Excellent info thanks. So then, will the analogue hotshoe grip not interfere with the digital guns when they are connected to the camera via the 5P socket to hot shoe cable ? I think probably not if there are no active electronics in the grip.

Thanks, Pete.

Hi all,

I have the above combination of kit and I have a couple of questions for you learned chaps.

I know that the AF280T and the HSG use an analogue command interface and the 2 FTZ & the AF360FGZ guns are digital.

For these tests I'm using the 4P Synch Cord B that connects the HSG to the camera's hot shoe and the guns mounted on the HSG.

1: Why does TTL flash mode not work with the 2 FTZ guns, and yet it works great with the older AF280T ? The 400 doesn't even fire, and the 500 gives a full discharge.

2: Will the HSG interfere with the operation of the two FTZ guns if I mount them on the HSG but connect the guns directly to the camera using Hot Shoe Adapter F & 5P Synch Cord ? These 2 guns have the 4P synch socket.

3: Will I be able to use the AF360FGZ (without synch cable) in 2: above ?

An AF400T might seem to be the obvious answer to all this (or a third party gun) but they are rare as chickens teeth.

What I would like to achieve is a dual flash bar possibly made from 2 Hot Shoe Grips with a gun atop each and sitting either side of the camera for brightly lit Macro work, but retaining the TTL feature for some measure of automated flash control.

4: Will the resulting mass of steel, plastic, glass & cables migrate to any of the Pentax digital bodies ?

I would be grateful for your comments.

Hi,

I'm not an expert user of Photoshop but I found this useful for sharpening images.

http://actions.home.att.net/dSLR_Fractal_Sharpen.html

This software http://www.ononesoftware.com/detail.php?prodLine_id=2 is required for the above to work, as is Photoshop. Essentially it allows you to resize your images to enormous sizes (up to 400% I think) with no discernable quality reduction from the correct viewing distance.

Software Genuine Fractals is available in UK from http://www.dcpsystems.co.uk/index.htm .

Moderators: I have no connection with any of these companies other than as an occasional customer.

Regards, Peter Smith.

Thanks to all for your comments, much appreciated.

Hi,

Does any of you have any experience of this lens. Any comments, good or bad, would be appreciated.

Pete.

Thanks for the insight George. I wasn't aware of the Philips chip disaster. Interesting.

New lenses ? I'm still collecting old ones.

Regards, Pete.

George,

I accept the reasons for the lower prices on the lower spec models. I just don't understand why we now have the choice of 1 top model (if you can find one) and 3 lesser models with very little difference in their capabilities between them, and in such a short space of time.

It could be said that Pentax were late coming to the digital SLR market, but now they have it seems their designers only want to make a few changes and call it a new model. And it seems that their software development for one model ceases with the introduction of a new one (service patches to fix problems excepted). I'd really like to know just how much the DS2 differs from the DS, firstly in the mechanical design and materials etc, and secondly, the software.

Will we, for example, be able to use DS2 firmware on our DS's. I think not.

Don't misunderstand my rantings. I've been a dedicated fan of Pentax, since the mid 80's when I bought my first Super A, and I will remain so for the foreseeable future. Their backward compatibility is legendry but we've already seen messages in this forum from people who are 'waiting' for the next model to come out. With new models being introduced so quickly in succession, Pentax is possibly delaying those users decisions to a point where they might just go to another manufacturer, becasue they can't make up their mind which one to go for.

It just makes me think that if they are bringing a new model out so soon "What's wrong with the old one ?" If the answer's nothing (or minimal) why change it so soon. That's all.

Cheers, Pete.

I settled on the DS initially too, only because it seemed to have all that I needed at a price I could afford. It's a very fine camera. Also, the D was already being phased out when I bought my DS and D's were hard to find.

However I have recently acquired a broken D with a Tamron 28 - 105mm lens (see other thread) and I do like the idea of having the choice of 3 custom setups that you can fairly quickly switch between. Now that is a feature that must be purely software so why leave it out of the DS ? There are other bits about it I like but I will not have a proper 'play' until its fixed.

The D is off to the Pentax 'hospital' in Slough. I'm hoping its repair cost + buy cost add up to much less than a new one, but who knows.

Just exactly what planet are Pentax designers on. They seem to be changing their designs as fast as software developers produce service packs. Why bother, they will soon have 3 digital cameras in their line-up, and it takes almost an expert to spot the differences. Do they actually call this development ? I don't. *istD was brand new in only 2003. The 'beast' we'd all been waiting for, well I had anyway, and what a machine. Since then they've added 3 very similar models to the range, but removed some of the good bits from the D. Why ? Where they not proud of what they'd done ? Why not have speant those intervening years to deliver the *istD2 ? I really don't understand them.

To my mind, they'd have been better off keeping the 'professional' attributes of the original istD, whack a bigger screen on the back, add (not substitute) an SD drive, beef up the continuous frame rate and call it the *its(whatwewantedinthefirstplace). But I guess that's too many letters. OK *ist-D2 will do.

OK . . . I'm done. That feels better.

Cheers, Pete.

*ist-DS2 is to be available soon. I'm not sure what the changes are.