For the 6.1MP cameras I generally used 50%, radius 0.9 approx and threshold 3.

For the 10.2MP K10D I use 100%, radius 1.9 approx and thredhold 3.

That suits what I do, and it may or may not suit what you do.

Sometimes, particularly for architectural shots, I convert to Lab mode and apply sharpening to the lightness channel only. Somewhere in the region of 150% with the other settings as above.

If you think about the tie-up in lens design between Pentax and Tokina, then it's little surprise that Tokins lenses are available for Nikon and Canon only and if you want a Pentax fit lens you have to buy a Pentax lens...

Otherwise they would be competing with themselves.

It's quite interesting that such long lenses are being discussed in this thread. It's not so long ago that a 35mm-equivalent 300mm lens would have been considered unusually long and quite specialised. The SMC Pentax-DA 50-200mm fits that spec very comfortably at an amazingly low price.

Good quality images can be made from the TV, but the shutter speed needs to be long enough to include an enture scan of the screen and avoid black lines. In the UK with its 50Hz power supply and 25 frames per second TV the ideal speed is 1/25 second, or longer. If Canada uses 60Hz and 30 fps then the speed would be 1/30sec or longer.

Mount the camera on a tripod, parallel to the screen, fill the frame to avoid too much black border and turn off all the room lights to avoid reflections.

With stills taken from a movie the "decisive moment" would become a random event, just like using a motor drive to capture the action. You could easily end up with hundreds of shots that all miss the point.

With still photography the photographer selects the moment and the style and creates a statement that lingers. I don't think you can mechanise that.

It is an irony that a CCD is an analogue device. Doubly so that a piece of film is made up of silver halide crystals where individual light sensitive points are either affected by light (on) or not (off) hence being a digital device...

The SMC Pentax-M 50mm f4 Macro is a very fine macro lens of the highest standards. It comprises 4 elements in three groups. It focuses down to 1:2

I have owned this lens in the past and it will not disappoint you.

As long as he meant he was using the eyepiece cover provided and not just shielding with the hand, that's fine.

I'm surprised that the 600mm was useable on such a test along with all the other lenses as its minimum focus distance must be huge by comparison. How far away were these lenses from the wall - the same distance or vayying distances to ensure you were photographing the same part of the wall each time?

CS2 struggles with 512MB RAM and 1GB is much better.

I would guess that 256MB RAM is only slightly more than needed to run Windows XP....

There are some very nice Super A and Program A cameras on eBay. I've just bought a couple for ridiculously low prices.

Try new batteries first, but maybe a replacement will be less costly than a repair.

You say you think the mirror is sticky? It should be obvious if it is or isn't - does it operate crisply or not?

The received wisdom is that a PC has more processing power than available in camera, therefore sharpening is PS is more sophisticated an approach. But there is more to it than that. All the processing we do introduces artifacts in the image, and sharpening increasesd edge contrast. This would make matters worse if after sharpening there is any degree of manipulation.

It depends in the end what size you are printing at. At A3 you would probably see the difference. At screen resolutions maybe you wouldn't. It will also depend on the subject.

The principle of sharpening last is a good one, even though the differnce may sometimes be small.