It's a little off-topic on this thread Stan, but there are well documented issues with PTTL flash and the K-5 variants whereby the exposure is variable at best in certain circumstances. I always found that manual flash is best with the K-5 when using an external flashgun, but this is not so with the K-3. The K-3 works great with PTTL flash.

Regards
David

Also I forgot to mention in the 'plus points' of K-3 vs. K-5iis one quite major point for anyone who uses flash. The K-3 works like a dream with PTTL flash, whereas the K-5iis (or any other K-5) is a joke with PTTL flash.

We should all take it as given that a modern DSLR will work properly with PTTL flash, but unfortunately the K-5's don't.

Regards
David

I like these too, not sure which is my favourite. For me there's just a little too much foreground in number 2, but that's nitpicking.

Regards
David

Have you also seen this on the Forum Smeggy?




That's 800 ISO with a K-5iis by the way. Just goes to show that you can't take at face value what you read and see on the Internet

Apologies to Barrie and only used to show the noise in the image, but I think this illustrates a point, i.e. that exposure plays a massive part in the apparent noise. We only truly know how something performs for us when we use it.

I don't expect any agreement or consideration of this point of view from Smeggy BTW, it is just my personal opinion.

Regards
David

You have a man bag Jules? What do you keep in it?

The second one is very, very good, but the first is an outright winner. I don't think any other comments are necessary!

Regards
David

By making a panorama

I can't see anything in terms of resolution in Nigel's images that my 12-24 couldn't do? But then, I'm viewing them at 800px on a 1920 monitor!

The 12-24's measured resolution is actually higher than a good few primes, including some in production by Pentax at the moment. Not sure if this is the case across the frame, but the 12-24 is one sharp lens and is much sharper than the Sigma 10-20 based on comparisons I've been able to make. Of course, someone could prove me wrong!

Regards
David

Just to let everyone know, I'm withdrawing this K-5 from sale as I've found out today that the pop-up flash has stopped working. The camera is just outside SRS warranty so this would require a paid for repair and I would rather keep the camera for my own use (I don't use the integral flash) than pass it on to someone who might use this feature.

Regards
David

I agree with all of the above, I commented on this image in the Gallery and mentioned there that it is leaning to the left a bit.

It's a cracking good image though.

Regards
David

In the case of Andrew's camera it was front focussing quite a lot on all lenses we tried. In a case like this it is relatively easy to adjust using the 'AF Fine Adjustment' option in the camera menu, assuming of course that this allows enough adjustment to correct the issue. We had to go to -10 on one of the lenses to make it right.

Sometimes this may not be enough, in which case a global adjustment is first required before the AF Fine adjustment is made. This can only be done via the 'debug menu', which on the K-5 can only be accessed when the camera is connected to a PC via 'PK_Tether'.

The simple rule to remember is that a 'minus' adjustment pushes the point of focus backwards, whilst a 'plus' adjustment brings it forwards. We used a method of mounting the camera on a tripod, 2 second self timer, firing at a magazine page with lots of small writing, the page set at an angle of approx. 45 degrees to the camera. The lens was set to its widest aperture and images were viewed in photoshop at a magnification of 200% or 300% to determine the accuracy of focus. It is very simple to see using this method whether the lens / camera are focussing accurately. Just remember if doing this indoors that the subject needs to be well lit to avoid any possibility of focussing errors due to low light.

It's also a very good way of assessing the sharpness and chromatic aberration characteristics of your lenses. What was interesting yesterday was that after Andrew had gone, I re-calibrated my own lenses on my K-5 using the same methods. Andrew has Sigma lenses and I have Pentax equivalents. The Pentax lenses were a tad sharper than the Sigma ones were.

Regards
David