Hi Simon

Yes, it's worth it, yes it's DIY'able, it will improve the speed of processing files dramatically, especially if you have limited RAM and there's a lot of disk writing going on.

It's also more secure than a moving parts hard drive, which are prone to fail at short notice.

Regards
David

I would love to hear from a Pentax engineer who knows the truth about this. I have a fairly logical brain and try to think things out. I'm also quite good at fixing all manner of electrical and mechanical items, although I don't have qualifications in this. There is a common theme running through the failure reports, which is that lenses tend to fail more when they are not used for long periods. Also they tend to wake up after being placed on a camera which is then switched on and left on for a while. That doesn't square with a motor issue, but it does square with a dependence on capacitors which have lost some of their ability to hold sufficient charge.

Come on you Pentax engineers, tell us the truth - it isn't the motors is it?

Regards
David

Interestingly, I've found that even with circular polarisers (I've tried many different ones), the 55-300 doesn't work properly with them. It won't focus accurately.

Even with a skylight filter attached to this lens I have had problems, whereas 'naked' it works perfectly. There have been threads on this in the past where others have posted about the same issues.

Regards
David

It might be the same Sun Steve, but it shines at a more perpendicular angle over Australia than it does over the UK! The light is also a lot brighter too.

When in hotter climes with brighter light I always use a polariser, I find it invaluable for many reasons, not least it helps colours to 'pop'.

Regards
David

Don't use a filter with the 55-300, this particular lens hates filters and it will ruin the IQ.

If you plan on using a filter with the 16-45, it has to be a polariser, especially somewhere like Australia where the light is bright. Colours and skies will ping with the good polariser, my recommendation would be a Hoya Pro1, they are excellent.

Regards
David

Cute & amusing, also very proficient as always.

Regards
David

Apologies, I did originally mean Saturday 3rd, not Sunday 4th, my mistake. However, I think this highlights the difficulty of trying to set dates, in that we will never get everyone to agree to one. Probably it's best just to set a specific date and see who can come?

Shall we say Sunday 4th and see what happens? We can post meeting point and time nearer the date. Maybe also the YSP is suitable for (non photographer) partners too? So it might be a family friendly day if anyone wants to bring the other half and / or kids? The photographers could go their own way whilst the others do their thing, let me know what you all think.

Regards
David

Tubes are good and are probably the easiest / most cost-effective way to gain magnification, but try to get some that have aperture contacts. These are more expensive, but maintain the auto-aperture settings, which can be very useful, or even critical if your lens doesn't have an aperture ring.

You can also try more extreme measures, such as bellows, reversing your lens (using a reversing ring), or even a butchered zoom with a reversed enlarger lens fitted to it if you want huge magnification, but I think the tubes are the best place to start.

Regards
David

My 50-135 has developed the 'sleepy focus'. I hark back to a previous thread where it was suggested the issue is not the motor, but a capacitor (or capacitors) which has to fully charge to make the focus motor operate. This makes sense to me because my 50-135 'wakes' up after the camera has been switched on for about 30 seconds. Once it has woken up, it works normally with no hesitation or focus issues.

I'm sure there are things Pentax don't tell us about this, but I think the motors are probably not the issue. There are just too many reports of this occurring even with the latest motors, which we had been led to believe had been re-designed to avoid such problems. I can't believe John's perpetual dismissal of this as just 'percentages' of failure; the fact that so many of these SDM lenses fail after so many years of production is ridiculous. It's a flawed design, which is a crying shame because the optics are superb.

Regards
David

Glorious images, great compositions and beautiful colours.

I think you should be proud of these.

Oh, and that K-1 really is a special camera.

Regards
David