A friend of mine recently had a set of portraits taken (her and her boyfriend) and - whilst they were undoubtably of good quality - the prices made my eyes water!

I seem to remember you saying a little while ago that the mobile phone unlocking business wasn't quite as healthy as it once was. Now I've been in your shop; you're in a good position in the town with off-road parking for customers and a fair bit of square footage inside...

Have you considered turning what you've already got into a studio? If you can find the business (let's face it, you won't be tripping over competition in this town) then there's certainly money to be made there, and I'd imagine it's a lot more convenient than doing weddings.

Just a thought - I haven't done either on a professional basis so maybe I'm missing something?

Sounds like fun!

Are you still keen to get into the wedding photography game then or has this dampened your enthusiasm a bit?

If you're serious about manual focus then you'll probably end up buying a Katz-Eye focus screen. At $105 (more if you start adding optional grid lines and coverings) these aren't cheap, but everyone who has one seems to swear by it. It utilises a split prism (like the old MF film cameras) which makes manual focussing a much more precise affair.

Here's a tip that's specific to the lenses you're using; both are consumer zooms which aren't at their best when used (a) wide open or (b) at the extremes of their focal range. For instance, the Tamron will give much better results at (for example) 250mm/f8 than it will at 300mm/f5.6. As a rule of thumb you'll get better results if you back off slightly on the zoom and stop down 1 or 2 stops on the aperture.

Both lenses are capable of very good results (the Pentax 18-55 is probably more forgiving than the Tamron) but you need to realise their limitations and work within them - once you do you'll find that your results will improve quite dramatically.

You're right, I didn't give that hall much more than a quick glance - wish I had now though!

LOL! How did I miss that when I was there?

Pretty much any viewfinder accessory made for a Pentax SLR since the M series in the 1970's will fit any other (film or digital) made since, so you'll find eBay a good source. Many also have success with accessories made for the Olympus OM series cameras as they are a similar size.

Welcome to the forum both of you!

I bought a Ricoh GR-D from Bristol Cameras back in April. Five days after the confirmation of despatch email it still hadn't shown up so I checked the (DHL?) website to see it marked as "Delivery Refused". I rang the courier who gave me the time they'd attempted delivery and the address they'd gone to - right house number, wrong road. Bristol took full responsibility and were extremely apologetic and made sure it was delivered to the right address by 8am the following day.

I echo what Chris says above; they're OK but not quite the most organised.

As the focal length won't actually change (just the close focus ability of the lens) I would suggest keeping it at 50mm regardless of which combination of tubes you're using.

Nice one! Was this a recent eclipse?

Interesting theory John, but if that were the case then we wouldn't see reports of exactly the same problems occuring in N/C cameras (where there is no sensor-based image stabilisation).

And is the situation really all that new? I first became aware of these problems when they were widely reported on the Nikon D70 - which also happened to be one of the first DSLR's that sold in very large quantities. The more users a camera has, the larger the base of people who are likely to find a problem.

I don't know the Pentax sales figures but I wouldn't mind betting that the K series cameras have outsold the *ist series cameras by a very wide margin. I would also imagine that the *ist series sold predominantly to Pentax die-hards with an existing lens collection, whereas the K series have sold to people (like myself) with no brand loyalty but who appreciate an exceptional product when they see it (in addition to the Pentax die-hards!).

It's worth remembering that the faults we describe here on this forum do not represent the findings of the majority of users. Two of my friends have recently bought their first DSLRs (K10D & GX20 - not that I had any influence of course!) and neither of them have any BF/FF problems. Judging by threads like this (which always have the same people contributing) it's not even the majority of users on this - or other - forums. The "Internet Effect" just magnifies a few unfortunate cases and paranoia can set in, with people who never considered their camera to be faulty suddenly blaming every OOF shot on a manufacturing defect.

It is a fact that some cameras leave the factory with mis-aligned sensors.

It is a fact that this affects all DSLR manufacturers.

It is a fact that owners of a K10D have a simple remedy open to them (without having to resort to sending their camera back).

It is a fact that K20D / GX20 owners have an even easier to access remedy at their fingertips.

It is pure supposition on my part that by the year 2018 Sony will still have not admitted any possibility of a problem - anyone care to bet against this?