Pete,
It's probably partly because you "cut your teeth" on a Pentax (plus all the advice from this great forum! :lol Looks like you're managing to improve... and that process of improvement should be continual.
Hope things work out!
Matt

Presumably a Compact Flash based camera...
And given that Pete's selling the K10D....
Matt

One thing is to use the Pentax Browser and processing software to convert from PEF to JPG
Better is to get a RAW converter like Silkypix, or even Capture One LE (which was free with Sandisk Extreme III 2Gb cards).

Matt

LOL! Maybe you can try this Don:
http://www.vincentchow.net/709/build-a-fly-powered-model-aeroplane


Matt

Look all brawn and no brain to me

Great macro Clarky!
Matt

I have heard of a report where a (cheap) lighting rig didn't like the polarity of the PC adapter on Pentax
(Can't remember the lighting manufacturer, but it definitely wasn't Elinchrom or Bowens )

The only other thing to watch would be whether the underside of the adapter is metal or plastic. If it's metal then it may be shorting out the other Pentax pins

I have an all-plastic hotshoe to PC adapter that I got with some gear off ebay... and that works.

Hope that helps!
Matt

A polariser on the 10-20 (or 12-24) can be problematic because of the huge angle of view. You get into all kinds of issues with a kind of vignetting.
But if you do, then the Cokin P size polariser from Kood works pretty well (and, of course, fits all lenses with an appropriate adapter). For the 10-20 you'll probably need Cokin's special wide angle holder (though I took an old P holder and hacked it )
Matt

Chris,
The site looks great
My only little niggle is that the location of the lenses wasn't too obvious for me... I can see it's alphabetically sorted, but I normally look for the lenses near the bodies
...wish I could buy some stuff
Matt

The AF360/540 will flash once in the "M" mode (that's "M" on the flash).
Additionally, if you temporarily switch the camera to "M" mode, you can select the "A" mode on the flash - which will stay when you switch back to any other mode. Again - only one flash there

Perhaps it's a bit fiddly, but I reckon the Pentax flashes do more than some of the other "compatible" flashes

Matt

Just replying to the original question...

The Highlight Adjustment only works if you have exposed to keep the highlights in the first place! In other words, it cannot recover what was blown out in-camera!

It is a two stage process:
1) At capture, you ensure you underexpose enough to preserve the highlights. So the camera histogram will not be clipped (and on the K10D nothing is flashing red)

2) In Photolab/Silkypix, you push the Exposure slider into the + region to bring the main shot "correct", and use the Highlight Adjustment to claw back the highlights.


It works a real treat for weddings
Coupled with Pentax's very conservative flash exposure (which tries not to blow out highlights) and the Silkypix controls I had detail in every part of every shot

Hope that helps!
Matt