Hold the lens, not the camera.

G

How are you, Mac? Surviving the blizzards? I have visions of you and Don sharing an igloo with a hundred foot periscope to be able to see the outside world under all that snow. And staying alive thanks to a bottle or two of the good stuff.

G

It's mainly a quality versus convenience issue, and as with most things in life, convenience wins every time.

Fortunately, however, zooms and primes are not mutually incompatible, and there will I am sure always be a niche market for primes. Several people who have shifted to Pentax from the two mass-market brands cite the Limited lenses as their "primary" reason for doing so.

G

The rule with zoom lenses is that the greater the zoom ratio (this one is 14:1) the more difficult the design problem, and therefore the lower the likelihood that it will be good.

It's no surprise that the best zoom lenses have a ratio between 2:1 and 4:1.

One of Pentax's best zooms is the 24-90, and it has a ratio of 3.75:1. The admired 16-45 is 2.8:1, and the new 16:50 is just over 3:1.

That said, this lens is not bad considering its phenomenal range. Those who place convenience above quality, or who have a genuine need for just one lens, seem to be very pleased with it.

G

He is the school-master in charge of the cadet force. Most days, he teaches Latin, but on Wednesday afternoons he borrows a uniform and becames a colonel in the Territorial Army. He's only been doing it for one term, but he's saving up and will soon be able to afford to go to Dege and Skinner and have his own uniform made.

G

The Grenadier Guard needs a larger cap.

Is the 45 degree angle deliberate?

G

I don't know either book, but since the basic principles of photography apply as much to digital as to film, a good book from the film era will still be pertinent today.

Ignore most of what is said about filters, except for graduated flters and polarisers.

G

Certainly not, Clarky. But the point is that although next year Spamcan may be able to get his hands on 16GB, and 32GB a year later, that will be it. The limit is 32.

G

Thanks Matt.

Clarky, think of filling in some bureaucratic form, where your address has to be put into little boxes, one for each letter.

If the designer of the address only allowed 25 boxes for the first line, then you could have, say: "25 Hill Street", but not: "1037A Upper St Barnabas and All The Saints Boulevard North."

Likewise, the chap who created the SD spec. did not expect there to be a need for more than 2GB (he was working when the norm was 64MB), and thus only allowed so much to be addressed.

When the new 24 bit, 16MP sensor comes out, we'll need such cards.

G

No. 32GB is theoretical at present. There may well never be a card with that capacity, but it would be possible. It wouldn't cost an arm and a leg, because improved technology brings greater power at lower prices.

I can remember when Apple hard drives had 5MB of capacity and cost about 10,000 USD in today's money.

I would predct that in six years time we will have 32GB memory cards, and they will cost much less than 16 2GB cards at today's prices.

G