Welcome back Gareth

Regards
David

I'll add my recommendation to that, it's a steal at £350. Having said that, I don't think it's quite as good a camera all round as the K-3 (based on 18 months of owning both) , but there's not much in it and at £350 it's a no-brainer.

Regards
David

Hi Maria

My suggestion would be to set the camera to AV mode, get the aperture set as you want it and do a test shot to judge where the exposure / shutter speed needs to be. Once you've done this to give a guideline, it's easy to switch the camera to manual and tweak it from there.

I use this method a lot, but also use the exposure compensation mentioned by Nigel, almost always I will be in AV mode when doing this.

I've put a very simple little shot on the Gallery today that uses the exposure compensation in AV mode, this one was under-exposed by just over 2 stops to make the background dark.

Best wishes
David

I'm not going to swear, but Windows 8 isn't a c**p operating system, it's very stable, loads very fast and is generally good. Some don't like it because it introduced some new ways of navigating compared to the previous Windows OS's and therefore requires getting accustomed to change, but fact is you can easily configure it to behave in a very similar way to Win7. We run a mix of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 at work; we use our computers heavily all day every day, for all manner of applications and I don't think anyone in our office would change back to Win 7 after getting used to Win 8.

I'm not offering a personal opinion here, just trying to give a balanced view.

Regards
David

Hmmn, I think some are mis-understanding the intent of what I said.

I'm not trying to suggest that everyone should move from IE11 to Google Chrome, not at all. I was stating an undisputable fact, that Chrome's JavaScript engine is massively superior to IE11's JavaScript engine and that if anyone is struggling to view the site using IE, trying Chrome could be worth a go. I have no axes to grind with Microsoft, Google, Apple or anyone else and I couldn't give two hoots about which browser I or anyone else chooses to use.

BTW, I use IE11 myself, not Chrome for most browsing.

I understand that everyone wants to choose and that web developers should account for performance in different Browsers, but you can't turn a Sow's ear into a silk purse and unfortunately Internet Explorer in whatever incarnation is a pig's ear as far as JavaScript is concerned.

Don't shoot the messenger!

Cheers
David

The K-5ii cameras onwards are demons at focussing in dim light, without the need for a focus assist lamp. Like John, I don't use focus tracking and I stick to centre point, but unlike John I have had focus issues, more so with certain lenses, such as the DA 17-70 and surprisingly the DA*50-135, which I have found devilishly difficult to get the right AF adjustment set up with my K-3. Having said this, I mainly shoot it at F2.8, so DOF is thin.

The only camera I've owned which was bad at focussing was one of my K-5's, but I had another one which had no issues at all, so there is a lot of variability. I suspect those of us that like to shoot with wide apertures probably have the most issues!

Regards
David

I tend to agree with Nigel here (!!!), not a common occurrence but there's a first time for everything!

Flash is invaluable in certain situations and like Nigel I almost always choose the manual route with mine. In fact, I prefer a fully manual flashgun, partly because I like the control and partly because you can get a powerful and flexible unit for very little money. I do own a P-TTL flash which is great with the K-3 (not good with K-5iis due to well known and documented issues with the K-5 and P-TTL flashguns), but it hardly ever gets used.

I find the flash particularly good in situations like indoor gigs, when performers use LED lights that would otherwise completely ruin a shot. Here's an example of using one in this situation:




It is definitely a skill worth learning to use flash to get natural results such as Nigel's images in this thread.

Regards
David

I have a Windows 8.1 laptop at home and a Windows 8.1 laptop at work. On one of the PC's the site runs fast (my home PC) and on the other one it is painfully slow, to the point where it sometimes can't even load the home screen fully and I have to close it down and try again.

Now the technical bit.

- It's nothing to do with the networks I am on, as my work PC is just as bad at home
- It runs much better in Google Chrome on my work laptop than it does in Internet Explorer 11
- I work for a company that develop web applications, I have some knowledge of why there might be a performance issue in IE
- My work laptop has an integrated graphics card that struggles with anything in IE that uses a lot of javascript
- My home PC has a dedicated (fast) graphics card which allows it to steam through and masks any performance issues
- I suspect the site is using a lot of javascript which many PC's will struggle to process quickly, resulting in poor page loading / rendering times
- Google Chrome has a much better javascript engine than IE does, so if anyone is struggling I would recommend trying the site in Chrome as opposed to IE

That's my take on it anyway, probably there are some web developers who will know better (I'm not a developer) but I think it's a reasonable theory.

Regards
David

Thanks Nigel, I knew you would take my comments in good heart. They aren't pointers BTW, it's not for me to say how you should approach your photos, these are just personal observations that aren't any more valid than anyone elses. I would guess a lot of people don't see my style as their cup of tea and there's room for all of us (and a few more) on here!

Cheers
David

Great images, especially the first one. I must dig out my 135mm F3.5 Tak and stick it on the tubes, I know it's capable of magic and I don't use it enough.

Regards
David