I joined Pentax User about the time the weekly competiton went into the Gallery consequently have never entered a competition in the Forum. I know there was a lot of chat about it in the summer and some of the old hands didn't like the new format. Personallly I think sending pictures to the Forum seems far too complicated while entering in the Gallery is a simple matter. I'm a simple sort of person so I much prefer the Gallery.
david

Black and white concentrates attention on shape, form and tone more than colour. Artists still do pencil and charcoal sketches despite the fact that colour paint is readily available.
Colour makes a different sort of statement to mono but each medium is equally valid.
david.

What's a skirting board?
david

No. 2 for me, no contest.
david

The drinks are on me.
david

I want everyone to know I've now got my gold medal. I'm promoted from silver to gold having posted my 30th contribution to the Forum. Now I can hold my head up in illustrious company such as John Riley, 4,583 posts, George Lazarette 4,442, Mattmatic 3,682, Mannesty 2656, Gwyn 1502 and a host of others.
david (now gold medallist).

It's very touching that members feel concern for regulars when they go 'missing' from the Forum for more than a few weeks. It struck me that although you feel you've made a lot of friends when you join this site you don't really know them and most probably won't ever meet more than a handful of them. Membership stands at more than 7,500 so you can't keep track of everyone but you look forward to pictures and comments from the regulars. If something happens to a member no one might ever know. I wasn't aware of Dirk 1000 and Promhandicam until Malo (Martin) and Dr Mhuni voiced concerns for their well being. They have not been regular contributors since I joined in July but I wish them well and hope everything is OK.
david

Welcome Bernadette. There are a lot of friendly and helpful people here and we can all learn from each other's experience.
david

I have both the Sigma 10-20 and the Pentax 16-50DA* and both are great performers. I'm not technically expert like many contributors but I know I get results from both lenses that I find more than acceptable.
I bought the Sigma first, early last year, and was knocked out by the results when taking some of the pictures I like best, modern architecture. Early this year I got the Pentax 16-50 (from SRS) and was equally impressed by the quality. Like Mattmatic however, when I check the EXIF I find that relatively few pictures are taken at the 10mm end of the range, although I find those that are most effective. I think if I had bought the 16-50 first I might not have got the 10-20 as the longer zoom is used far more than the short one.
In the end it comes down to what sort of photography you will be doing, do you really need an ultra wide?
I have grandchildren and can send them into fits of giggles showing them close ups of the family with distorted features taken on the 10-20.

I'm losing the will to live.
david