Congratulations on your purchase!

The K10D/FA35 combo does indeed seem capable of some excellent captures, so don't forget to post some examples in the "Your Photos" sub forum here.

As for not being able to find a K100D Super, it looks like stock of both this and the K10D is being run down to make shelf space for the K200D and K20D, which will be arriving at the end of February / beginning of March.

If you're waiting until January before making a purchase you may find that the price of the K10D drops significantly once its replacement is announced on the 24th. It's a fantastic camera and unbelieveable value even at it's current price, if it were to drop another £100 or so then I wouldn't hesitate recommending it.

Everything is rumour at the moment but it looks like both probably. The general concensus seems to be that there'll be a new flagship to replace the K10D and that most of the K10D's features will be found in a new body that'll be about the same size as the K100D (a K200D with the 10MP sensor). I would imagine the current K100D Super will soldier on giving entry-level consumers a choice of 6 or 10MP - a bit like the Nikon D40/D40X do.

Oh, and the reason there are so many 50mm lenses available in comparison to 30-something mm ones is that most of these lenses have been around since the film era when people didn't think in terms of a "crop factor". I don't own the Pentax FA35/2 myself but I've never heard a bad word spoken about it - from a price/performance point of view it seems to be a real gem! The FA50/1.4 is also very highly regarded but while it was a "normal" focal length on film, it's a mild telephoto on digital. If you're planning on doing lots of portrait work then this isn't necessarily a bad thing! The 21mm seems to elicit mixed reactions - some love it and some, er, don't... Have a search of these forums and you'll find plenty of conflicting opinion on that one.

I don't have any pets so I borrowed a couple to join in. Ron, Lola and I wish you a very Merry Christmas and hope Santa fills yer sacks with FA31's, DA*50-135's and FA*600/4's.

To be fair to Pentax, the guide number of 15.6 on the K100 is based on an ISO of 200 (I did say the 100 thing was a general rule). To put this in perspective, the K10 has a built in flash with a guide number of 11, however, this is based on ISO100 and so while it appears to the casual observer to be a weaker flash unit it is in fact roughly the same (+2EV on the ISO will double the guide, ie the K100 is 15.6 @200, 31.2 @800 and 62.4 @3200).

Your friend's Olympus 410 has a guide number of 10 @100 meaning it's slightly weaker than yours but only by a gnat's chuff! I'd suggest he was maybe taking pictures at a longer focal length / higher ISO than you were, hence he was getting better results from his flash.

If you want to start using flash on a regular basis then I'd heartily recommend buying an external unit (I've got a Pentax 360 and I adore it); the built-in flash will only end up frustrating you in the end - to use another car analogy, it's like driving at night with your halogen headlights replaced with a pair of candles...

Another thing to remember with flashes (built in and external) is that the guide number will drop off dramatically when wider lenses are used. For example, a lens at 20mm will require roughly 3 times the flash power of a lens at 100mm to cover the same distance (because you're having to light up the edges like a floodlight, rather than throwing a narrow beam like a spotlight). Another thing that affects guide numbers is the sensitivity, if you set your ISO to a higher value then you'll find your flash coverage is more effective. Try it and you'll see what I mean...

Guide numbers generally (but not always) refer to full power with an 85mm lens at ISO100.

The interval between the pre- and main flashes should be so short as to be barely perceptible. I don't have figures but we're talking a split second here (just long enough for you to glimpse it before the mirror rises).

*edit*

Take the camera away from your eye and hold it away from you while firing the shutter, this way you'll see both flashes. Good luck finding a stopwatch to time the gap though!

What you're seeing is the pre-flash and it's quite normal - it's used by the camera for evaluating the amount of flash required for the picture itself. You won't see the actual flash of course because your mirror's in the way (as you rightly surmise). So the order of play is;

Press shutter
Pre-flash fires
Camera "reads" pre-flash and calculates amount of light required
Mirror flips up
Shutter opens
Main flash fires
Shutter closes
Mirror drops

Most built in flashes are a little weak, some would say the manufacturers do it deliberately in order to sell external flash units - how cynical!

It was supposed to be a stick man but at -3 degrees in a freezing field I gave up after about 20 attempts and just stuck the closest approximation in instead.

Anyway, good job on the judging and congratulations to Lilly. Another strong field this week!

K10D / FA43 / f16 / 15sec / ISO100 / AF360FGZ / Torch