No substitute for scientific research.javascript:emoticon('')
Get thee down to the nearest football (in north america they're marked out in yards). With some flags(coathanger wire and white paper).
And fire some tests!
Have fun!javascript:emoticon('')

1.check your flash manual for the listed GN .
2.Adjust that number for your film speed.
3.divide the GN by the flash subject distance to get your aperture.
4. if that aperture is wider than your lens' f4.5 then it'll underexpose (may still work if all you need is fill flash.

Try getting the most powerful flash you can find and an accessory like this:

http://www.birdsasart.com/accs.html#BEAMER

I'm still hoping that Apple execs (who buy thier memory for thier ipods from samsung), Pentax execs, and Samsung execs all wind up drunk at the same xmas party and wake up in bed together.
I envision an all white with aluminum trim ist d with built in 5 gig ram buffer, pull out ipod where the cameras lcd used to be and an airport extreme card where the cf slot used to be.
the "*Apple Ist" with wi fi, and itunes, Iphoto etc built in.

Oh, one more thing, then I'll shut up for a while...
stacking 2 polarizers will give you an infinately variable nd filter.
great for 1-8 hour exposures to remove traffic and people from cityscapes during daytime.

I meant try that with a medium telephoto, not your wide angle.

I'm not sure what you have when you say cutouts and frame, but I sometimes cut out shapes(hearts,stars etc) from black cardboard and tape them to my uv filter.
try photographing a person with those cutouts with city/xmas lights (anything that'll make specular highlights) in the background and the check your out of focus background for (heart/star etc) shaped highlights!
cokins have holders for four filters, on a wide angle, I'd got with the largest filter that'l fit my largest lens, and cut the filter holder to remove 2 or 3 of the extra filterslots to avoid vinetting.

Rec Mode:

image tone: neutral (mostly people pics for me)
Rec Pixels: 6m
Quality level *** (speed matters, raw only when needed)
saturation: middle
sharpnes: middle
contrast: middle
instant review: 1 sec (set with histogram, and highlight warning)
auto bracket: +-0.3 (my light meter set to 1/3 stop increments)
ae metering: matrix
swtch dst msr pt: multi point, manual (centered with o.k. button)
af mode: single (switch to sports mode when continous is needed)
flash exp.comp. -0.7 (af ftz500 over exposes)

Playback:

plbk dsply mthd: images only (4x mag factor to check sharpnes)
bright portion: instant review (quick check to see if I've blown highlights)

Custom settings:

noise reduction: on
expsr setting steps: 1/3 incr
iso corction in auto: 4 (200-3200)
iso snstvty wrn dspl: 2 (400)
link af point and ae : 2 (on I often use flash)
meter operating time : 3 (30 seconds)
ae-l with af locked : 2 (on)
ok btn when shooting :2 (center of af point- aloows fast reset of af point)
ae-l bttn on m expsr: 1 (program line- quick start for manual exp)
superimpose af area : 1 on
using aperture ring 2: I use older lenses.
release when charging :2 on (if my flash doesn't get recharged, during a burst I still get a shot. (auto iso helps here)
instant review dsply: 2 plbck with histogram
mag to strt zm plybk : 3 4x
man. wb measurement : 2 spot
color space :1 srgb (for workflow reasons)

I find this setup works for most of my coporate/wedding work.

Our work entails photojournalistic coverage of these events (different set -up for portraits/studio work) .

We fire upwards of 1200 images.

I transfer images into a folder on my desktop (card readers in my epson proofing printers, and cameras allow up to 5 memory cards to be downloaded simultaniously to my Imac.), batch rename and burn that folder to dvd rw.
then run photo reviewer to reject duds.
Automator actions (mac program- to die for) takes over from here.
I-photo on my networked Emac imports the photos, sorts them, lays out web page and updates my private section of my web page, and burns a disc of html files for customer to proof)
My imac then launches PS to batch process the images and import them into Iphoto , then Iphoto is used to sort images and send to Idvd, when customer gets back on thier choices the idvd project is edited and burned.
We'll be adding hd video to the mix next year and I movie will be incorporated.
We have a 1 day turnaround on the proofs, and have to get things right in camera and be quick about it.
print orders are taken and only images chosen for print are carefully edited for printing. (usually these were portraits shot raw/adobe rgb).

Customer walks away with dvd album, html cd for sharing, and enlargements for wall/albums. I archive copies for safe keeping.
Raw workflow is too slow, and Idvd can't use any other colorspace than srgb.

Maybe apples aperture will change everything for us...we'll let you know.

I checked out John Riley's web site a couple weeks ago. Among others..top notch stuff I'd say. Alot of good resources here.
I started comming here when I bought my istd ds2. to learn about my new toy.
I have my camera set up similar to his, except for the auto iso override, when I get the iso warning in the veiwfinder, then I choose to overide manually- in other words if I forget, the camera still gets the shot...saved my but on a corporate shoot last week when my external camera flash didn't fully charge and the camera grabbed the shot with available light.
I also find that if I need continous af, I switch to sports mode on the fly and don't need to go through any menus. I think a journalist might like my set up as covering corporate functions is at times very similar, photographically.

I'm guessing you are doing available light work as there's no mention of a flash unit.
Check your custom function settings and set your iso overide mode to go as high as iso 3200. (or as high as your tolerance for digital noise will allow you.)
check pentax website for latest firmware, and install it.
Was your lens on "A" setting? if not was your custom function for using aperture ring set right?
Get three sets of batteries! one in camera, one in pocket( or camera bag), and one on the charger. It gets cold out here and I find the bateries get smokin hot off the charger, useful to keep in mind when outdoors, near the car, here in canada- hot batteries mean warm camera!
I don't use windoze (I'm not masochistic), but the camera pops up as a disc drive on my mac.