In the interests of balance, two forumites are the antithesis of what I was describing.

One is Father Ted, whose sig modestly reads: "Getting there, thanks to you guys". The reality is that his progress is almost entirely down to his own efforts.

The other is the very competent snapper who calls himself "Beginner". Of course, he's anything but.

G

Here it is, in full:

"Three months ago, I bought a new camera. The first pictures were dire, but I read and reread the manual, asked questions in some photography forums, read a couple of books, and now I think I'm producing some reasonably good pictures. It's been quite a learning curve, but I suppose Rome wasn't built in a day"

Instead we have a seemingly never-ending parade of fatuous posts by nitwits who have bought a new camera, and who tell us that it is no good because the first pictures weren't masterpieces.

Can we please permanently ban anybody else who comes here complaining of defects in his kit when it's glaringly obvious that he's barely capable of tying his own shoe-laces, let alone taking a picture.

This may sound a little draconian, but the fact is that these people really aren't ever going to be good to have around. Why? Because their first reaction, when something goes wrong, is to blame everybody else but themselves.

An irritated G

"I hate nothing more than sugary photographs with tricks, poses and effects. So allow me to be honest and tell the truth about our age and its people."
August Sander (17 November 1876 – 20 April 1964)

The man who predicted Photoshop?

G

Pentax now just needs three things:

1 A third body in the line-up.
2 A decent long lens.
3 An advertising budget.

G

So you're four hundred years old?

This calls for a celebration. Chris A, where's that Malt?

G

A 50 1.7 is excellent and very sharp. However, it is one of very few older Pentax lenses that sometimes has a problem. Keep it on the A setting and you will be fine.

The 28/2.8 is OK, but no better than that. A 28/3.5 will gnerally be superior.

The macro has, I believe, been superseded by a water-resistant version, which is why they are going cheap. Nothing wrong with them, however, and a good buy at £250.

G

Two useful resources:

http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/ For everything about the Pentax K-mount (which is what the K7 has).

http://stans-photography.info/ For advice on older lenses.

Pentax has raised the prices of its lenses in the last year or two, and you may decide to buy second-hand. If so, the following is a BRIEF summary of lens nomenclature.

Pentax lenses are described like this: SMC Pentax-F 1:4 - 5.6 70-210mm

The SMC bit means Super-Multi-Coating, Pentax's excellent coating system, which reduces lens flare. There were a few non-SMC lenses issued; if tempted to buy one, don't pay too much.

The "F" refers to the series. The very first K mount lenses did not have a series letter, but by convention are known as the K series. They are all manual focus, manual aperture, superbly well-built, and basically still good lenses. They (and the later Ms) will work on modern cameras, but exposure is manual.

Then came the M series (for miniature). Smaller versions of the Ks, sometimes identical optically, sometimes not. When not, they were generally not better.

Then came the A series (for automatic). These were manual focus, but the aperture could be set from the camera body. They are therefore fully compatible with modern DSLR's, such as the K7.

The F series were (for all practical purposes) the first autofocus lenses. Well made, and often a good buy.

Then came the FA series, which is still going, theoretically, though not many are still available. A subset, the FAJ lenses, did not permit aperture to be set manually, so only work with relatively modern cameras.

Digital ushered in two varieties, the DA and the D-FA. The former are smaller lenses (designed for the APS-C sensor), and will work with older (film) bodies, but will usually not fill the frame.

D-FA lenses, however, are digital-era lenses which WILL fill a 35mm frame.

Some lenses have a star or asterisk after the series designator. This means they are expensive. And very good.

The finest lenses are the three FA Limited lenses, which are without equal. Pentax, which likes to confuse people, also introduced a Limited line for the DA series, but whilst these are pretty good, they have a rather modest maximum aperture, and are extremely petite.

That's most of what you need to know when buying Pentax lenses! But a posting to this forum will usually elicit several replies if you have questions.

Good luck.

G

These knee-jerk standard-issue welcomes serve to do the opposite to what is presumably intended.

It makes the newcomer feel like a faceless package undergoing a process, along with countless others.

When the welcome committee can't even be bothered to "personalise" the message in any way, then the dehumanising effect is total.

For goodness sake, people, say something pertinent to the person. Make SOME response to the post they toiled over. "Hi, and welcome to the forum" is just insulting.

G

The 2.8 wasn't considered to be very good, hence the low price.Yes, 7,000 will be a milestone. A time to celebrate. Do you still have any malt left?
G

Is that a statement or a question?

And are you referring to the A* 1:1.8, or the A 1:2.8?

If it's a question, and you are referring to the former, over £500. If the latter, under £50.00.

G