Great, many thanks John and Derek both - I'll look to get a screw-in IR filter and give it a go! Some great images there Derek, btw.

I've only got older K series 50mm lenses but I'll be shooting full manual, so can easily manually stop down - I might keep an eye for an a-series 28mm in the upcoming camera fairs.

I'll see what it's like with the in-camera filter in place, I'm thinking of replacing it with a visible light filter at some point - I gather I can take the sensor mount out the back so I don't need to touch the mirror assembly etc, it'll be an interesting DIY project if nothing else!

Hi all

I appreciate IR conversions have been touched upon in other posts, but I've a couple of specific questions I'd appreciate any thoughts on.

I have an old K10D in pretty sorry state after my wife went a*** over t** in Brecon whilst carrying it round her neck a few years ago. Luckily, the damage is really just cosmetic (the camera, not the wife - if she's reading this she's lovelier every day) although the camera is scraped all over, the casing is split and the flash will never flash again.

Given there's nothing really left to lose, I was considering converting it to IR by replacing the filter in front of the sensor. One slight fly in my ointment is that the K10d doesn't have live view and hence no contrast focus either, and given wavelength differences the phase focus won't be effective. I can use some older lenses with separate IR focus lengths printed on the lens barrel, but I'd be keen to hear just how accurate this approach is. I'm unlikely to use this on anything other than still life and landscape, so I will be stepping down, but I'm anticipating difficulty with things I can't 'see'

I'm also not sure about the metering - I'm not sure how to adjust exposure to take into account the fact that the metering is set for visible light and standard filter, and IR light and the IR pass-through filter would have differing properties. Is this simply a case of 'suck-and-see', maybe iterating using the screen and histogram etc (I think K10D has histogram? Not used it in a while!) or is there a more reliable approach?

I'd also be interested to hear if anyone has done such a conversion with the K10/20 or, indeed, with any other Pentax DSLR. I'm not inclined to send it for professional modification given that it's damaged goods and that other contrast-based cameras would be a better bet.

As an aside, I also have a K5 that has a damaged AF board that is beyond economic repair, I did intend to keep this to use with my manual macro lens (hence it's not a write-off like the K10D) but I'd not be against tinkering with this if it's likely to be a better convert to IR.

K3 arrived safe and sound, many thanks Chris!

Matt

I had a quick ring around and it appears that there are still a few available under clearance, but they're £230.

Either Oxford St was making a very good clearance offer or they've released they're worth a few more quid!

Shame, as I was after a decent longer lens for a safari!

Ta all for advice - in the end I went for a set of Nikon Monarchs, which won a head-to-head with a set of Hawke simply as they are lighter. I would quite have liked to have tried the Pentax, as the field of view of the Nikons isn't as wide as others so I'd have been interested in how the Pentax stacked up, but no-one in Bath or environs stocks them.

It seems that the £250-300 price range is very competitive!

Thanks all for comments, much appreciated.

I popped by Newport wetlands and tried a few out, the reduction in fringing and increased brightness of image was noticeable comparing cheap models to the more expensive, but I could only really detect clear differences between the very cheap and the expensive. I think the RSPB binoculars are rebranded Vikings, and I tried some of the HD and HDX ranges and although they were very good I'm not sure I can stretch to the £450-650 range. I would, of course, prefer to put that cash towards camera lenses!

I had a play with some binoculars in town, the Nikons and Minox were both comfortable and offered decent images, but not sure what separates the circa £130 ranges (Nikon Prostaff, Minox BF) with the circa £250 (Nikon Monarch, Minox BV) - I gather there's some ED glass in the Monarchs, but I could only find slight image quality differences between these price brackets when testing them out. I worry that the key differences won't be obvious through 5 minute tests outside the shops on a brightish day, so I'd be interested to know if anyone is aware of what the differentiators are - longevity, brightness etc. I'd hate to buy a set and only realise their shortcomings once out on safari.

I appreciate this might not be the most sensible forum to ask, I've been on some of the birding forums but the ranges they discuss aren't the same as available in my local shops (or are in my price range!)

I'm gravitating towards the Nikon Monarchs as a longer-term investment, but in the meantime all advice gratefully received - thanks to all for pointers to models, I liked the Pentax roof mirror ones but can't get my hands on a pair to try before buying, sadly. I'm after something in the range of 8x42, btw, and roof prisms (i.e. the more compact style).

Ta John - I'm not a million miles from Slimbridge, however I'll be near Newport tomorrow and they have an RSPB birdwatching site with (if I recall correctly) a shop with binoculars. I'll look to swing by.

Hi all

Apols for massive bump, but I'm about to ask the same question (we're after a set of binoculars for our safari trip and for general wildlife) so thought it made sense to build upon what went before!

I've seen a set of Meopta Meostar 8x32 ex-demos which feel nice in the hand and give a good, clear image. This is a bit of a blast from the past, my first enlarger was Meopta which was a touch agricultural, but I gather they're well respected in high quality optics and these binoculars felt well-engineered.

I was surprised by the cost of these though, arpund £500, which I only found out after trying them out (and after being highly impressed by their clarity). Our local shop sells opticrons for around the £100 mark, and whilst they seem pretty clear and sharp to me I can't readily try the Meoptas and the Opticrons side-by-side to compare and contrast. As such, I'd be keen to hear what I'd lose by going for entry-level and what I might gain by investing - I'll be looking closely for purple fringing, but other pointers would be much appreciated.

All advice gratefully received - I really do know next to nothing about binoculars.

Ta all - I'll do some budgeting and see where we are.

I assume from comments that a flavour of the K5 or K3 would be better bets than cameras such as KS2 etc, so that's narrowed it down nicely.

Cheers!

Hi all

I've been using an Olympus OM-D for a while, originally as a lightweight alternative to my DSLR gear but now more permanently because my K5 developed an AF fault that's sadly not economically repairable.

My wife and I are looking at an African trip late in the year, and I am considering a replacement Pentax DSLR body so I can go back to Pentax my wife and I can share our lenses. I also much prefer the Pentax viewfinder over a digital viewfinder, and I find the Pentax handling much better as well.

I'm not sure what body to consider, so would appreciate any advice others have to offer. My wife has a K30 which I've been really impressed by, but I've heard of a few longevity issues creeping in (not that my wife has had any mechanical problems with her camera). A key benefit of going for the K30 would be a common battery, although these drain quickly I'd just buy a job lot of replacements to bring. My concern would be that the K30 is a good few years old and there may be better options elsewhere.

If we started at a budget of around £300 to go to a stretch of £400, this would put used K5 and K3 into the picture, but maybe not K3ii. I note that John Lewis are selling the KS-1s off for £300, I've no idea what the newer cameras such as the KS1, K50 etc are like - my anticipation is improvements to pixel, processing etc but at a cost of robustness, handling and ergonomics (i've quite big hands so prefer the K5 over the K30).

I've only got one SDM lens but I've been toying with a 120-400 Sigma HSM for the trip (this is the reason for the reluctance to open the budget for the body up too much), we've got a 55-300 and an old Sigma APO 300mm f4, which are likely to be the key lenses for this trip. We're anticipating a few landscapes but mostly wildlife.

Any advice on candidates to consider, or what key the key points of differentiation between the cameras are perceived to be, would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Matt