Wow!
EDIT: Interesting to compare against the 5Dmk2 as well
EDIT: Also interesting to see the actual measured ISO of other manufacturers! Pentax seem to be closer to the actual rating

Matt

Do the RF-602s work properly on Pentax?
It appears from the review they have different wake-up pins for Nikon & Canon on the TX unit, and that the RX wakes up both Canon & Nikon flash guns.

It'd be interesting if they wake up the Pentax guns (and even respond to the wake up from the camera on the TX)...

A friend of mine has some from ebay (not sure which make) but they will only sync at 1/30s or slower on the Pentax Everything else gives nasty black bands. They work fine with his Canon gear, and his Canon will trigger my AF-540FGZ (so it appears it's the TX on the Pentax that has a problem).

...hence my caution with ebay triggers

Matt

Not quite the whole story... and definitely not as simple as "Apple are bad because they use rubbish capacitors"

AFAIK, A large (and reputable) electrolytic capacitor company bought chemicals from a Chinese supplier. Turned out the supplier had stolen the formula from the very same capacitor company - but hadn't stolen the whole formula! So, capacitors all over the place were (and still are) failing

The capacitors that were 'hit' are typically used in switch mode power supplies. Being in the electronics manufacturing industry, we've been hit by the same issue (plug top chargers dying en-mass). Other companies that use switch mode PSUs had exactly the same problem.

A case of (very expensive) forgery


Windows vs Mac comparisons
This site: http://www.macvswindows.com/index.php?title=MacvsWindows_Comparisons is very helpful in seeing the differences.

I use Mac for as much as I can because, like Don, I find I can just get the job done without worrying about the machine! (Composing and producing music, photography, video, surfing, email). I would definitely buy another Mac... but that's just me YMMV.

Matt

Makes the camera-lens combination very short sighted (myopic)

Do be aware that the K7 + extension tubes with contacts + SDM lenses doesn't work that well
LiveView and menus just flash up and disappear. Very great shame!!

Matt

I use both

PCs for as long as can remember (been programming for PC since DOS 3.1 )

Mac for the past 18 months.

What do I prefer? Mac for everything I can, and PC for the rest
But you can use either - it's up to you

Matt

Sold, I believe, and payment pending…
Appreciate the kind words & vote of confidence Don
Matt

Just Googled "Windows Real time drive copy"... no experience at all in this:
http://www.techsoftpl.com/backup/

Matt

Some useful utilities for Windows that I use all the time:

* Scooter Software's Beyond Compare

* GRBackPro (for scheduled ZIP-by-directory)

There are plenty of others though, and it really does depend on what you want to do.

I use Beyond Compare to synchronise 2 working drives and two backup drives in three places
(As well as for source code change analysis etc)

Matt

I generally don't have a problem...
I have plenty of examples of the K20D at ISO2500 and ISO3200 blown up to 18"x12"
(but note - these were all shot in fully manual mode, using the histogram. In very low light the metering can go a bit kooky, especially if there are serious colour casts from lighting).

The K7 is different (arguably better than the K20D in many ways), and still blow-away quality from RAW+Silkypix (plus some skill )

But the K5 looks like it's working up my wish list just for the extra stops of ISO (there are times when a bit more DoF would certainly help, or a faster Tv). An extra 2 or 3 stops will make a big difference to me

Matt

I have two main modes (depending on what I'm doing):

1. Av mode, with ISO+Av on the wheels. This is for normal situations where I'm happy to let the camera work out the exposure, knowing I have some latitude in RAW processing later. Hardly ever use the Ev comp.

2. Manual mode and there I'll use ISO+Av+Tv. I need access to them all through the viewfinder. This is my preferred mode for plays, gigs etc. I'll get a spot meter off skin (using the green button) and adjust all three to suit the particular scene - working out the adjustments in my head (e.g. three clicks on Av + three clicks the other way on ISO). Seeing all three values in the VF is incredibly useful so I can balance everything. In the end I get a 'feel' for lighting changes and can work out roughly how many stops I need to change, or take a reference point for one lighting config and keep coming back to that. Sounds complex, but works a treat.

Matt