If it makes you feel any better, the photos in my most recent classified were taken with an ancient Panasonic, but I didn't tell anyone (oops)

Definitely prefer the black and white. But I rather like the Delta 400. You just can't please some people!...

I like both shots very much. For the thorn, I can't decide about the increased saturation of the second version, but I do like the contrasty B&W one - how does it look if the noise is turned down just a tad?

May be I've got this wrong, but my assumption for classifieds in particular is that people want to see pictures of what you are trying to sell, and aren't going to be so interested in whether those pictures were taken with a Pentax camera?

Not convinced by the mirrorless cameras as they don't have compact lens system to go with the compact bodies. They aren't pocketable and the handling is so-so with small body and comparatively large lenses.

I'm less persuaded by the EVF argument - the best ones now are vastly better than they were even a couple of years ago, and they have their advantages (eg providing all kinds of additional information incl live histogram if you want it).

I do think lots of people will buy them, but they may end up not liking them as much as they thought. The people who really love these cameras seem to be the street shooters who combine them with small primes (a modern Canonet) - but that is not flexible enough to appeal to the mass market.

If somebody came up with a mirrorless rangefinder style camera that coupled with a decent range of relatively compact lenses like the Leica or Voigtlander M's, then I would sit up and take notice. An affordable alternative to the M9. To an extent you can already do that with micro 4/3 and M adapter, but doubling the focal length of all those M lenses is severely limiting.

Of all the current dSLR manufacturers, Pentax has perhaps the best range of smallish primes that could form the basis of such a system (and people are snapping up old SMCA and SMCM lenses too for use on M4/3). But I think it would only appeal to a self-selecting group of enthusiasts, and may not be economically viable.

I think they may be best staying out of this market.

My prediction is that Olympus and Sony will over the next 2-3 years give up on dSLR with optical VF and that over time Pentax should be able to pick up some of their market share and become number 3, but with enough volume to keep on keeping on.

As for who's next, I think there is a fairly open rumour that Nikon is also developing a mirrorless camera, so that is my bet.

Agree with Kris - I think Paul's photograph looks really good in black and white. It draws attention to the cathedral and statue in a way that I suspect would not have happened if the foliage and sky were allowed to dominate the proceedings (which may have happened in colour).

Tamron PKA adapter still available - and it is exceptionally well-priced! Jon

Hi Jeff - I think the decision will be taken after I try the Doubler and my Kenko Teleplus with the same shots and set ups. If the Kenko is as good, then the doubler will become an auto ext tube - which will give me the best of both worlds. If the results from the doubler are better, then the Kenko will hit the classifieds!

Cheers,

Jon

Some nice photographs in this thread. For the money, looks like this is a nice lens.

I've settled on a "standard" zoom lens on my camera recently too - in my case an SMCA 35-105 f3.5: stunning image quality which gets close to rivalling primes. Maybe I'll start a thread on that one too, but some of you wouldn't thank me for it......

Well after Mike's suggestion of converting it to an auto extension tube earlier today, which I think is going to happen, I thought the least I should do is try the doubler out before killing it!

Took a few shots with my 50mm SMCM 1:2 "macro" lens, and given that they were handheld and it was grey and windy, I reckon they came out quite ok. Focusing the thing when it is f8 with an APSC viewfinder is a bit of a pig though.

A few quick samples before I try and prise the lenses out....


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I'll report back on the conversion process - if it works. If not, I may stay somewhat quiet about the whole thing....

Cheers,

Jon