Thanks for trying to bring back some common sense. I didn't find much in that interview at all. IMO he was just saying what he had to say in light of the PK'12 buzz of the 6D, D600 & RX1. If you want to present an optimistic business, you would be expected to be, responding and taking advantage of this probable new 'DSLR-lite' market.

2014+?

+1

Great work, and good photo subject choices!

Think I know what I might be doing next week!

LOL weird. My first thought was bug bomb, a few suggestions here

link

Good question, not sure what I mean either LOL. No big thing I suppose I'm always expecting buttery smoothness. Sounds like it's just a mix of natural factors that have combined to upset the eye. The noise, the purple tinge particularly in the wing, the hairs on the plant have all combined to make it feel like a lens issue or something.

Been out in the garden myself today, nowhere near as many macros shots as last summer, all down to the weather I think!
CC as requested, only MO of course
Pleasant shots all, however they do look noisy whether this is down to the ISO setting, crop or resize/upload I don't know.
1. Aesthetically attractive, nice colours and good field of focus. I'd want to crop more if pos. particularly from the bottom and right
2. Good mix of colours and the understated background worked out well. The focus area upsets however, the angle feels awkward having the OOF wing front and center
3. If resolution was bit better this would be absolutely top notch
4. Sharp as, but a nothing shot for me, best kept in the personal file
5. Saw one of these I think today in our Anderson shelter, it was
massive! Good shot. Why not rotate this 180?
6. Well focused, natural lighting, again not one for the Gallery of course (according to new George rules anyway )
7. I think this would be my fav, if it wasn't for the odd/nervous OOF blur and colours. Maybe this has suffered from a severe crop.
8. This has what 2 did not, much better angle so lots of good focus area and its all in the center of image, maybe the best shot here?
9. Well I'm in the camp that says insect macros are made by the eyes, as per 7, so I'm lost with this one.

Just my thoughts, I'll put up one of my macros from today tommorrow so feel free to tear it to shreads

LOL, agreed. Close the topic and ask the OP to look at previous threads before it starts LOL.

In seriousness however dcweather your only experiencing something all consumers experience when confronted by overwhelming marketing from foreign brands, in DSLR's case the rather brutal cabal of Canikon. Like teenagers having to buy the right brand of trainers to fit in at school.

Your reasons for choosing Pentax are sound, other benefits will no doubt be repeated below, and I would certainly vote the ergonomics and ease of use make Pentax a clear winner.

But the main thing to remember is the most important techy parts (i.e. the sensor), like in many many other areas of consumer technology, are usually made by the same 3rd party company. It's only the name that's the big difference. K5 & Nikon D7000, same sensor.

I bought my first DSLR, a Samsung GX10 knowing it was the same as a Pentax K10D, couldn't give a monkeys, it was a great deal at the time.

Lighting is too harsh for me, got a diffuser? I don't use flash at all for macro infact much prefer natural light and keeping it simple with the camera settings.
While they are focused, they seem lacking in critical sharpness which is really required to raise a macro. Perhaps you've reached the limits of the lens abilities, the crop is too harsh, or my guess maybe the ISO is too high and that's destroying the definition?
Apart from that you've done well on a windy day, I was in the garden today myself and just gave up!

What a great new feature, sorry I missed it. I think the old system was just a bit of a pain compared to uploading to the Gallery. Hopefully those who have been wanting CC, will use it rather than simply gauging the success of a shot from the number of views and 'comments' gained. It's clear there is the experience, talent, opinion and generosity on the site to make it far more worth while to those wishing more valuable feedback. Though to take off it will certainly need a bit of a culture shift...

With the site at heart (which I believe is George's motivation) perhaps on the Gallery upload screen it should say the Gallery is 'for your best images', like a few other sites on the web.

LOL - touché

As stated money is a big issue. Another expense to consider - you might find yourself having to upgrade your computer too so it can process 20-30+ mp RAW files in a reasonable-frustration-free time?