The simplest approach will be to use Auto ISO and Program Mode and let the camera work things out for you.

Personally, I don't think you need to worry about anything else, tripods included, if you are new to photography and just want to have fun and get reasonable results.

The K10D with 18-55mm and maybe 50-200mm lenses will probably do everything you need.

If the purpose of the trip is mainly photographic though then all the other things mentioned in the thread will be worth considering.

I would suggest don't bother with a tripod, it will constantly get in the way. Use SR and higher ISO values where necessary instead. Maybe buy a 50mm f1.4 lens for low light situations. A bean bag with mount screw could be useful - available from Jessops.

Use the best quality JPEG capture and take lots of images. Definitely buy more SD cards, they are cheap enough these days.

Rather than a cable release, use the 2 second self timer delay, which also raises the mirror prior to exposure, thus minimising vibration.

If you can afford and find the 16-50mm lens it is weather sealed like the body, so that might be useful. Otherwise, a plastic bag with a hole for the lens, held in place by a filter, will keep out most of the water.

A circular polariser is about the only filter I would use these days, so perhaps one of these to reduce reflections on leaves and water. Plus a Skylight to protect the front element from water spray. I wouldn't normally use the latter, but might where you are going.

The only other "filters" I might take would be some close-up lenses. These would make a cheap and effective close-up facility available to you without much hassle.

When you're travelling, keeping things simple is a good idea.

Hope that helps!

It's unfortunate, but I have a feeling that if they were merged no-one would know who was replying to what and it might be even more confusing.

Two of our three were in the batch recalled, but no problem getting Pentax to send two new ones.

The old ones look fine but we'll ditch them anyway just in case.

They also said there was something fundamentally wrong with the Universe....

When I did a wedding on Sunday I let the camera sort out the fill-in flash, which it did just as well as I ever did.

It's the end result that counts.

Even the dreaded exposure modes have a logic. If the portrait mode, for example, selected low sharpness, low saturation, low ISO, large aperture it would be doing what we might do ourselves.

Having said that, it's easy for me to say because I understand what is going on. A beginner might well benefit from trying to learn a little photography. Or does the beginner no longer need to know?

:

So we seem to be talking about gross under-exposure.

Putting my thinking cap on here as I type....if there was a flash attached that did not fire that could explain the almost black images.....a faulty lens that was delivering f22 or similar instead of the correct aperture maybe....perhaps a lens not seated properly....a flash pointed at a ceiling that was too far away and too dark to give proper reflection of the light....triggering a flash with pre-flash does it as well as when the shutter opens the flash has already gone off....

I'll see if I can think of anything else - anyone else have any relevant ideas?

Ouch, my ears...no need to shout, Chris!

The question is valid though, what exactly do you mean by totally useless. Out of focus? Wrong colour balance? Noise? Under exposed? Over exposed?

We need some clues...

I am a little concerned with the notion that you used lots of different settings as it implies a sense of confusion over the use of the camera. If something was set up radically wrong perhaps a clue as to what specifically the faults were would point us in the right direction?

I'm a bit puzzled by the non-specific nature of the comments.

Indoors without flash at events has been highly successful with the K10D, but we haven't used "lots of settings", just the usual Aperture Priority and a high ISO. White Balance might be adjusted to Fluorescent or Tungsten if needed. Always using JPEG the results have been fine, even under very adverse lighting conditions, such as the Doctor Who exhibition.

A disco setting at a wedding just using a fast 50mm lens and again the same camera settings also produced fine results.

Can you be a bit more specific as to what sort of problem you found?

I like the image a lot. The clouds and the wake lead the eye into the picture and the colour is great.

It would make a fantastic final image in a Pictures2Exe slide show.