Funny that... it's different things for different people! I tried to stick with the 12-24, 16-45, 50-200 combination (thinking I might go for the DA* at some point) but found that I was often wanting the 50-90mm region.

So now I've gone back to the 12-24, 24-90, 80-320 combination. The 24-90 is hardly off the camera if I'm doing people, and either the 12-24 or 16-45 will do landscape stuff very nicely.

If I had to take one lens I couldn't decide between the 16-45 or the 24-90

...but that's all going rather off topic (sorry :blush
Matt

Re-read my post There's the "jpegicc" command available from the LittleCMS package - which is Open Source - which can manipulate the colour space from sRGB or AdobeRGB into any other (including the ProAM space).

Additionally The Gimp v2 apparently supports colour profiles... but I haven't tried it
Matt

Big can of worms being opened....

First, you need Photoshop to do the colour mapping into the ProAM colour space. (Actually there is a command line tool that can do it - I'll dig out the forum thread where I described it )
EDIT: HERE
and HERE Look for "jpegicc" (NOTE: Geek alert )

IF (and that's IF) you have a full colour managed workflow, you should output in AdobeRGB from Silkypix. If colour management gives you the willies, then stick to sRGB and use the command line tool

Regarding sharpening - the general advice is to:
* Upsize to the correct pixel amount (e.g. 4020 pixels for a 10" side)
* View at 50% in Photoshop
* Apply some modest unsharp mask until you can just see the halos.

Viewing at 50% gives a fair approximation of the print quality. For more detailed stuff read the copious documentation on www.thelightsrightstudio.com (once you get past all the annoying flash stuff!)

Matt

Lilly,
If you have a single monitor then it's very unlikely you'll need the Pro version

The non-Pro used to be licensed for a single PC (think it's now 5), whereas the Pro could be used office-wide (which is what we do here - one Pro version can calibrate the whole building and allow matching of different displays to look the same).

EDIT: The Spyder-Pro version can also be used to calibrate projectors as well

To be honest, any of the decent USB calibration tools will be 100x better than nothing! A friend of mine has the Pantone Huey and that seems ok too. The place to ask and find out is Colour Confidence - http://shop.colourconfidence.com/

And you're right... you definitely need a calibrated display prior to going with ProAM. Once you can trust your display the prints will be exactly what you ordered

Matt

Lilly,
For up to 18x12" I would always use Pro AM Imaging - www.proamimaging.com

You do have to fully prepare the image (upsize to correct pixels and apply a colour space transformation) but the price is stupidly low (£1 for an 18x12) and the quality is absolutely top drawer - I mean razor, razor sharp.

Anything bigger than that and I'm not too sure, except that I have a Photo Artistry 36x24" canvas hanging in my office which is awesome too http://www.photoartistry.co.uk/
(They do large format as well).

HTH!
Matt

Hi all

(Long story mode on)
I decided to pull out the old Metz 50MZ5 and see what it could do with the K10D. It's a great flash, but really a bit large for general use. Still, with all the issues over P-TTL and people blinking etc, I thought I'd see what would happen.
Of course, the only modes available on the K10D are "A" and "M", since the Metz doesn't support P-TTL, and the K10D doesn't support old-style TTL. So, I plumped for "A" mode.
Interestingly the Metz knows and tracks the ISO and aperture from the body, so the A-mode flash is fine every time - and there is no preflash.
So, I thought I'd try a few other things on the AF360 & AF540...
(Long story mode off)

There are a few reasons why you may not want P-TTL, including:
* People who blink on the preflash
* Shooting wildlife with flash that would be scared off by the preflash
* Exposure issues with P-TTL


The bottom line here is you CAN use the A mode without preflash on an AF360/540 on the camera Here's how:

1. Attach and power up camera and flash
2. Switch the camera mode to "M"
3. Press the "Mode" switch on the AF360/540 once to enter "A" mode
4. Switch the camera mode to Av (or whatever mode you choose)

Now, the flash will NOT issue a preflash. However, bear the following things in mind:
a. You must dial in the correct ISO rating on the flash. Do make sure that the K10D is set to a fixed ISO and is not using automatic

b. You must also dial in the correct aperture on the flash and camera. That's why the Av mode is the best option.

c. If you press the flash's "Mode" button it will flick from "M" straight back to "P-TTL". You won't get the A mode back unless you go through steps 2-4 again.

Unlike the Metz, the AF360/540 will not track the ISO or aperture of the body. It's swings and roundabouts... the Metz will not let you set a flash exposure compensation as a result. With the Pentax guns you can create a differential between the ambient and flash (particularly for outdoor fill in) -
i. Turn off the flash
ii. Use Av mode and set the aperture so that the shutter speed is slower than 1/180 (let's say it's f/11 at 1/125 ISO100)
iii. On the flash, enter a different aperture (you are lying to the flash). If you enter f/8 on the flash then the flash will be 1-stop lower than ambient (and f/5.6 will make it 2-stops lower)


I've also stumbled on something regarding the dreaded P-TTL underexposure issue... nearly sussed it out I think but need more time!

Hope that clarifies rather than muddies the flash issues
Matt

Just to add to the above comment - the Pentax 10-17 is a fish eye and has a whopping 180 degree angle of view Can't use filters.

The Sigma 10-20 will be less than that, but near enough straight Can use filters

Both can be straightened out near enough completely in software.
There have been other threads here on the differences in angle of view... plus some example shots too!
Matt

Hopefully I can clear this all up

The AF360/540 were designed with preflash in mind. When using the "dumb slave" mode you can successfully trigger off preflash and main flash as long as you don't need more than 50% total power
(I did mention this in my tome about digital flash!)

Consequently you can use "A" or "M" mode on the AF360. If you use "M" mode you should set 1/2 power or lower (1/1 power will fully discharge on the preflash and have nothing left for the main).

Incidentally, you can use the AF360 in "A" and "M" mode (with no preflash) on all digital bodies... I found out how at the weekend Just about to start a thread... EDIT: HERE

Matt

Just to add to this thread:

You can do slave triggered "A" or "M" mode on the AF360 & AF540 with any camera pop-up flash (Canon included )

You can only do wireless P-TTL flash with a pop up from the *ist-D, K10D, and K20D bodies. For all other bodies you need two flash guns.

Matt

You can get the batteries at a much better price from 7DayShop
www.7dayshop.com
If it's the CR123 (I think), then they are £6.90 for a pack of 6, or £1.20 each

And they'll last ages and ages Note: they are lithium cells and have much higher capacity than normal AA cells.
(Recommendation is change every year, but I think they have a 10 year shelf life)
Matt