I generally rely on my bag to protect my lenses. I use Lowepro bags exclusively.

Older style leather hard cases are perhaps to be avoided due to their abilties to harbour and grow fungus. If you know of somebody handy with a sewing machine it shouldn't take long to knock up some simple drawstring bags.

Galerie only works on the MAC OS's as far as I can make out.

Saving a copyright stamp as a brush preset is a good idea and works well in that you can place your copyright notice anywhere within the image.

IWatermark can optionally embed IPTC data in the image file which can be read by IPTC aware software like Adobe Photoshop. I haven't got that to work yet on .JPG or .TIF output files.

I find this useful for watermarking. I've been experimenting with it and JAlbum a little here

The watermark can take many forms and be placed anywhere on the page. It'll also take .PSD files in and churn out watermarked 'JPG's optionally resized and resampled. Its available in both mac & windows versions.

One thing I don't like about it is the fact that it can use a root + child folders for its input but doesn't preserve them in its output.

It has a 'try it out' mode. Buying it will set you back only $20 or £11. It certainly takes the pain out of watermarking and protecting your hard work from theft.

Cheers,

You could always try printing them onto A4 transparency film using a good quality inkjet printer, then give them to you kids to cut them into suitable 35mm slide sized pieces and mount them yourself. I'm not sure if the resolution would be good enough for your needs though and it might need some experimentation to get it right. Ought to be good enough for presentations I guess, but not for archival purposes.

Here is what some of amazon.com customers had to say about the version 32, and not all good. In fact, some very bad news. The version 32, it seems, was prone to overheating. Maybe the version 33 is better. I thought of buying one but I couldn't figure out what the external cable was for and I didn't like some of the reviews. If the 33 works without problem, I can't think of any other functions and info one might need in a battery charger.

Glyn,

You have some good shots there. I was at Aire06, St Javier, Murcia, Spain on June 4th 2006 for the flying display. I missed the static display the day before. The Red Arrows and a Typhoon were there too and very impressive. The Red Arrows got the biggest cheer and loudest applause of all the aerobatic teams, including the Spanish Patrulla Agula (Eagle Patrol) team. I'll maybe post a few of the better ones.

Cheers and have a good day at the show tomorrow.

That is also as I understand it. The Pentax HS capable guns (AF360FGZ and AF540FGZ) can use HS Synch when, either attached to the camera, or by setting Wireless HS Synch mode on the camera and having the gun setup off-camera.

Out of curiosity I have just conducted the following experiment involving 4 separate shots in a room lit only by daylight.

Camera set to manual, 125th, f11, iso200, wb auto.

Take a photo of a not too distant object (say, 3 or 4 feet away), it doesn't matter about the correct exposure as long as you can see an image for comparison later.

With flash controls set to normal, take another picture of the same object using the same camera settings, with the popup flash. The result should be a brighter image, as you would expect.

Before continuing:-
In the menu system, make sure that the setting 'Flash in Wireless mode' is set to on. This makes the pop-up flash a wireless master and will contribute light to the composition. With this setting off it's a wireless controller only (for use with off-camera wireless flash - AF360FGZ & AF540FGZ) and does not contribute any reasonable amount of light to the composition. It does however contribute a tiny insignificant amount as it is used to fire the wireless slave when the shutter is released.

Press the flash control on the top plate until W appears, then take a third photo using the same settings, result should be the same as shot 2. If the image is darker, you have the pop-up flash set as a wireless controller only. Change it to be a wireless master as detailed above.

Finally, press the flash control button on the top plate so that both 'W' and 'HS' (Wireless High Speed Synch mode) appear in the window.

Take the 4th shot, the result should be much darker than shot 3.

The shutter speed so far has been less than 1/150th so shot 4 did not use W-HS Synch mechanism anyway, even though it was turned on.

Now wind the shutter speed up to 1/180th, your resulting shot ought to be similar to shot 4, but a bit darker.

In W-HS mode, the light from the pop-up is greatly reduced and in my opinion, would not serve as a fill-in flash at all. The useful light output in W-HS mode is similar to that in Wireless Controller mode, almost none.

In conclusion, Wireless High Speed Synch mode can only be used with a compatible flash unit. The built-in flash reverts to a wireless controller only when this mode is selected even if no other external flash is used.

Fill-in flash ought to be possible with the pop-up flash but not if the 'A' symbol is showing in the top plate flash window and the ambient light is sufficiently bright to prevent the flash from firing, which could be the case if you are using the 'green' programmed AE mode. In this case, one of the other exposure modes should be selected. The A symbol does not appear in Tv, Av, or M modes, cannot be turned off in 'green' mode, and can be turned on/off in (P)rogrammed exposure mode by pressing the flash control button on the top plate.

Bottom line . . . to do it properly, you need an AF360FGZ or AF540FGZ.

Richard,

I sent you a private message.

Regards,

If he/she is a reputable ebay seller and you offer to pay the relist fees, there shouldn't be a problem. You'll be out of pocket a little, but a lot less than keeping a lens you can't use. These normally sell for about £60 - £90 because they are known to be very good lenses (normally). My son, lucky devil, bought a near perfect example with only a very slight 'ding' in the filter ring which does not affect filter attachment for only £40. I must have been asleep that day, else I would have had it myself.

Just don't be put off by this experience, look for another, you'll not be disappointed when a good one turns up.

Cheers.

You haven't said what your other lenses are but if they are Pentax AF lenses and they work in all respects on your camera, I think it reasonable to assume that the 80-320mm is faulty in more ways than one. You will only really know by trying another sample or trying the lens you have on another Pentax body.

WD40 in very small amounts will do no harm in my opinion. It eventually dries out completely anyway but you will be assured of as perfect electrical contact between lens and body as is possible . . . assuming there is no misalignment issue.

Of course, if you do intend to send it back, it might be wiser not to use WD40 but Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) instead. This will clean any grease and soluble contaminants from the contacts, but leave no trace after a few seconds of evaporation.

I wouldn't leave it too long before asking for a refund. To be fair to the seller, at least tell them that the lens is not working for you and you'd like some more time to investigate its failure.

Another option is to send it to Pentax in Langley for a free estimate for its repair. It'll cost you postage but that's all. If they find its faulty, they'll tell you how much it'll cost to repair it, then make your decision.

That at least will qualify whether or not there is a problem with the lens rather than your camera.

I don't think I can advise you further on this. When you take a lens/camera combination out to use it, you need to have confidence in its reliability. I don't think you will have that confidence with this lens.

Good luck.