I regularly use my Pentax-M 28mm F3.5 because it's a fantastic landscape lens, very sharp and renders images in a completely different way to my DA 16-45. It also forces me to think about composition a little more. On my next landscape outing it will be the only lens I take with me.

Regards
David

Just fantastic shots Alan, you must have your hide / feeder set in a perfect position. The sunlight brings out the colour and detail in the feathers brilliantly.

Regards
David

No problem Ralph, just joking anyway. On a more serious note, there may be some members near to you who'd be happy to go out on a shoot with them and let you take some shots with a K-5 plus lenses? This way you could possibly try for free?

Anyone out there in the Norfolk area?

Regards
David

Hi Ralph - I'll hire you my K-5 and all my lenses for £125 for the weekend No refunds or offset if you buy one

Regards
David

Thanks Andrew, here are my answers:

a) I will be coming
b) Anytime from 9am
c) Fox House pub on the road to Hathersage from Sheffield
d) Winnats Pass, Cave Dale, The old landslipped road around Mam Tor, Burbage Edge, Stanage Edge, Dovedale, Derwent Water, Padley Gorge, Castleton (for interesting characters), also the Western Peak District around Glossop but I don't know this area too well so cannot suggest any specific places here

Best wishes
David

I pack mine with the lens on, on its side with the grip facing upwards and the lens pointing down towards the bottom of the bag. The bag is always completely full, partly because I don't want to be without any essential kit, but also partly so that my stuff does not have too much room to move about and it is packed close to the interior padding. This way, if I have a fall the bits in the bag will not get thrown about.

Regards
David

Hi Toby, there's plenty of members quite near to you, just up the M1 in and around Sheffield - it would be nice if you could make it on one of our days out sometime. One is coming up soon - AndrewA is organising a Peak District day out on either the 20th or 27th Jan.

Welcome to the site, hope you enjoy it.

Best wishes
David

It's a great image and also very clean - especially at 12800, but I'm sure you will agree that it can't be used for comparison purposes. Does anyone who owns both a K-5 and a K-5IIs have two virtually identical shots taken at high ISO and processed exactly the same?

I don't think this debate will be settled until there are more K-5IIs owners out there.

Regards
David

Thanks to everyone for the comments on these images. It always strikes that there is such a varied reaction to a particular image; in this set the last one seems to divide opinion on the tree. I like it with the tree as I also have quite a few shots of the same location, from a slightly different angle without the tree in view, so this one is different. There are a few 'treeless' ones in my Gallery shots.

The first two in this set have not attracted as much comment, but these are actually my favourites as they were technically much more difficult to photograph and get 'right'. Whether or not I've got them right I'm not sure!

Best wishes
David

Recently I've uploaded a few images to the Gallery taken on a trip to Scotland with Shaun Wilson. Here are a few more, I hope you like them.

Rocks & Naked Trees - K-5 and Pentax-M 28mm F3.5



Mountain Rapids - K-5 & Pentax-M 28mm F3.5



Boat & Still Water - K-5 & DA 16-45



The Tree & The Mountains - K-5 & DA 16-45



Happy New Year (& Hogmanay) to you all.

Best wishes
David