for the S/H Sigma 70-210EX in Pentax AF mount, that is listed on your website. Also your best price, including delivery, for the Tokina 80-200 2.8"

No response. So a few weeks later I tried again:

"I see from your website that you still have the below items listed - if you let me know the prices of them, I might just buy one.

Your soonest response would be appreciated."

Again, no response. Don't know whether they've got them or not, but from Steve's description, I'm certainly not going to bother to find out. Nearly did make the journey up to Camden to see a few months back - glad I didn't (although it sounds like it might be worth it, just for a laugh )

Actually, now I come to think of it, I did ring them once, spoke to a guy there to ask the price of something (one of the worst 'crimes' for adverts in my view - "price: ASK" ), he just laughed when I said it was more than I was expecting. Got the impression then that they weren't the most helpful lot.

Dan

Well that's a pain! Have to say it's the first time I've noticed it as a problem, although I have seen the 'click to activate' message a few times. I guess it's been downloaded as an automatic update, and it's therefore fairly safe to assume it's going to be relevant to a lot of users.

The simplest way round it is with rollovers, but they won't look so classy...

Good luck,
Dan

Hi Ken,

Yes, we can see the pictures now! Lovely shot of the sailing boat, and the dinghy is beautifuly sharp by the looks of it, cracking colours too.

Anyway, I was going to mention something about your website. I realise it's going through a rebuild (although that's not immediately obvious, it looks like a banner ad across the top of the homepage, so I disregarded it to start with), but can I make a suggestion about your navigation buttons?

I found that they needed two clicks before they would take you anywhere - one to 'activate the control', and the other to actually take you to the page. Just a bit odd, it doesn't do what I would expect it to, ie. one click and off you go. I'd be tempted just to use rollover images there, rather than flash. They won't look quite as nice, but it's much less to download, and some people do still use dial-up!

It all looks promising though

Cheers,
Dan