Thanks Tiger, Tim & Pentaxophile !

I just love insects that have compound eyes - they are always my point of focus (excuse the pun).

This shot of a commonly found garden fly was with the Tamron 90 & a x2 Macro TC, on Velbon rail and 4 shots stacked to get the DoF in the eyes. And yes, the eyes are supposed to be like that Tim !

Shiny black shell - perfect for flash photography ! You done well Don. Never seen one of these before.

I really like these ... a lot. Especially #3 - clear winner !

#4,5,6,8,10 - all excellent shots !

#4 edges it over #5 only because the wing tips are missing !

Nice series and I agree pretty much with what Smeggy said. It's a nice shot of Helen but does need fill light. I really like the scene in the last shot, however I'm not a fan of long water exposures - I like to see the action. IMHO long exposures smooth the water too much and detract from the dramatic effect of the waves, though it seems to be ala mode at the moment.

The K5 may be dead but at least I have lots of shots still to process !

Thanks Alan & Smeggy. Ah well if it's a replacement then the up side is I can go back to zero actuations from 30k. Look on the bright side eh.

Oh Dear.

Went for a walkabout, shot 40/50, got home, cuppa tea in the garden, shot 4 or 5 more. Next shot, depressed the shutter .....'Thunk' and ... nothing (WTF ?!?) .... again ...... 'Thunk' .......and again and again - then 'Depleted Battery' icon appears. This 'Thunk' is a very dull noise I haven't heard before.

Strange. OK change the battery ..... 'Thunk' ..... Thunk, Thunk, Thunk .... 'Depleted Battery' icon ....WTF !?!?! Change to 3rd battery .... one 'Thunk' then ..... 'Depleted Battery'.

Camera can not take a shot. Switches on (though metering looks a bit strange 1/8,000 @ f4 ?!?) metering settles down, AF works fine on all 3 batteries.

Any ideas .... suicide doesn't count ?

Interestingly the other day, whilst browsing the coloured Kx / Krs, I asked the owner of the Pentax-only shop, where I buy most of my gear from, how the coloured cameras sold and which were the best sellers : unequivocal answer, they sell just great, easily #1. Red #2. a tie between Black & White.

Another monster photographic super-store here has 3 rows of different Kx / Krs, in a mass customer hands-on display of around 70 DSLRs. I counted them, Pentax cameras totaled almost as many as the Canons (more than 20 K5s, K7s, Krs and Kxs) and far more than Nikon, Olympus etc.

Multiple choice coloured bodies are helping sell cameras to a younger set .... and that's all that matters.

I had a problem with P-TTL at a pro shoot, over-exposure on many shots, with both on and off-camera strobes. However the temporary solution, suggested by the Pro, is an on-camera soft-box .... which is working perfectly. Hopefully just a temporary workaround - but it's a solution nevertheless.