Hi again,

my reply to your PM could usefully be expanded upon.

The K10D does not support older TTL flash modes. Older guns can still be used with the K10D but only in manual mode or the flashes auto modes. This requires either trial and error or some calculation on your part to achieve a correct exposure.

The K10D, and all other Pentax digital bodies, support P-TTL. That is, preflash-TTL.

For that reason, my flashgun of choice for use with the K10D has to be the AF540FGZ mainly for it's power. If you don't need the head to rotate, then the AF360FGZ is also a good choice. The 360's head does tilt to provide bounced flash, but it doesn't rotate whereas the 540's head does both.

These are the only two Pentax flash units that are fully supported when attached to a K10D. Apparantly there are third party flashes that also work, but I have no experience of them.

If you're prepared to live with manual flash control, then the AF500FTZ is also a powerful flash which has both tilt and swivel functions.

From one who makes a living out of selling/maintaining PC's (yes, there are some of us left). We used to build our own, then we had them built to our spec. (build cost £35.00 - no brainer), now we buy ready made Acer. Muuuuuuuch cheaper.

From my experience with Pentax spare parts, they charge a flat rate of £8 for postage on top of the item price. I bought a new battery cover for my AF280T some time back. The cover, £3.??, postage, £8.

You could also try Harrow Technical / Asahi Photo !

I have an MZ-S & *istD. Both eyecups are identical.

The only difference I have ever come across is that some eyecups don't have the cutout on the top edge for the dioptre adjuster. That's soon rectified with a scalpel.

Hope that helps.

PS, if it's only £5, go for it anyway.

Most older lenses will be sold as 'Pentax K fit' or 'Pentax bayonet fit'. New lenses will be sold only as Pentax fit, because the Pentax KAF body mount is the current mount. FYI: The K10D actually has the KAF2 mount which allows the use of older power zoom lenses too. As long as the lens you intend to buy has the Pentax bayonet fitting, it'll work.
Some users have had problems with some Sigma lenses, and old Ricoh lenses can get stuck on the camera. Search the forum for more info.

Be prepared:-

fast + long = expensive

fast + long + high quality = Pentax * lenses (or other makers premium range) = astronomically expensive

. . . but at least you have the advantage of in-camera shake reduction, which might actually mean that you don't need as fast a lens as you think.

I was hoping I wouldn't get this issue on the K10D, but I have.

I was using the camera at a local fiesta today and the battery depleted message appeared. In *istD fashion, I turned off, turned on, and it all worked again and I had a full battery indication.

The same thing happened shortly afterwards and I had to remove the battery from the grip to get the camera working again.

Camera is set to use grip battery first, which it clearly did, but it didn't switch to the body battery automatically.

When I got home, the body battery was at full potential, almost 8 volts. The grip battery, was indeed depleted and measured only 6.5 volts.

I haven't actually printed any. Picasa doesn't seem to exhibit the problem at the moment, but if I develop a striped image in CaptureOne to a .JPG, the stripes are there also so I'm sure they will appear on a print.

Curious coincidence? I'm in UK at the moment and using an old dog of a PC for some internet access and simple stuff.

I've taken a few pics and loaded both Picasa and CaptureOne onto it and I have some similar manifestations within these two programmes.

The same kind of stripes, but bigger, and pink. Oddly, although both programmes show these stripes, they don't show on the same image.

I'm not bothered about it because the machine is due to be scrapped and I have a better machine to go home to.

Beats me what it might be. USB port, graphics card, memory? Dunno.

Good news George.

Regards,