Hi all,

Sorry if you knew already, but I have just seen that there is a firmware update for the K20D, V1.04.
Actually it was released 22/04/2010.

I have done mine and the camera appears fine.
Doesn't sound like a big deal as it only say's:
"Improved stability of recording image for some SDHC Memory card".
http://www.pentax.jp/english/support/digital/k20d_s.html

Looks like K10D, K200D, K2000 & K-M had updates too.
To check the latest version of firmware for other models try here:
http://www.pentax.jp/english/support/download_digital.html

I have never had any issues, but then again there are a couple of things that probably help.

Like others here I also wander around with my wife taking photos and/or with a group of photographers local to me, I believe this helps.

Subject matter can inflame situations, a number of people I know have fallen foul of the same shopping centre which has a no photography policy that has been indoctrinated into the on site rent-a-cops. Luckily for me this genre of photography holds no interest.

A point about the step-up rings, you will struggle to fit them inside the flare hood.
I bought a 77mm Kood CPL, quite a bit cheaper than the entry level Hoya and would appear better quality too.
As for ND's and Grad's, a square filter system is the way to go.

I know some people have cheesy toy models of their cars, but really, Canon has hit rock bottom with this!

I like the composition of number 2 and perhaps a green filter.

Ian.

Hi Oggy,

I too have the 55-300mm. Shooting at 300mm I have found realistically you need 1/500th shutter speed for 100% crops to be sharp and the higher the f/stop up to f/11 the better.

For the Red Dragon I would have upped the ISO to 200 and shared it out 2/3rd's to shutter speed and 1/3rd to aperture. This should give you (if my maths works out right) 1/500th, f/10, ISO 200. You could also try ISO 400 and f/14.

For Yellow, Blue and Wine bar I would have used ISO 200 and given myself more shutter speed/aperture. The Bar shutter speed is to low really at 1/40th and the extra speed the ISO change to 200 would give you the 1/80th you should ideally have used.

There again this is only my humble opinion, hope you don't mind.

Rgds,
Ian.

I got a K20D at the end of January, my first Pentax mount.

I've moved over from Minolta (Sony) mount for my main camera, still keeping some Minolta stuff back though.
The Sony range felt like a strategically marketed electronics company price pointing features that a photographer would want, unlike Minolta that felt like a camera company. So I jumped mount systems to Pentax.

The Sv & TAv settings, believe these are unique to Pentax, I have found to be very useful in certain circumstance.

With the K20D I have all I wanted without my wallet feeling that I had bought a small car!

First class shot!

Thanks for the replies, should be able to work it out now.

I've recently acquired a ME Super and wondered if anyone knew of an on-line manual or info on how this camera works?

It looks fairly simple if you know what one or two of the features do.

DIAL (RIGHT) QUESTIONS:
'L' - haven't a clue what this is.
I'm guessing that you lock the lens to 'A' and set the dial on the body to 'AUTO'. You then choose your shutter speed (two little buttons) and the body sorts the Aperture out?
'125X' - flash sync?

DIAL (LEFT) QUESTIONS:
1X - ranges from a quarter to 4x, with 1x being the standard setting. But what is this, some sort of exposure comp?

Cheers,
Ian.