I've found the K-01 is quicker still and HDR is available directly from the mode dial.

John K

Highland exif shows: 2013-11-01 14:45:29 (date on forum exif reader matches)
Magical Forest shows: 2013-10-14 22:27:05 using FXif in Firefox, but blank in the forum exif reader.

John K

It should be!

Already an image taken on 14th October has been entered in the November comp, though it needs the exif viewing on the actual photo rather than through the forum exif reader as with that the 'Date Taken' field appears blank. I also seem to recall that photos taken before the competition was announced were also ineligible, or so I was told when the competition rules were being discussed. I appreciate it's just a small point but it would be helpful if we all kept to the same rules.

John K

All your originals look just fine though the comment about the sloping horizon in number two is valid. But if you didn't know how to rotate a photo through 90 degree, knowing how to do that for just a couple of degrees is not surprising.

Most photo processing have an option to rotate an image, be it 90/180/270 degrees or just a fraction of a degree. That includes the free packages too. By all means get Lightroom, but it isn't essential. My favourite freebie processing program is Irfanview.

John K

The 35-70's are good lenses, but they have a shorter range thus lack the wider angle of the kit lens. Effectively on APS-C it gives from a standard lens to a moderate telephoto, ideal to use as a portrait lens. Handy to have ready though if you intend to get a full frame camera, film or digital.

John K

I traded in my GX20 and K200D this afternoon!

John K

My favourite way of working is using the AF button to focus with a single focus point in the centre of the screen, like on the old M and K series cameras. One can quickly centre on the intended subject and focus on it and not wonder what the camera is doing (or isn't doing!) With the fastest AF in the world, I would still do it that way as I wouldn't trust the AF. How does the camera's AF know if I want the runner in front or the runner at the back?

The only advantage of a faster AF is it might do that quicker and not hunt. But hunting while the subject has passed by is useless.

John K

Phone up the dealer, tell them what you've got and see what they say. From other threads here it seems not all dealers do the same thing. I don't think a forum member here can answer for a dealer really, unless they are that dealer!

John K

I have a Canon owning friend who was having focussing issues like those mentioned here. He preferred my method of using the button on the back of the camera rather than a half shutter press as he was missing shots I was getting with the K-5 using the prefocus method by pressing the AF button.
On the Pentax changing the focussing method to do that is quite simple in the menu system. What a faff to do something similar on the Canon!

The grass isn't greener, believe me.

John K