Cant fault the istD plenty of features even compared to the competition, and if your friend really wants to get to grips with learning the relationship between aperture and shutter he could do no worse than using it in Hyper-Program before tackling total manual.

I know I am biased but I really believe you can do no better than Pentax for getting into photography and building up a reasonable priced lens collection, in fact didnt photography tutors once recomend the K1000 as the ideal student SLR?

Not sure about the other ist series but the D also has a DOF preview button which will be invaluable for someone wanting to be creative.

Question is, do I want to sell my istD

(That last bit was a joke, I DONT want to sell my D)

Pete, this is your girlfriend right? from this and the other pics you've posted of her I get the feeling she is not really 100% comfortable during these photo sessions, maybe i'm right, maybe i'm wrong, not everyone is totally relaxed in front of a lens, or perhaps you need a bit more experience? I dunno what else to say really, I'm not a portrait/people person myself but even I can see something not quite right with the shot.

You either need another model or a few jugs of Sangria

Better still, how about you take all your clothes off and jump under that waterfall and let your girlfriend snap you

Back to serious......I hope this is helping and not putting you off

PS 10/10 for the effort though, I HATE taking portraits myself, too many years of "get on with it" "stop messing about" "have you taken it yet?"

Tyr, Don.....

My point exactly, anything above A4 is going to be a semi-pro print or at least a very dedicated amatuer, the K100D was aimed at joe public who just wants a DSLR to photograph the kids and the dog (where are you Pete ) and then gets them run off at the local lab, IMHO anyone who aspires to anything more is not going to buy anything less than a K10D unless its as a starter or second body.

PS: Pete, if your reading this thread and have definately decided to move to Spain, what about poor Merlin? Heres a happy thought, wouldnt it be cheaper to get another K10D body than pay for Merlins passport and innoculations etc etc

...Poor Merlin.....whine whine whimper whimper.......

IMHO
I cant see what all the fuss is about with 10mp cameras, 6mp is quite sufficient for most photographers who will rarely print above A4 and as for the masses, who needs 10mp for a 7x5 print from the lab?

I only bought the K10D myself* in order to have a little more leeway when cropping, as for size, I have yet to print off bigger than A4 myself.


*Honest

Pete,

Next time (under the same conditions) try something like 1/15th sec, you will still get plenty of movement in the water and should still be able to control the exosure reasonably well.

This one of mine was shot at 1/10th sec, the light was a bit dull so I turned it into a black and white and boosted the contrast as far as possible before the whites started to burn out (they still have in parts)

PS: I know its probably to contrasty for most tastes but this is how I like my B&W, my college tutor was always scolding me for printing of grade 5 paper

Nice shot Pete but........

Just one major criticism, IMHO I think its a tad over exposed, the water looks to be completely burned out in places and especially in the centre, for me this just ruins an otherwise excelent shot, dont suppose you have any less exposed versions that you could clone the water from, Some burning out of highlights is to be expected in an image like this but that bit in the middle is just toooo white otherwise its a 10/10

Poor guy, I bet he was gutted!

I will now take a little extra care when using the Bigma

Well I suppose as everyone else had had their two penneth I should stick my oar in as well...though what pennies and oars have in common I have no idea!

Anyway, I agree with the text issue, from a consumers point of view, if I cant easilly read the text I dont bother.

The only other thing that puts me off, and this is my own personal opinion and may be well off track and out of touch with what passes for acceptable......But I dont like the repetition of the same image, perhaps the same theme but different shots may have been better as insets, even the same little chap but from another angle? or am I just barking up trees?

Quick Edit......I suppose I should get into the habit of reading ALL the replies before posting myself, apologies to Batty for repeating his suggestions.

Actually I thought I would sell all my Pentax gear and buy the new Carlsberg DSLR.........Ooops! i'm sorry, Carlsberg dont make cameras, but if they did they would probably be called Pentax

Sincere apologies folks, its almost 10:30GMT and I STILL have a fridge full of beer

I think they survived longer than that, I recall there was one available for the MZ series.
But as others have said, not a very good idea for a DSLR, perhaps a "toploader" bag would be better, but on the other hand you could always think ahead and buy a very large backpack