Such a simple question and an answer full of pitfalls, but basically a 2x converter will change a 50mm f2 lens (let's take that for simplicity) and turn it into a 100mm f4.

The close focus ability remains the same, so it also becomes a Macro lens focusing to 1:2 or thereabouts.

I think DOF will therefore be as a 100mm lens and the aperture will be the effective aperture, but to be honest I haven't actually tried that out as I'm not fond of the quality loss with teleconverters.

Your f8 "sweet spot" with the 50mm will be rewritten as it becomes f16 anyway and the converter has an unknown effect on quality, but I guess that f8 on the prime lens will remain your best bet because you will be magnifying the best aperture's quality, which will remain the best option.

Now looking at it the other way round, if you take a picture at f2 then to get the same picture with the TC you will need to move twice as far away. It is now f4, the focal length has changed, but the magnification will stay the same. If it was still f2 then the DOF would be unchanged, but it's not, so is the DOF different? Not sure, you'll have to try it and see!

You would still need to store the RAW file somewhere, but the uploading of the competition entries would be much easier.

Hate to be pedantic, but this battery is not the same as the Pentax one. It fits and it works, no doubt, but it is rated 1500 mAh whereas the pentax battery is rated 1620 mAh.

So although it may be similar, it is not the same.

You could use the Gallery>Competitions section which would be much easier.

Yes, you can get most or all of the images back and there is free software on the web to enable you to do this. Artplus Digital Photo Recovery is the one we have used with success. There are others.

If recovery is not successful, try formatting the card and trying again. With some cards we found that this brought back a few more images.

Whilst I understand your sentiment this is not the place to post things in protest or to see how far you can push the point.

As a consequence I have removed the thread in question.

This is a photographic forum, not a political or protest arena.

I've never tried, but you might find the software doesn't allow more than one entry per person. That's how the Weekly Competition was set up and it might apply to all competitions in the Gallery section, by default.

It would be a bit unfair after all if one person put in one shot and someone else posted 12!

You say you formatted the old card and then put that back in, but you should always format the card in the camera. If you formatted it in the computer then format is again in the camera.

Other things to try - remove lens, clean contacts with a soft cloth and reseat the lens, making sure it clicks into place.

Otherwise, move quickly in getting it sorted by Pentax. All you can do is tell them it's urgent and why and see what they can do for you.

This was shot on a Photo Society trip. We were allowed into the hall for two hours on a Sunday morning, before it was opened to the public. We could use tripods and flash and had the free run of the place.

After opening time we returned the tripods to the cars, took lunch, and then carried on with photography of the exterior.

It was an excellent day out and I can certainly recommend it for photographers. A couple of years ago they decided to drop their restrictions on the use of flash, which I thought very photo-friendly and encouraging.

It's basically run by very friendly people.

I use Channel Mixer, enabling the three channels (RGB) to be adjusted to taste.

Before I do that I go to the Layers/Channels palette to look at how the RGB channels look as they are, just in case one of them is close enough already. If one is, select it and go to Mode>Greyscale. It will ask if you want to discard the other channels and the answer would be Yes.

If you want to, you can also convert to CMYK and look at those four channels to see if one does the trick.

These techniques are also useful in photo restoration as one of the channels might remove a lot of defects, reducing the amount of work needed.