The way things are going with health and safety it wouldn't surprise me at all if eventually all cheap third party batteries are banned. Lithium batteries are already becoming restricted in methods of transit and, to be fair, they can and do burst into flames.

One way to enforce it would be to make the batteries very specific so other makes cannot be used. Will Nikon correct this? They may be under no obligation to support third party items.

Interesting ramifications.

The rules allow you to send lithium batteries installed in a camera. That seems a little odd to me, but that's the way it is.

It begs the question how spare batteries are supplied with a camera. After all, they are sealed up safely.

I did remove the magnesium ribbon from a ribbon holder I sold!

This is nothing to do with brand loyalty or denial. It's to do with real life usage and all the various factors including but not exclusively resolution.

Nobody said there were not some applications where a full frame sensor could be advantageous. As indeed there are some where APS-C has the advantage.

The contention appears to be how people are comparing the two APS-C sensors in respect of image noise. The bringing in of brand loyalty arguments is in some cases just being dismissive. In other words the "you would say that wouldn't you" argument, which I believe is not a strong one and it doesn't aid discussion.

I just wish people would concentrate on the issues and explore those.

The size of the lens doesn't come into it, it's the magnification that makes the difference.

I suppose it's easy enough to test though. Put a lens on and enter the wrong amount and see what happens.

Thanks Matt.

Thanks Vic. Owls are fantastic subjects, love those huge, wise eyes!

The 18-135mm is an obvious choice, weather resistant, sharp, fast focusing and able to focus quite closely. It's a useful range and it's roughly equivalent to the 28-200mm zooms that were once called "super zooms" on film.

I've handled a lot of cameras and in one way it doesn't matter one jot which make or format of camera we use, as long as it suits what we do. There's a lot of comment on what might be "better" than something else, but we need to be sure we ask "better in what way?"

To give an example, a medium format DSLR gives much higher resolution than an APS-C DSLR and is clearly better in that respect. It's very much not better if we need to keep down the bulk and cost. We decide where our priorities are and define our own best for purpose.

Photographers who want a general purpose camera that's suitable for everything from landscapes to sport might well choose a DSLR in FF or APS-C formats. Then choices will include price level, availability of lenses, ergonomics, etc. But most of all, do we like the results?

An example will be if you want to shoot JPEG, as it happens I do for various reasons. Then I wouldn't buy a Canon or the new Sony, because their JPEGs are not really that good. Pentax JPEGs are actually amongst the best out there and the new K-3, for example, still equals the resolution of the D610 even when shooting in JPEG.

Noise has been raised as an issue, but we have to look at processed results, as Dan sussed out. Comparing images with no noise reduction applied will obviously get the result observed, but we don't shoot like that.

There are many issues like this, but overall you can't beat that Pentax colour and the images look just great. Format is largely irrelevant in this and a good photographer will do fine whatever they choose. If this leads you to Pentax, then this forum has been provided to help you with that choice.

SR is adjusted according to focal length, which is why the camera needs to know.

It's probably impractical to change the figure every time you zoom, so I'd start with a mid one. Then experiment with what works best for you. It would be equally valid to start with the longest or shortest length and go from there.

I wouldn't presume to guess what I might or might not be doing, but one thing is for sure. I spent decades selling things to a specialist group of people, I don't do that now and I have absolutely no desire to sell anything to anybody.