It does look good, but it is with a pre-production model, which had AF in video, I believe. I always enjoy Ned Bunnels blog.

I never take a camera - I have seen too many thrown in a bin before the owners were admitted. In this day and age with phone cameras flashing all around me it does get frustrating, but I would not risk it. Just be grateful they locked your camera away safely and you got it back again.

We visited Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park, Washington. We had not seen a bear during our trip but on the way up to the ridge I had kept the Bigma on the camera, just in case. But all we did was photograph the scenery, so I had to keep changing lenses. In the end I left the 17-70 on the camera, and joked as we drove back down that now we would see a bear. We turned a corner, and sure enough grazing at the side of the road was a bear! I hastily changed lenses again.

These are all hand-held - he was literally across the road from us. We used the car as a little protection but he wasn't disturbed by our presence at all. It was a magical moment, and although several cars passed while we were watching him, he was ours and ours alone. No-one else stopped.

Lighting was tricky - full sunlight so the dried grasses are overexposed, plus on the last two a background of deep snow. There are twigs in the way on a couple of the photos, but I am not planning on removing them, as I wouldn't do a good enough job of it in PSE.

[IMG]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c205/Bargwynbu/Pacific%20Northwest%20USA/Bear1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c205/Bargwynbu/Pacific%20Northwest%20USA/Bear2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c205/Bargwynbu/Pacific%20Northwest%20USA/Bear3.jpg[/IMG]

He was frightened by a huge camper that went past and moved higher up:
[IMG]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c205/Bargwynbu/Pacific%20Northwest%20USA/Bear4.jpg[/IMG]

Just after this photo he turned and vanished into the undergrowth:
[IMG]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c205/Bargwynbu/Pacific%20Northwest%20USA/Bear5.jpg[/IMG]

I can't comment on Qatar but at Heathrow last year I was able to take my Tamrac Expedition 5 bag, loaded to the gunnels (though minus Bigma) on board BA flights to Phoenix and to Amsterdam with no problems.

For me always a bit of both.

I took my K20D, 17-70, 50-135*, Bigma and 90mm macro on holiday. I never used the macro, barely used the * but used the other two a lot. I was frustrated at times at not having something more portable than the Bigma at the longer end, but generally was very glad of the 500mm!
KLM/NWA also have a weight limit on hand baggage but since they won't accept liability for checked valuables they allow camera bags and laptop bags on without weighing them. I had no other hand baggage, which helped.
I checked my tripod as they are not allowed as carry on by the TSA.

I see NWA are now charging for a second checked bag. I'm not sure how that works with their KLM code share flights since KLM still allow two checked bags for free. We needed an extra bag on the return flight - (sadly not filled with Pentax goodies, or even anything for me - my other half went mad on clothes buying there but with 501s for $39 who can blame him?) but we had booked before the new rules came in so it was free - otherwise it would have been $50 .

Thanks bb2 - I tried that and it worked. This morning I was able to successfully import the files into the organiser. Doing each one individually from a full 8 gig card would have been too much for my poor jet lagged brain.

Thanks everyone. It was a great trip. We did nearly 4500 miles of touring and had a wonderful time. We saw bald eagles, osprey, golden eagles, elk, assorted deer, whales, orcas, sea lions, seals and, best of all, a bear, plus trees that made us feel really small and Mount St Helens devastation which, even 29 years on, is a truly impressive sight. The scenery is just unbelievable, even in the rain and snow .

I ended up using just two lenses - the 17/70 and the Bigma. It will be a while before I can post any photos as things will be quite hectic here for the next week or so.

Sad news is that the Ds bit the dust on the last day of the holiday. My husband was using it all holiday, and put it on the back seat of the car when we went out for a final trip. He had to brake hard to avoid a tractor which pulled out on a blind bend, and the Ds fell off the seat. Since then it has refused to work - it says it has no batteries, even though it does. I'm debating whether to try to get it repaired or not. I am not sure it is really worth it, but I shall be sorry to let it go.

Came back to a broken espresso machine and a car with a jammed on handbrake. I forgot to leave it in gear with the handbrake off before we left . The ANWB (Dutch AA) came out this morning a freed it up for me, but the car has to go in for new shoes now which is a bummer.

Anyway when I can I'll post some pics.

I have been moving my holiday photos onto the computer with a view to working on them over the coming, less jet lagged, days. 4 cards transferred to PSE6 just fine, but the fifth one is giving problems. The photos are on the computer, but PSE 6 keeps saying they are damaged or of an unreadable file type. They are the same sort of PEF's as the rest of my holiday snaps. The only difference is that they are on an 8gb card. I couldn't find two 4s which is what I really wanted, and ended up with the 8gb card from a Walmart.
Irfanview can see the photos, but I really need them in PSE as that is what I use for RAW conversion etc. I don't want to learn a new converter for these photos so please don't suggest I try Silkypix or whatever. Any other suggestions are most welcome.

Hi everyone, I am back from a great holiday. Too jet lagged to say too much just now, I'm trying to catch up on the forum at the moment but the old eyes keep closing.
Good to see so may new members have joined, welcome to you all!
I haven't even started on my photos yet - we only got back this morning! I shall certainly post a couple here if they are any good.

I shall be off early on Saturday morning, heading for Portland, Oregon. Tomorrow I'll be busy with the last minute panic so may not get online.
I'll be away for 4 weeks and if I can I'll check in on you all, but can't promise to.
I hope those of you who are going to the meet have a great time together, and that the weather is kind to you. I look forward to reading all about it.
So it's ttfn, back for sure late May. Then we can all drool over the new Pentax