ePhotozine Review is up!
http://www.ephotozine.com/equipment/tests/testdetail.cfm?test_id=492

Can't wait to get my grubby mits on one
Matt

Loads of info here:
http://nedbunnell.blogspot.com/

and via http://www.pbase.com/dlcmh/pentax_k10d

Getting very itchy fingers now
(Reckon that ePhotozine will have a review very, very soon! Here's one shot, though off WB somewhat: http://www.ephotozine.com/gallery/showlargepic.cfm?photoid=774768 )

Matt

Some better samples here:
http://nedbunnell.blogspot.com/2006/11/few-k10d-snapshots.html

here:
http://imageevent.com/wlleven/k10dtest/1600

and here:
http://laree.smugmug.com/gallery/2146307/3/111480221

...and here:
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdc.watch.impress.co.jp%2Fcd...
(Translated)

Matt

Liam,
I know there's a "LittleCMS" command line tool that will do colour space conversion. I've tried it with ProAMImaging's profile and the results are just fine.
I'll see if I can dig up a link or two

EDIT: It's "jpegicc" which should be part of the Linux distro. You can edit in AdobeRGB or sRGB and then use jpegicc to map into their profile. Use the "Perceptual" intent and enable black point compensation.

e.g. Assuming sRGB is the input colour space
Matt

Liam,
For pro-quality prints - www.proamimaging.com
Crazy prices, very quick turn around and absolutely stunning quality. The best thing is they are fully colour managed so you have to prepare the colour space of the file (which you need Photoshop for) but that means there are zero surprises when it comes to colour.
Absolutely top notch stuff
Matt

Best place is the sister site here:
www.ephotozine.com
Loads of critique
Matt

I wouldn't be so sure of that I have both the 16-45 and the 24-90. Both had Hoya Pro-1 UV0 slimline filters to "protect" the lens. Managed to drop the 24-90 (*ist-D and lens slipped round my shoulder while kneeling down so it didn't fall far) and the filter smashed, splintered, and made a terrible mess and I came within a hair's breadth of damaging the front element with the razor sharp pieces. Last year the 16-45 had a similar experience but was in a case - only the filter smashed, but again it could've been really nasty and expensive.

You'd be surprised just how hard the SMC coating is Having had these experiences I'm running without filters now. Makes you a little more careful too

Regarding quality:

Build quality - yes, the 16-45 is better. Much more solid, and the slip-clutch focus ring is great.
Image quality - as John mentions the 16-45 has the edge.

However, I still love the 24-90 on the DSLR If I have a two lens setup I take the 12-24 and 24-90, if I can only take one it's the 16-45. For portraits the 24-90 can be a beauty at 90mm.

I think you'd better start saving

Matt

Gwyn - yes, you can use those, but as you say they get seeeeeriously hot and aren't funny on the eyes either. Look at the 500W halogen for a second and you won't see properly for half an hour! Screwfix.co.uk do them at stupid prices (think I paid £6.99)

Places like Ikea and Homebase also do very cheap dimmable halogen lamps - these are great for closeups, but are probably not up to the job for group sittings.

Personally, especially if I go to someone else's house to take portraits, I'll stick to "cool" flash

Alternatively, I did see a great result with someone using available window light, some kitchen foil covered pieces of card, and some white sheets of polystyrene. The result was superb too!

The bottom line is - you've got to experiment, experiment, experiment!

Matt

Barry,
It depends what you want to do and what you have already... I have a pair of Pentax flash guns (AF360 & AF540) that work a treat. I've got a fairly cheap Hama brolley that has a flash hot shoe mounting. I mount a flash on that on a cheap tripod and use fully manual mode and get great results.

If you want to do a reasonable amount of studio type work, I would suggest investigating the Elinchrom DLite2 kit. Probably a bit more than the Jessops kit but has the following advantages:
* Fast recharge time
* Consistent light output and quality
* Fully adjustable light output
* Built in slave triggers (so you don't need wires to synchronise)
* Supplied soft-boxes.

www.theflashcentre.co.uk is a good place to start looking
( http://www.theflashcentre.com/d-lite-2-two-head-kit-i547.html )

If you're not going to do a lot of studio style work, then you might get away with an AF360, a brolley, and a reflector or two. That at least gives you the flexibility for "normal" flash work too.

Oh, and of course, you'll need to schedule in some serious practice before you do the family shot Find a willing subject who doesn't mind hanging around and just try out settings, angles, positions etc. The studios make it look really easy because they do it all the time - if you've not tried it before you may find it a little harder than you expected

There should be an article on flash in the Pentax User magazine coming up very soon...

Hope that helps!
Matt

Not a Photoshop course exactly, but I can point you in direction of some excellent Photoshop resources which may be what you need

www.russellbrown.com - some absolutely fabulous videos. You'll need broadband though

www.ephotozine.com - some great tips in the "Techniques" section (including some I've authored)

www.photon.me.uk - I have a few tutorials on layers and such like

www.retouchpro.com - some serious Photoshop techniques here.

There are plenty of others if you Google for them

Hope that helps!
Matt