I think you'll find that permission/a permit is required for set-piece photography (with two weeks notice), but not for ad-hoc tourist style stuff.

PM sent

Thanks Andy. Found it in my K20D manual. Very interesting.

Matt, does your comment mean that some Pentax DSLRs do have this feature? If so, which one(s) please?

I bought a couple of cheap ND filters to play around with, and not surprisingly I suppose they cause a magenta colour cast.

To avoid this colour cast in future the simple answer is to buy good quality filters, so (a) which brand(s) are recommended, but (b) until I do buy replacements any suggestions as to how to remove the colour cast I get from the cheap filters (ideally in-camera - K20D)?

Thanks

When I saw this thread I thought 'Here we go again. Another 'the grass is always greener' defector.' Time and again I read or hear the same thing; 'Must have FF. Pentax don't make FF, therefore Pentax bad, Canikon good'.

One day, I hope, someone will present a cogent reason for why FF is better. Until then I'll live with the belief that it's the person holding the camera that's important, not the camera itself.

So 'goodbye' Mowog. May you and your FF live happily ever after.

Me, I'm just going to keep on trying to take better pictures with what I've got and not look for excuses!

I make the picture; the camera just does what I 'tell' it to.

A number of later Pentax cameras allow fine adjustment of lens AF accuracy to deal with front or back focus issues, either as a menu feature (K20D onwards) or as a firmware 'hack' (K10D and earlier).

AFAIK Kata photographic bags are a spin-off from their main business - making equipment for the Israeli army - so you can expect light weight and durability, etc.

Now you tell us

Thanks Russell. Your post prompts me to up-date this thread with where I am.

For film processing/transfer to CD I've tried Asda and The Darkroom; huge difference in price but the jury's out on quality! On balance The Darkroom wins, but Asda weren't too bad, and at 25% of the price of The Darkroom...

In fairness, it wasn't a true apples for apples comparison as I discovered when the films/CDs were returned; one of the two films wasn't mine. My daughter had used my camera at some time, used half a roll, and..well, they were of her mates at school mucking around so I doubt there was any attention paid to camera settings! No idea where my other roll of film is.

On the scanner front, I've test driven VueScan with my PrimeFilm scanner with reasonable results, but established that this software will not run with my Photofix scanner. Notwithstanding, neither gave me want I want - press the button and in seconds - presto! - perfect scans, and my research indicates I won't get this with any of the other scanners that have been sugggested so far. I'm too impatient.

Thanks again for comments - keep 'em coming

My Holy Grail is out there somewhere