Liam,
Thanks for the link As they are using dcRAW - just drop them a line and they should be able to recompile using the new library

CIELab is like this:
We're used to images in RGB - Red, Green, Blue.
Lab is Lightness, a colour, b colour.

The advantage of Lab mode is that adjusting contrast, sharpening etc can all be done on the "L" channel without affecting the colour at all.
Likewise, you can clean up the "a" and "b" channels without affecting the luminosity content.

Photoshop includes editing for Lab mode Just Google for "Lab mode sharpening". One of the tricks I've seen is to apply curves to the "a" and "b" channels and you get a Velvia look really easily...
...however, easier still is adding a Brightness/Contrast layer, upping the contrast, and changing the layer mode to "Color" in Photoshop - does the same thing internally without changing the image's mode.

Lesson over
Matt

Bibble is the first up
http://www.ephotozine.com/news/fullnews.cfm?NewsID=3614

For all those hackers out there...

Dave Coffin's dcRAW now supports the K10D
http://cybercom.net/~dcoffin/dcraw/

You may be aware that dcRAW forms the core of many RAW processing software - so hopefully in the next release of all these tools the new PEF should be supported

It's interesting to see the encoding used for compression (look for pentax_k10_load_raw in the source).

Incidentally, the reason I checked this was because I was just testing the HDRI software from here: http://www.fdrtools.com/fdrtools_advanced_e.php - using the 5 frame, 2 stop interval of the K10D produces a nice set of images suitable for HDRI. Unfortunately the DNG file didn't work in it (there's a little comment in dcRAW that mentions perhaps an oddity of the K10D DNG). But, I tried it on JPG and the result was quite amazing... more stuff on that on another thread.

Excuse my whittering and babbling....

Matt

I wonder about that too I suspect that they're doing power-assisted focus - probably mechanically linked. Maybe they will work... just have to wait and see
Matt

I feel.... the.... LBA kicking in.... must resist

As much as I went on about the *ist-D having three custom settings etc, I'm finding that I use P and Sv most of all.

Just experimenting with HDRI (High Dynamic Range Imaging) and found that the bracketing allows 5 frames at 2 stop intervals, so I've set the User mode for DNG+JPG, 5 frame bracket

Will let you know how I get on - but the results are promising. Just need some serious subject.

Matt

Just edited it. Doh!
Matt

LOL
I, erm, only bought it because my SMC-FA 80-320 is growing spores It's optical quality is different from the 80-320 (6 blades vs 8 blades, bit softer wide open etc), but stupidly small - without the hood on you think you're holding a medium range zoom (like 28-70). Construction is much like the 18-55.

Shall I say any more??

And after Tony Pleavin's article in the Pentax User Mag I'll be trying it on some landscapes in the future...

Matt

Well, not second hand, but quite reasonable prices, I'd recommend:

Pentax SMC-DA 16-45mm/f4
Pentax SMC-DA 50-200mm/f4

SRS Microsystems list them at £269 and £129 respectively. If the 16-45 is beyond your budget, then the Pentax kit lens isn't a bad lens at all, especially when stopped down to f8. The best thing is you can get it at a crazy price with the K10D.

For example, SRS list the K10D+18-55+50-200 at £819. Hardly worth arguing with Best thing is they are both extremely compact lenses so you can carry them around most of the time!

The trouble with second hand is that it's getting more expensive as Pentax has become more popular There are some of the second hand Pentax lenses that are worth investigating such as the SMC-FA 80-320 (about £90)

Hope that helps!
Matt

Teemu,
I can probably answer most of your questions on this... but I think it would also be worth knowing what problems you've had with your AF330 (otherwise you may end up with double trouble )

The AF540 will be able to use TTL, A, and M modes on the Z1P. The *ist adds P-TTL and HS (High Speed) to the mode list.

If you want to use the TTL mode with two flashes then you'll need the cabling system. You can then use either one flash on camera and one remote, or two remote (and even use the pop-up as well). The set of flashes will behave as if they were one on the camera with all functions available.

From what I can see (though I'd need to check the manual) the *ist film camera can support wireless P-TTL to the AF540. In this mode, the pop-up flash will communicate with the remote AF540 and should give you excellent results. (The AF360 will do the same.)

However, when it comes to digital, only the *ist-D can support this feature. All other DSLR bodies need a combination of two (or more) AF360/AF540 flashes with one of them on the camera acting as a controller.

However, this may very well be overkill. It depends very much on your setup and what you are trying to accomplish.

If, as you say, you are getting into portraiture, then fully manual flash is definitely the way to go In any controlled environment, manual flash will give you extremely consistent results (much more than P-TTL or TTL). If using a DSLR this is extremely quick as well - you can use the camera's histogram as a flash meter. With film, you'll really need a flash meter.

If your portraiture consists of just head & shoulders, then the AF330 in manual mode, using a PC style extension cord (the old style outer & pin style) will be your cheapest option. Just get a small brolley (I use a Hama one that was around £30), and a reflector or two. The AF360 is perfectly adequate for this, so your AF330 should be just fine.

If you went the studio flash route (like the Elinchrom DLite2 kit) then that's all manual anyway - even if you use the infrared trigger.

Your best route is to borrow the *ist-DL again, get a long PC-extension (and the hotshoe-PC adaptor) and mount the AF330 on a stand with a brolley, set everything to manual and shoot away. Just experiment! (And you can always migrate that knowledge to film afterwards.)

Let us know what you think
Matt