If you can't afford it, then that's another matter. No need to dress it up with spurious talk of principles.

By the way, I am delighted that Pentax has such a successful camera on its hands. This can only be good for people who like the brand, and what it stands for.

The difficulty over stained sensors led the usual suspects to make silly prognostications concerning reputation, etc.. In fact, the way in which Pentax addressed the issue and apologised frankly has if anything enhanced their reputation.

The fact that the camera is flying off the shelves is proof of that.

G

It was regarded by many (not JR it seems) as an excellent lens on film, but some people thought it didn't work so well on digital.

The element separation issue can apparently be fixed - in America. Don't know about here.

G

It's always darkest just before the dawn.

G

I wasn't including you when I said we.

G

What principle is that?

The price of an item is the point where supply equals demand. There are no principles involved.

G

Well, the OP WAS including lenses, but if you weren't then fair enough.

Canon pictures often have a brownish hue to them, and I have always wondered whether this came from the body or the lens.

G

Whether you decide to use RAW or JPEG, you will get better results if you use a decent program to post-process your results.

In fact, it is fair to say that every image you ever take will benefit from some post-processing. Commonly, you will need to adjust exposure and do some sharpening (Pentax cameras tend to under-sharpen deliberately), and often you will want to fine-tune colour balance and do some cropping.

With JPEG, there are a number of choices, and there is no need to spend mega-bucks on the full version of Photoshop. The cheapo version is fine, as are a number of other programs, including the Gimp, which is free (and good).

For RAW, the free RAW program that comes with the camera is OK, but I would strongly advise you to buy a specialist program. A popular one, which I use, is Silkypix (make sure you get a version that permits batch-processing), but there are several others.

Although Silkypix is primarily a RAW processor, rather than a full editor, I find it does all I need to do in 99% of cases. Other more interventionist snappers will prefer to then use another program for final tweaking. But if you go the RAW/Silky route I would suggest you master Silkypix first, and then decide if you want/need to do anything more. If you're a photographer rather than a air-brusher, you may be content to go no further.

Good luck

G

Unless using a very old flashgun, this is a non-issue these days. All modern flashguns have low trigger voltages.

By modern, I mean anything under about 20 years old.

G

The built-in flash is to be avoided at all costs.

You can disable pre-flash by using manual mode on any flashgun. The onus is then on you to get the exposure right, but that isn't difficult with a DSLR.

You can either take a series of trial pictures until you get one right, or you can work out the correct settings from the guide number.

I far prefer manual flash, with A-flash as second choice. By A-flash I mean the flashguns with their own built-in exposure sensor, like the AF400-T.

link

G

It is a good pose, but the poor focus means it can't be called a good photo. With any animal, including humans, the eyes almost always need to be in focus because it is the eyes that we look at.

The terminator is also right to mention the distracting foreground leaf. Tight cropping will get rid of most of it, but this will emphasise the focus problem.

Practice makes perfect.

G