Great job. Congratulations on the win - and for flying the Pentax flag !

Envy. Envy !

3, 6 and 11 with 11 being particularly successful. It is one of those that scrreams "photograph me!"

That's an interesting request. I tend to sharpen them to the point of it looking a bit OTT and then back it off. It's too late for mucking around now but I will post some super sharpened ones for the purpose of comparisons. Anyone else got opinions on this?

Some people complain about this commonplace kit lens and some love it. I think it depends on whether you have a good copy.
All of these were taken at high(ish) ISO in a dimly lit church with a hand-held K3ii

1. The Christmas message in the west window.



2. The Christmas tree and some of the massive masonry piers supporting the tower.



3. One of them (!)



4. A pear in a partridge tree?



5. The nave with candles used in the recent 'Darkness to Light' service



6. Choristers rehearsing for a lunchtime concert



Holy Trinity is a magnifcent medieaval church right in the city center, said to have been founded by Lady Godiva.
It is well worth a visit should you be in Coventry.
Your comments on the pictures - and the lens - are welcomed

Looks like a park well worth visiting. You give a wonderful overview of it.

When they are paired with the likes of an SFX they look quite nice.

Two hours very well spent there!

Lovely rich colours and lots of interest in every one of them.

Since the bulk of it (from middle left to bottom right) is all on the same plane and in focus I don't think it is diffraction but simply a mega shallow depth of field resulting from the high magnification. If the point of view were shifted around to the left slightly, or front - however you like to describe it - then the out of focus part will be brought further inside that shallow area of sharp focus.

Getting as many elements into the focal plane as possible is a balancing act that you need to see in real time as you bodily turn the subject in front of the lens. Unfortunately you can't do this readily with a modern AF lens because its aperture remains wide open until you click or stop it down, at which point, Live View shuts off AND you run out of fingers and hands! This is where old glass, such as Takumars, Meyer Optics and the like wins hands down, especially if it's a preset because you can also twist their aperture rings around quite freely and watch the effect happen in front of your eyes.