Gosh dramatic stuff. There was something very similar recently on the BBC Autumnwatch programme. Someone had sent in a video of a sparrowhawk drowning a magpie (I think) in what looked like a garden pond before heaving it off into the air.

Mat

Don't know if it helps but... when I downloaded the firmware update I ended up with a file called 'FWDC204B.BIN' along with a 'read-me' txt file. I then drag the FWDC204B.BIN file onto the SD card in my camera using the USB cable, making sure that it sits at the very root of the card. Then once that is done, I turn the camera on whilst holding down the menu button and then up comes the option on the camera to update the firmware. If you are looking for the .bin file on a windows machine, you might be able to search (using 'find') for *.bin files and see if you can find it that way (it's a long time since I used a windows PC). If you are using a mac then I expect the file will be in your downloads folder...

Apologies if this doesn't help...
Regards

Mat W

If I recall, once you have the new firmware file on the root directory of the SD card, you then have to hold down the menu key of the camera with the card in it as you turn it on, then it will automatically bring up the firmware update menu. Make sure you have plenty of charge in your battery as if it conks out half way through then I have no idea what you do then (except maybe phone pentax:shock

Regards

Mat

I am certainly guilty of having a cluttered PC, although for the most part my photos are well organised as I have too many to store on my computer (an ageing apple laptop) so they are all on remote hard-drive.

Similarly I always tend to have my camera in RAW. Despite having the on-camera flash and a flashgun, sometimes (often) I still find I need to do some extensive manipulation in photoshop - probably as a combination of poor light and my ineptitude, but either way using RAW gives me greater scope to fix some of the problems with the original exposure. I certainly take the point, however, that the post-processing can then be time-consuming!!! I recently took some pictures at a wedding - it was late in the day (getting dark) and the weather was terrible - wet and really dark - the wedding was in a high ceilinged room in a very poorly lit castle and without using RAW and photoshop I don't think there would have been much to see...

On screens, I instinctively feel that my macbook flat screen is good enough, although I have never done a direct comparison. One issue I do have is around screen calibration as I find it very hard often to get printed media that looks the way it does on the screen

I can certainly see the professional's points, but not being a professional myself I'll stick with what I know for now I think

Regards

Mat W

I agree. I like it too, the spotlights from (i guess) the diggers at intermittent points along the line give a good effect. It reminds me a little of some 'industrial' looking HDR shots in the pentax magazine a couple of issues ago.

Regards

Mat

Thanks Clarky. Those flowers (I have no idea what they are) are amazing - they look as if they have faces! the spiders are great too. I know what you mean about the tripod. I think I'll have to practice having an extra steady hand as I was finding that the slightest movements were obliterating the image as the DOF was so thin. If the spider in my living room hadn't been so dozy I would never have managed to get it... I like the idea of a 100mm prime lens as well as the non-reversed lens, as I was a bit concerned that I had a reasonable amount of mass at the end of my 50-200mm zoom. Ring flash too... I can feel a trip to ebay/srs coming on Maybe I'll have to ask Santa...

Regards

Mat

Thanks snappychappy

I'll try it out and see what the result is. I can't think of much else I can easily change to get a much bigger depth of focus...

Thanks

Mat

For the spider I had the 50-200mm lens at f32, and the 50mm lens reversed on the front wide open (f1.4). I used the onboard flash and also a remote flashgun alongside that...

Mat

Thanks folks - I think I shall try some more and see if I can get that greater DOF. If I play with flash positioning and maybe a couple of lamps I might improve things (if I can find another co-operative spider )

Regards

Mat