If the comment about quality stars relates to the JPEG quality, there is also a Premium setting (4 stars) on the K20D.

Instructions on posting images can be found at or near the top of the Your Photos section.

It might not be broken if you'd read the manual....

Stefan, the results don't indicate anything because the camera display is not precise. The exposure might be precise but the camera only sets and shows the aperture value in discrete steps. The same is true of the shutter speed.

I know that photographers make impromptu tests but for them to be really scientific needs a lot of thought and care.

What really matters arex the practical issues - does it work or not. With Pentax cameras it doesn't seem to be critical. That does not mean of course that in some circumstances it won't be.

In theory, yes. In practice, it doesn't seem to make much difference.

The exposure will only change when there is polarised light to change it. That's the whole point - it darkens blue skies, for example. If there is no polarised light, then you won't do a thing by turning a polariser.

There will be an explanation somewhere on the web about how polarisers work.

Incidentally, using polarisers to darken skies is fine, but with a wide angle lens it will cause banding in the sky. This is because the amount of polarisation depends on the angle of the light in relation to the sun - strongest at 90 degrees. With a very wide lens the effect therefore varies across the sky and can look very strange!

Polarising filters reduce the amount of light and therefore require more exposure. The amount of light loss varies depending on how the filter is turned. The light loss amounts to between approximately 1 and 2.5 stops.

...looks like becoming a thing of the past, replaced by a CD with PDF document.

There is nothing to beat having a small booklet to study anytime, anywhere, when getting to grips with the intricacies of a new camera. Even with an iPad version (as and when) the booklet wins every time for convenience and the ability to scan through it quickly.

No doubt companies will have lots of arguments for the PDF but in the end the only one that I can see as being real is a desire to reduce costs. What a shame. Some of us did read the manual but the number who do may well fall even further because of the inaccessibility of this new trend.

I can see Ken's eyes locking onto that title already...

I was just thinking about the things we can learn from observation of TV and Film work and a couple of things spring to mind.

From the 1960s TV series "The Avengers" I learned about using unusual viewpoints and foreground interest to make strong compositions. A classic example is the episode "The Morning After" when every trick in the book is used to establish the incongruous emptiness of a city in the morning. Or "All Done With Mirrors" that used shots with glasses, mirrors, windows and anything else in what is effectively a series of still photography compositions applied to film.

From "Doctor Who" we can learn all about the use of colour. The use of gels over the lights gives an incredible feel to each episode, be is glowing warmth or cold steely blue, or a dynamic mixture to create a multitude of different emotional responses. Fantastic stuff.

And as a bonus, if you have time, you could always follow the plot!

Any other examples?

To all intents and purposes you can assume ISO is the same on film and digital.

The moonlit scenario is not straightforward, so I would bracket to ensure the correct exposure.

If you can't get a correct exposure in daylight then something is wrong. If you are trying to trigger studio lights with the built in flash then this will be the cause of your problems.