It's difficult to avoid the dust. CCD stands for "Charge Coupled Device" and as such it is quite attractive to dust! There are things you can do to reduce the dust, but you can't eliminate it all together. Sooner or later you have to clean it.

But it's not that difficult
Matt

There are a few 200mm at MXV:
http://www.rcomputers.co.uk/mxv/pentax6x7.asp

Ffordes have some 300mm, and a 400mm:
https://secure.ffordes.com/index.htm

And LCE Group have a few lenses:
www.lcegroup.co.uk

Hope that helps!
Matt

Hi Mac,
Sorry to have added to the confusion
There are four Cokin sizes:

A - cover 36mm to 62mm
P - cover 48mm to 82mm (filter is 84mm square)
Z-Pro - cover 49mm to 96mm (filter is 100mm square)
X-Pro - cover 62mm to 112mm (filters are 170mm x 130mm)

You'll find plenty of "A" series filters second hand. There are a few "P" ones around. The X-Pro and new Z-Pro series are mindblowingly expensive, but then are manufactured to higher standards, or so I'm told!

You are right, A397 is an "A" style filter
In the UK, www.speedgraphic.co.uk do nice neutral density starter packs (e.g. P121L, P121S, P121M). Personally I use P121F (full length ND grad), and P121S, along with a Kenko circular polariser - there are plenty of third party P and A fitting filters (e.g. from www.srbfilm.co.uk )

Hope that helps!
Matt

And just to add, that if you have several lenses then the Cokin A or P system may be cost effective
In addition, the polarisers fit snugly in the first slot, so they're better for wide angle lenses.

...now I'm just waiting to find out if I can still use the Cokin-P on the new 12-24mm which is 77mm filter. The X-Pro/Z-Pro are scarily expensive! (I daren't even look at the cost of the polarisers!)

Matt

It is a function of the flash, not the body. Not all flashes support trailing curtain sync.

Both my AF360FGZ and Metz 50MZ5 have it. What flash are you using?

Matt

Don't forget as well that the out-of-camera image is usually a little soft anyway. Pentax opt for low processing in camera (a good thing), which you can sharpen up very nicely in Photoshop etc.

I've already put up a post about capture sharpening from RAW. You can apply it to JPG too.

Don't forget as well, that if you don't shoot RAW you should use the highest quality JPG setting. Lower JPG settings will introduce their own "softness" and odd artifacts that make post-sharpening more difficult.

Matt

A few thoughts and points:

1. Compact digitals do their metering off the CCD itself. They are continually reading the CCD (giving the live LCD preview) and can adjust exposure based on the whole scene. DSLRs have a shutter, and have to rely on additional sensors for exposure - this is where the choice of spot, centre, and evaluative comes in. The *ist-D series (and all DSLRs) have a separate exposure sensor that takes its readings off the mirror and off the CCD reflection (in the same way they did for film cameras).

2. Compacts aim for consumer gratification - which normally means "snappy" images (even if shadows are lost and/or highlights are completely blown out). DSLRs tend to be more conservative in their exposure, trying to avoid blown highlights at all costs - probably this is why your scene was underexposed.

3. No camera can record everything. They are limited by dynamic range. Either you get the highlight detail and sacrifice the shadows, or you get shadow detail and blow out the highlights. This balancing act is somewhat subjective, and it where experience at using the camera comes in.

4. If you are continually faced with challenging lighting situations, shoot in "P" (full auto) mode, and use RAW (not JPG). You can push and pull the exposure a couple of stops either way, and also compress or expand the dynamic range (or at least the representation of it). If you have to shoot first, and think later - use RAW. You can then think much later back at the PC.


Regarding copying images - the best thing is just to plug in the camera, use Explorer to cut the images from the "drive" that is the camera and paste them into the directory of your choice. If you use RAW then Capture One and Raw Shooter Premium both have little widgets that do this automatically for you when you plug in the camera or card.

Regarding NiMH battery indication:
The camera unfortunately has to guess what type of batteries you have. I find that very well charged NiMH batteries sometimes get wrongly identified as running out Lithiums or Alkalines. Powering off and on normally corrects this.
Additionally, I have had single dud NiMH cells which did the same thing.

It's a real shame you can't set the battery type in a custom menu (as most people tend to stick to one battery type anyway). That would make the battery guage much more reliable.

Hope some of those points help!
Matt

Thanks for the correction Kimbo

Just remembered something (Lightbulb! Ding!)

Apparently the *ist-D firmware was designed to focus to the hyperfocal point. It uses information from the lens (aperture and length) to determine where that point is.

Now, if the lens inaccurately reports either the aperture or focal length then the body would mis-focus on what it believed was the hyperfocal point, and the AF would be wrong.

I suspect that if you manually focus the indicator should be correct (I would guess the body reverts to "regular" focusing).

Other things to check - are you using single, centre, focus?

If that fails, I would suggest trying another of the Tamron lenses (if that's possible).

Further to this point, I notice that the Pentax browser software (at least the one I have with the *ist-D) reports the 4-digit hex ID of the lens, and will map this to a lens name. I wonder whether your Tamron is being wrongly identified by the body as a Pentax lens, and the body is (wrongly) focussing it as if it was another lens. Perhaps you could check this in your EXIF information with the browser?

Matt

Yes, it can happen. I've read reports of some Sigma lenses showing this (on both Canon and Nikon). Most of the problems can be fixed with a chip-change in the Sigma...

...but now you come to mention it I'm slightly puzzled as to how you can get focus errors when the body is doing the control?! I'll look forward to any comments on this
Matt