Hi,

No, I'm a Windows user. I know though that there are people that use Linux in these parts, and Gimp is growing more popular as an image manipulation tool. In fact I think there's little that it can't do when compared to PS etc.

All you need to do is to download the GIMP and/or the GTK runtime environment first and from there you can run UFraw. As I use Gimp anyway, I wanted to try something compatible.. and there are others around to try out as well.

I had a look at Capture1LE, and thought about it, but found this. I'll certainly be trying out C1 at some point, but I have a thing about paying for software, especially with a massive boom in the free stuff in the last year.

Cheers

Liam

Hi,

http://ufraw.sourceforge.net/

I have only had a quick play with it, but UFraw seems pretty user friendly. Rawshooter looked great when I downloaded it, but it can't yet handle the DLs RAW files, whereas this can. Being open source it's completely free as well. A handy function on it was being able to adjust the EV level by 0.01 at a time. It indicates areas of under/over exposure and you canadjust accordingly. I'll have another play later and show you some results.

Cheers

Liam

Hi Steve,

I tried my old (35mm) slide copier that I used on the ME Super with the DL and you do indeed lose a great deal of the slide.. around 15% on each side, which is around 1/2 the original total area.

It depends how big you would want to print them but you should get perfectly acceptable 7x5s or maybe bigger using a macro lens.

These..

http://www.liamsworld.org.uk/galleries/KenyaBB/ (dial-up warning)

were copied via a macro lens, and seem adequate.. albeit these slides are 50+ years old and have deteriorated somewhat.

I suppose the old suck it and see method is recommended.

If you have dial-up, these are web-ready to get an idea only.

http://www.liamsworld.org.uk/galleries/Kenya/

Cheers

Liam

http://www.katzeyeoptics.com/cat--Pentax-DSLR-s--cat_pentax.html

http://www.katzeyeoptics.com/item--Katz-Eye-Focusing-Screen-for-the-Pentax-*istD-Series--prod_istD.html

Found them, and although expensive (£50ish) they ship worldwide.

Cheers

Liam

Hi,

I haven't time to look up the info.. off to work now; but there are after market split screens that you can buy that work in the same awy as the old manual focus screens on MEs etc.

If you do a lot of manual focossing, and need to change it anyway, then that could be the way to go.

There are a few links in a fairly recent thread (Jan) here somewhere.

Rushed, but I guess you get the idae..

Cheers

Liam

Glad you got it sorted out Andy,

Cheers

Liam

Hi Harry and welcome.

The first thing to check when using any older, and especially non-pentax, gun on the *ist or any digital camera is the trigger voltage. You can't use a gun with greater than (I think) 30v with the *ist. I'm off to work, so if someone else could verify that figure please.

It's not listed here..

http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html

so you'd need to check that first, before even plugging it into the camera. Here's how..

http://www.botzilla.com/photo/g1strobe.html

If that's all well and good, then you should be okay. Not sure about TTL compatibility, as I don't know the gun, but I'd hazard a guess that you won't get P-TTL with it.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

Liam

Hi all,

it turned up this morning.. 24 hours after I clicked the button. wow. Even had a skylight attached. It feels nice and solid, and balances well with the DL body.

I'm just going to go and point it at something. Back in a mo. I'm on my dinner break, so it'll just be at any passing magpies out front.

Cheers

Liam

Hi, and thanks for the info.

So (with certain limitations) it's not that bad a buy then..

Hopefully I'll get it in the next day or two and have a play. Apart from the kit lens that came with the DL (18-55), it'll be only the second genuine Pentax lens I own. The rest, although good to my untrained eye, are a hotchpotch of third party lenses.. the makes of which aren't often, if ever mentioned here.

Travanar 300
Soligor 70-210
Exactar 135
Promura 28-80

And a 28mm that I seem to have mislaid : , but probably named in a similar vain.

I'll fire off a test gallery and put it on my site, so you can see the results. I may even get adventurous and try a RAW shoot.

Cheers

Liam

Hi niblue,

It says nothing about it being a power zoom.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=48558&item=7585...

That's the one.

Cheers

Liam