I don't think you've read the thread properly Nigel, the shots were RAW and have not been manipulated, except to resize them for upload here so there is no 'high amount of automated editing' happening on these images. Take a look at the last two sets I posted in the thread and I do explain this very clearly.

Regards
David

Isopropyl alcohol is safe to use on sensors and lenses according to many sources and I have used it several times on my sensors with absolutely nil problems. When cleaning with this, it's important that the pec pad is barely damp, not wet, otherwise streaks and spots can be left (a bit like when you wash the car and the spots dry if you don't leather it).

Isopropyl alcohol is a very pure solution that dries quickly and is effective at removing grease and dirt, without damaging plastic, glass or lens coatings. If you google it you'll find a lot of sources for buying it; you'll find it's very cheap. PecPads are non-abrasive pads specifically designed for cleaning sensitive optical items; they can be bought from Amazon. See link below to a video on sensor cleaning; this chap is using Eclipse cleaning solution rather than isopropyl alcohol, but the principle is the same.

link

Regards
David

Thanks to everyone for your contributions here - a lot of technical knowledge and differing opinions have been imparted, I'm sure we'll never gain agreement on the relative performance of different cameras and sensors, the main thing is that we enjoy our photography

Regards
David

Flash 'sold' to fourfivesix (well, swapped for a Lowepro camera bag, so not exactly sold).

Thanks to Andrew and Emma for your prompt and easy transactions.

Regards
David

Any comments on the last two shots I posted (the ones of the cotton material)? There's no focus error on these.

Regards
David

None taken whatsoever Mike. Thanks for saying this though.

Regards
David

Mike, I think your post above is a little rude if you don't mind me saying. There is clearly a lot of interest in this topic and people wouldn't still be contributing to it if they weren't interested.

I'm not sure how this can be true? It doesn't make any sense that you can make a blurred original image the same as a sharp original image simply by applying a sharpening algorithm. The last two I posted illustrate that by comparison there is some blurring on the K-5 compared to the the K-5IIs, however slight. Sharpening the K-5 image would obviously be possible but you could apply the same amount of sharpening to the K-5IIs image and it would still be sharper!

Regards
David

The water protection on the camera is more important than it is on the lens. I was out in Derbyshire in blizzards a few weeks back with my K-5 and K-x, neither of which had weather resistant lenses. The lenses and the K-5 have survived without issues, but the K-x got a little bit of moisture in through the flash housing and this has made the viewfinder go a bit cloudy.

BTW, the kit lens is excellent, no need to worry about the optical quality.

Regards
David

Hi Sean, thanks for the observation LOL! I'm just a sucker and couldn't resist any longer! Also I'm out and about quite a lot and always take two cameras, it used to be the K-5 and K-x, but the K-x is not quite as robust / damp resistant as I would like, so I decided on two K-5's. The price I paid for the IIs was no more than I could buy a II standard for, so as I mentioned earlier, there was nothing to lose.

Regards
David

Bump - Brand New Pentax Flash still up for grabs - £70