Really nice. I really like the slightly cool colours too...which I suspect is the result of some careful PP? Jon

Another vote for the MX - first camera I bought with hard-saved pocket money after learning on my dad's Spotmatic (purchased from Tecno in Manchester, I remember it well....). It's a pretty rugged little camera although worth checking the shutter, and worth assuming that you will need to replace the light seals if they've not been done already....a relatively easy DIY job.

To be honest, neither. I'd aim for a higher quality filter than the cheapest Hoyas and yes I would go for a slim filter. The Lenstip website has a good comparative test of polarisers. Balancing quality with cost, I'd recommend Marumi DHG, but they are closer to £50 in 77mm.

Keeping mine as it may be the only zoom of any quality I can afford for the FF . Seriously though, it's a great lens and not a bad poor-man's 50-135 substitute, especially at this excellent price.

Hi,

Welcome to the forum. You'll find plenty of people who still reckon the K10D produced some of the best low ISO images of any Pentax dSLR, but the K-5 is a great upgrade in so many other areas - especially as you go up the ISO scale. I think that, in combination with extra "crop-abiliy", means you've made the right choice in keeping the K-5 for the longer lens, and sticking the 18-250 on the K10D.

As for exposure, I think the issue may be more that the earlier Pentax bodies were well known for being very conservative with exposures, whereas the K-5 does tend to opt for a higher EV which is probably closer to what most other cameras tend to do by default. I generally find that with centre-weighted metering I can predict pretty well what it will do, and then dial in a bit of exposure compensation when required, but to be honest I tended to need to fiddle with exposures more from the older cameras than I ever do with the K-5. Perhaps you've got used to working with cameras that many people feel tended to underexpose by default?!

Enjoy your new gear.

Jon

I'm struggling to think of anything bad, as long as you are ok with a full manual flash. Build is very good (it's based on a Canon workhorse gun anyway), recycling is quick, it's very flexible and astonishing value. I know plenty of professionals who swear by them.

Superb manual flash. But it's not TTL which you said you needed. I don't find the manual thing that problematic, and very happy with my 560 ii (on Pentax but no reason why it won't work equally well in other brands).

I doubt you'd do much better than the DA especially for the price. The FA 35/2 is also very nice and better built....but I suspect image quality is close; I understand the optical design is similar. Another option might be a secondhand Sigma 30/1.4 - built to do a slightly different job with emphasis on centre sharpness but a great lens if its characteristics are what you're looking for.

Enjoy the new lens! I'm travelling to Faro at the end of February and wondering what kit to bring with me. I think it might be the 18-135 plus a well chosen prime or two, but very much looking forward to my first trip to Portugal. Jon

Delighted with new-to-me camera. Took it to Wembley last night and grabbed a few ISO3200 shots with the lowly Tamron 18-250. Given the circumstances, I'm pleased with what I got. AF is noticeably faster and more decisive than my earlier Pentax bodies. Really looking forward to using it in better light and with better lenses.

























Cheers,

Jon