Great result Shaun and an excellent tutorial. I've learned more about Photoshop in a couple of minutes than I have in 3 months trying to figure it out for myself.

Regards
David

Hi Charlotte

First thing I would try is to clean the contacts on the hot shoe with some isopropyl alcohol or similar.

Also, do you have a screw down clamp on your flashes which tightens them to the hot shoe? If so is it tight? KI often have to re-adjust to make sure my flash is pushed fully into the hot shoe and also that it is fitted tightly, otherwise it doesn't always fire.

It may not be either of the above, so please excuse me if you have already ruled these out.

Regards
David

Thanks John, I can type quite fast but I'm a but prune to maikng mastakes!

Regards
David

Very funny John, I'm sure you never make typing mistakes!

Regards
David

Nice images, but the weather doesn't look too bad on these? You should try living in Sheffield if you want to see some inclement weather, today being a fine example.

Regards
David

Just a bit of fun on a wet Jubilee Weekend when most of us probably won't be taking many photos due to the rain.

I'm interested to know what is your favourite Pentax DSLR and why? I have K-5, K-x(x3!) plus a K-m and I love them all. K-5 is clearly the best camera, but for VFM, the K-m is my best buy, only cost £150, is in mint condition and takes wonderful images in good light.

Best wishes
David

Hi Roland, a warm welcome to the forum and the site in general. I hope you enjoy pentax as much as I do!

Best wishes
David

I've been using 68mm of tubes on my Sigma 105mm F2.8 macro as I don't want to lose IQ by sticking a 2xTeleconverter on it. I find that if I am careful and creep in very slowly, I don't usually 'spook' the insects into flying away, and this includes even skittish ones like flies and Damselflies.

Having said this, I did use the Sigma 50mm Macro last year on some occasions with the TC and the results were not bad at all - very little loss of IQ. I might give it a try on the 105.

A reasonable 2x TC can be bought second hand for reasonable cost (my 7 element Teleplus was £30 and it has the auto contacts so maintains auto aperture capability) so you won't risk much by buying one and trying it.

Regards
David

Hi John

I also shoot manual very often and have quite a few old manual lenses. The K-5 is a joy to use with them compared to earlier Pentax DSLR's, although the focussing screen is not quite a good as an old manual film SLR.

Regards
David

The K-5 meters and exposes correctly with manual lenses. You can also focus manually with it if you wish and you can change the focussing screen if you want split prism. Pentax would be mad to make a camera like the one you describe as it would not sell.

Regards
David