Many thanks for your excellent judging and comments on a brilliantly chosen subject.

My stack of cds was real and while I had a few more to add I think I had got to the point where they were about to topple

Congrats to everyone.

Glyn

CD Slinky
[IMG]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w20/GlynM/Misc/IMGP2554-c1s-small.jpg[/IMG]

Taken at 12:15pm on Saturday 5th December.

K-7 with the Samsung version of the DFA 100 Macro
F11, 0.8sec, -0.7ev & ISO 100
Cropped & re-sized in Photoshop Elements

Glyn

Hi Hefty, many thanks for setting such a good, open, subject and for your excellent judging. I can't argue with your winning choice as it was my favourite too.

Thanks also for your constructive comments on my picture which are always welcome.

Congrats all round.

Glyn

My Baby Tank
[IMG]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w20/GlynM/Misc/IMGP2343-c1-small.jpg[/IMG]

K-7 with DA55-300 @ 55mm
1/10sec, F8 & ISO 200

Taken between rain showers at 10:26 on 25/11/09

Apologies for a late entry, I seem to have been very busy

Glyn

Interestingly when I did a similar exercise on a K20D all the results came out the other way. For example the DA*16-50 came out at -6. I think this suggests that my, early example, K10D was not calibrated particularly well in the factory. Later on I had to replace my DA*16-50 and the new one was perfect with a 0 test result on both the K20D and more recently on a K-7.

I think that moving the lens adjustment out of the de-bug on the K10D into the user available configurations in the K20D & K-7 suggests that Pentax realised that there were issues with small amounts of lens/body incompatibilities. Allowing a number of lens specific adjustments in the later bodies also suggests that they also realised that a single value adjustment was problematic.

Glyn

I had a similar problem with my K10D which I first spotted with the DA*16-50. I was temped to blame the lens but later when I got a DA35 macro I noticed problems with that as well.

I think I also used the 'Russian' software to get the camera into debug mode although I have also at some time used the hacked firmware. I then measured many of the lenses in my collection that had a focal length of around 50mm and calculated an average setting. This was back in October 2008 so I can't remember exactly how I did it but I did make a record of the results:

Lens / K10D Focus setting
Samsung 35mm F2.0 / +150
Pentax DA35mm F2.8 / +160
Pentax FA50mm F1.7 / +90
Pentax FA50mm F1.4 / +100
pentax DA*16-50 @ 50mm F2.8 / +100
Pentax DA18-55II @50mm F5.6 / +0 !!
Sigma 18-125 @50mm F5.6 / +210 !!
Pentax DA18-50 @50mm F5.6 / +120
Pentax DA40mm F2.8 / +100
Pentax FA28-105 @50mm F4.0 / +150
Pentax FA28-80 @50mm F4.0 / +100

A full average came out at +116 and dropping the two extremes (marked !!) gave an average of +118.88. You could only set the K10 in steps of 10 so I set it to +120. After that I was very happy with its performance.

Of course later with both the K20D and K-7 I was able to set individual values for each lens and the range of focus adjustment setting changed to +/- 10 in single steps.

Glyn

I think it might be worth noting that there is also a recent dp review of this lens here.

Both reviews seem to come out very much the same. Both highlight that the lens is a bit soft wide open. Interestingly the DP review also suggests that a Tonkia or Pentax 12-24 might be a better buy as it has better performance at 15mm. I guess it all depends on whether the small size of the 15mm is important to you.

At the present prices it is far too expensive for me

Glyn

Many thanks for the comments. I did not realise how difficult it would be to cut a squash in two. The submitted photo was my 2nd attempt. The first was with a much larger squash and I made a mess in cutting it up. The smaller squash was easier and by then I had found a large serrated cleaver that I used like a saw

I wanted to create an offset, off-centred, effect by turning one of the halves sideways. The initial attempt was too precise and it looked more like one of the 3rd angle drawings I had to do years ago at school. So in the end I put a slight slant on the sideways half and was pleased with the result.

A good set of submissions and fantastic judging. Well done all.

Glyn

Squash in Two

[IMG]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w20/GlynM/Misc/IMGP1562-c1-small.jpg[/IMG]


This is a small home-grown butternut squash that was harvested at the weekend, cut in half and shot today for this competition.

It has since been chopped up along with a couple of others, put into the freezer, and will get used as an ingredient for vegetable soup throughout the winter

Shot on 07/10/2009
K-7 with DA*16-50 @ 39mm
F16, 2sec & ISO 100

Glyn

My first DA*16-50, s/no 9011157, was faulty from new. It was delivered on 14/08/2007 and replaced by the supplier a couple of months later.

Glyn