Finally did some long exposures with the K5 and ND110 to see if I can jettison the trusty old K10. To my dismay most of the shots had these purple-tinged streaks on them.

I was using live view and electronic level only to compose, then switching LV off. Full exif in images.

Portrait orientation, 73 seconds, ISO 80, B+W ND110, Cokin ND grad, IR 3-sec remote release (no SR), eyepiece not covered

[IMG]http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r35/digitalCG/Troubleshooting/IMGP3778.jpg[/IMG]

At first I thought it may have been bad luck with reflections or a scratched ND grad so had some lunch, changed location and filter...

Landscape orientation, 102 seconds, ISO 80, B+W ND110, Kood ND grad, IR 3-sec remote release (no SR),eyepiece covered

[IMG]http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r35/digitalCG/Troubleshooting/IMGP3806.jpg[/IMG]

The two side by side in matching orientation, streaks are in same place which for me rules out any filter/external reflection issues.

[IMG]http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r35/digitalCG/Troubleshooting/combo.jpg[/IMG]

It wasn't particularly warm out, they're not massively long exposures and there's only a touch of highlight clipping in the second shot - can't be CCD-style sensor blooming. Camera is fine on 'normal' exposure durations, even when overexposed.

Any experts on here have an idea if this is an overheating/faulty sensor?

The harbour and castle are lovely but have been done to death, so this is something a little diferent!

18 handheld straight-from-camera jpegs made a true 360 pano, then wrapped to form this:

Another effort: converted RAW, straightened and cropped to taste, b+w conversion, added local contrast, resize and sharpen.

[IMG]http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r35/digitalCG/CMQ_0242.jpg[/IMG]

No courses, very few books or magazines, a little bit of web inspiration but basically self taught. I was lucky enough (?) to be made redundant just as the photography bug began to bite, so spent the next five months out most days with basic kit learning from all my many mistakes

Looks promising - I have the older 18-50 2.8 and generally it's very good, with a slight tendency to flare when facing point light sources - this seems a little better controlled.

PM'd

Interesting - I don't notice lipos getting warm under charge in the same way that NiMh or NiCad cells did. Given the nominal voltage of most LiPo cells is 3.7V, that means our 7.4V packs are 2-cell arrangements. I'd have thought the third terminal was to allow balance charging of the two cells?

Suffered the same lack of motivation so far in 2011, found a good trawl through the archives has helped - shots I'd like to re-take, places I want to revisit in different weather, at different times of year etc. Made a Plan A (outdoor) and Plan B (indoor) for tomorrow so out with the camera regardless of weather

It's these 'flat' times when it's great not to be a jobbing pro - there's no obligation to pick up the camera so just leave it where it is and come back to it when the motivation returns. Must be horrible to be obliged to churn out shots and compromise your photographic self into a corner to pay the bills...

Thanks for the comments, you guys are too kind. The startrails are just over 30 minutes, but I'll admit the foreground was light painted with a torch in a seperate, shorter exposure. The K10 remained my 'go to' camera for long exposures right up until the K5 arrived... still testing that!

I agree with the K10 high ISO problems, but keep it down at ISO100 and the long exposures are superb - better than the K20 in my experience. K5 is no slouch either, though I've only done a few quick tests.

K10:




K20:




K5: