Have you thought about the sigma 30mm f1.4? it's a corking fast lens and great for taking shots of people; (relatively) not too pricey either, especially if you can find one second hand.

A big wow from me too. Great shots! I think my fave is the last too - would like to see that one in B/W too. I find the best way to compose pics with a big stopper is to use live view, although I don't know if the K20 has it or not :

Thanks all for the comments. Much appreciated. I like your crop idea, Ken, for the pic of the park with cyclists, and maybe I'll (slightly) restrain my contrast slider in future to keep the drama but not overcook the images. For these, I was using a trial version of Silver Efex Pro and I have to say I like it very much for creating black and white images. I imagine it doesn't do anything which cannot be achieved (with a bit more fiddle) in PSE, but it all becomes very easy using SFX Pro - does come at a (financial) price though if I want to keep on using it

Thanks again all

P.S - Mike - cool shot!

I always use the back button for focussing and have the focus function on the shutter release turned off (I cannot remember the last time I used AF on the shutter button at all). I normally have the camera set to AF-S and only use AF-C if the subject is moving a lot. Having said that I do seem to be using AF-C more and more. I also generally use lenses with quickshift so will give a manual tweak when I have to as well.

Maybe he could clone the tower out . Seriously though, it is a very cool photo and indeed one you might have thought the 'eiffel tower authorities' (whoever they are) might even have an interest in themselves...

There may indeed be a dead pixel in your sensor. I think it is not uncommon and maybe not surprising given how many millions of them are out there! I believe most (all?) pentax DSLRs have a 'pixel mapping' function in one of the in-camera menus which basically tells the camera to render such pixels the same as an adjacent pixel thereby fixing the problem! Not done it myself but I am sure there are folk on here who know more - no doubt it'll also be in the manual somewhere

Cheers

As Bill says the manuals for Pentax DSLRs, I find, are pretty good. However, there are also plenty of useful websites out there... one of them is here:

link

Hope that helps

Cheers

I would be very tempted by such a lens too. Do the Samyang lenses have the A setting for aperture control from the camera body or are they purely manual on the lens too?

Hello all. I haven't been on the forum for a little while as for some reason my internet connection has been hopeless. However, it is working tonight so I thought I would share a few pics. The recent showers round my way over the last couple of weeks have made for some somewhat textured skies so I thought I would have a go at a few monos...

This first was taken on a showery day in London with the K7 and kit lens (18-55 WR). I haven't had a kit lens for ages but I got a cheap second hand WR one to be a lightweight holiday/travel option and I have to say I am pretty impressed with it - it seems like a better proposition than the last one I had (which came with my K10D a good couple of years back). In this shot I rather like the 'inky' look of the sky...



Looking back to London from Richmond Park...



Barren Tree



This is the 'White Lodge', which is a ballet school located in the centre of Richmond Park (very fortunate location to my mind!)



Another day, up at the park again(!), and another groovy sky over London



I hope you like these. I am pretty sure that numbers 2, 3 and 4 were taken with the DA* 16-50, and the last (I think) with the DA* 50-135, and all of the shots were taken with a polariser. As ever, any C&C welcome.

Cheers

What a great project to walk the Capital Ring! there's a section near me (Richmond) and for the most part I expect the area is less dodgy. I like the colours in these pics, they look slightly desaturated and greeny but it really suits them I think. Love the train lines, but also the duck on the nest (I am a sucker for ducks!) and the Orangey flowers. Very good stuff indeed

Regards