Hmmm. Sounds strange to me!

I have a set of really sharp lenses. Started out with some Tokina AT-X's (20-35, 28-70/f2.8, and 24-200). The results have been amazing with the *istD.

Blurred and non-sharp are not the same thing If they are blurred because they are out of focus that's a shame (and continuous autofocus will do you in 9 times out of 10 for regular photos). I usually use AF-S, and have selected center focus only (on the back). I like to know what's being focussed It is now an automatic reaction - point centre to subject, half press, recompose and shoot. This is especially important with portraits. The eyes should be the point of focus. I'm not so keen on the camera making the judgment about what to focus on!

An additional cause of blur is having too slow a shutter speed. For non-tripod shots I suggest you set the custom menu "Auto Sensitivity" and set the ISO dial to 200. That way the *istD will boost the rating if the light is too low for the given focal length.

I have a second custom function with the autosensitivity OFF when using a tripod (in which case I don't care about camera-shake!)

Finally, there is the sharpness of the lens. Well, yes, Pentax lenses are sublime. But you can get beautiful razor sharp results with others (I have used Tokina, and Sigma, and seen Tamron too). That said, in my quest for quality I have been buying up second hand Pentax SMC glass (50mm/f1.7, 28mm/f2.8, 100mm/f2.8 macro) and opted for the SMC-DA 16-45. Now the other lenses do not get a look in at all!!

If you're still unsure, check out some of my shots on http://www.ephotozine.com/user.cfm?user=16488 - they are small, but should show you the quality.

The fact that some shots are in focus tends to indicate the camera is okay.

I suggest you take some sample photos (lots of them) and see how you get on!

Matt

Triple posting!

Please don't cross post... it makes life confusing!

And there is a specific "Classified Adverts" section on the main website for this purpose!

Matt

Keith,

Most modern supplies are switch-mode power supplies. They will be marked with their INPUT something like "100-240V". These use electronics to convert the mains voltage to a stable output voltage, and consequently can convert a varied range of input voltages without any problem. They are also smaller and lighter than the transformer version (the transformer versions had more restrictive input voltages).

So voltage fluctuations should be covered ok. If you have complete dropouts, then the camera should just start its charging when the power resumes.

Just to reiterate... check your adaptor. If it says "100-240V" (or similar), you don't need anything else, just the right mains plug

Matt

Kim,

If you have the Creative Suite, you can use InDesign - create a custom page size to match the originals with spreads (ie two pages on view). You can place the JPGs using Ctrl-D, and when you produce a PDF you can choose how the spreads are represented in Acrobat. Most of the shortcut keys and palettes are the same as Photoshop.

Alternatively, layout for A4 and place the JPGs on the sheet. Don't forget though, that the US uses letter (8x11"), so personally I use a custom sheet size of 210mmx11" (so it will always fit on A4 or Letter). Again, you could use spreads too. If you select the master page you can place guidelines to help you set a consistent layout across all pages.

Hope that helps

Matt

Kim - no problem. I've been using Acrobat Pro since version 3 - and learnt a lot of stuff the hard way
Make sure you assemble the scans in the best quality you can save to. If you use Acrobat 6, save as a high res (around 300dpi) with ZIP image encoding (not JPG). When you are done, print within Acrobat to PDF or to Distiller, or resample within Acrobat to a lower quality, being careful not to overwrite the highres version.
In trying things out, assemble a few pages as a test manual, and try the steps out until you work out the best Acrobat/Distiller job options. Then save the job options for use on all the real manuals

Don't forget, too, that if you print within any application to a Postscript file (so you've got a collection of .PS or .PRN files), you can then drag and drop the files onto Acrobat Distiller and it will job the lot into PDF

I've sent you an email with the Z1 links. If you need any Acrobat assistance, drop me an email
Matt

PDFs are the better bet - you can open them on any current computer platform. However, as George mentioned, things can get bloated quickly. But (big but here), it depends on your distiller settings as to the results.
Acrobat 6 includes some wonderful features for prepress work, and much of the "out-the-box" settings work with this in mind. With some careful settings in the job-options, the resulting PDF can be slimmed down.
It's just a balancing act between output quality and file size. For the Z1 manual I did a mono version that PDF'd to just under 4Mb (better quality than Pentax's scan, IMO).
It's a very time consuming exercise - and I hope Kim's efforts will be appreciated
Matt

They will all work a treat

No issues whatsoever, just the 1.5x focal length (so the 300mm end becomes 450mm).

Matt

Already answered your question in another thread.

By the way, it's not a good idea to put the same question in two discussion areas! Just creates confusion!

Matt

You're absolutely right

Don't knob what happened to my kyebard

Matt