Cheers Ray, I hope it goes well too. I will post a few more updates nearer the time and hope to get a good few Pentaxians there on the day. By the way, it's a full day out 11am to 11pm, tickets are £15 per head - great value I think. Take a look at the line-up:

link

I've booked one of the performers (James Taplin) for my 25th Wedding Anniversary do so I have a lot of faith in him and I know there are some quality acts among the other performers.

Best regards
David

Hi Alan, no, not at weddings, but I did experience it last night when shooting some images at a party. There was a band on stage and I took some at pretty close distances with the iis and a Sigma 105mm DG EX Macro. One of the guys had a jacket on with a very close weave, a bit shiny and this did produce moire. This is the first time I've seen it to any degree after taking thousands of shots with the iis and I have no way of knowing whether the K-5 mk1 would also have produced it in these circumstances (I suspect it may have done).

Regards
David

I agree with your thought process Neil. The K-5iis will reduce in price at some point in the not too distant future, especially if a new model (or models) comes out. I think at that point a lot of us will buy one and I personally would probably go down this route rather than going FF if I decide to buy another camera.

Regards
David

I'm not sure of the reason why you would need longer than the 105mm that your Sigma lens has? I find this lens superb for subjects like butterflies and dragonflies, it allows a decent working distance and produces lovely sharp images.

You could always use a 1.4x Teleconverter with it; this should not be of significant detriment to the image quality and loses only 1 stop of light.

Regards
David

PM sent.

Regards
David

Where do you live? I used to be quite handy at darts, had a fair few 180's in my time!

Cheers
David

Ditto John. The greens are still a bit too vibrant, but I like the more natural look of these images. I would like to see you go back and shoot the Cannizaro pictures Nigel and process them in a more natural way. I think the results would be lovely.

Regards
David

My formative years in photography were spent teaching myself on a vintage Petri SLR bought from a second hand shop for £20, and later a Chinon CP7M, mostly with slide film.

I took a break for nearly 20 years before taking the plunge with digital. I never considered anything but Pentax, maybe because I had a few lenses that would fit, but more because of the VFM that Pentax offered and because I like to be different.

I have never regretted this decision; the cameras are superb and the people I have met as a result of this website have inspired me. I have become good friends with some of them and my life has been enriched as a result. I feel that my photography has come on in leaps and bounds in past couple of years, so much so that I'm now comfortable shooting weddings, something I would not have dreamed about two years ago.

Thank you Pentax and thank you PU.

Best wishes
David

With the same lenses, the iis takes more detailed images, you are right that the same effect cannot be achieved by simply sharpening the K-5 images. I have noticed this most particularly with images taken at weddings. I use only two lenses on these shoots; the DA 17-70 and the Sigma 105mm DG EX Macro, both very sharp optics. Those shot with the iis are noticeably better and this follows through the PP process - the resulting iis images are better after processing. I'm basing this on thousands of images shot, not just a few.

Regards
David

I wish there was less negativity on here. What do you expect? Pentax Ricoh need a bigger range. I applaud them for updating the line up and for making the K50 and K500 in a more moderate shape.

Budget and mid-range DSLR's are where the main action in the marketplace is, so it's important that Pentax compete more effectively in this segment. I've also noticed that they are sponsoring the VW campervan festival in Bournemouth this year - smart move.

I wish them every success, but not too much success otherwise our gear will get more expensive!

Regards
David