I also leave it on regardless of shutter speed / focal length. I have not seen any testing to suggest that the effect is limited to any particular maximum focal length (unlike the new AA Filter Simulator, which I believe is only effective up to 1/1000sec?).

I recently shot loads of telephoto images (the details of London architecture), mostly between 100 - 150mm, and with shutter speeds between 200 - 500th sec, and I could only see positive effect from the SR, which I was delighted with in terms of the clarity and sharpness, often in rather awkward upwards shooting positions where I was aware of slight movement at the time of shooting, but the shots came out very sharp.

Thanks to you all for the kind and encouraging words, and to Alan also - you're right there Alan, some kind of hair or something - must have slipped through the rigorous quality control system!

(Smeggypants wrote) - 'Nigel get yourself a DA10-17. Great for Canary Wharf.' I'm sure I'd enjoy that lens Smeggy, and thanks for showing those spectacular and quirky shots of this inspiring place. Personally I do tend to aim for the straight and 'correct' presentation, but I can appreciate the dramatic (artistically cool :wink distortion effects also. I don't see myself ever getting a fisheye, as I find it all too much generally.

Ken, I think the K7 / K5 models are a little poorly placed in this regard - the location of the on-board mic is in a particular 'aerodynamic hotspot', with any front approaching airflow racing up and over the top of the camera, and consequently straight across the mic holes. Maybe the Q mic location is better and avoids this?

Without wind I still find the K7 on-board mic very good, so long as you are happy with mono. It does seem likely that Dave's issues are caused either by a fault or excessive & / or very close loud sound, and the limited voltage as pointed out. I haven't used a K5, but I'm not aware of any difference at all between that model and the K7 as far as the mic and sound recording goes.

Lovely shots The lens seems to have an ideal balance between OOF and sharpness - I mean, there's a beautiful soft transition into OOF, but the subjects are not bitingly sharp, so its 'balanced', if that makes any sense!

Thats the pro way to go, but I'm surprised it was as bad as you describe, even with the humble built in mono mic. I've recorded many hours of 'home video' indoors and in all sorts of outdoor environments, and I usually use a hotshoe stereo mic, to superb effect.

The built in is usually OK, clear but lacking the deep presence and surround-sound clarity of the accessory mic. The biggest problem with the built-in is wind noise, which is impossible to control, whereas the hotshoe mic has a 'wind-sock' cover for this.

A hotshoe mic is an easy gain for us, not too expensive. I use a Polaroid branded one, about £40, and excellent value at that. Maybe there is a technical issue with your camera mic, or maybe the sound levels were too high for it to cope with?

That blue one is special! Very gentle blue & yellow tones.

Thanks very much

MrB, I'm not sure about either of your observations really. With the green shrubs, well, the lighting is entirely man-made so there's probably not any really true 'natural' anyway - I boosted saturation on the shrubs only, as I remembered them having this strong tone, and yes, they did have a kind of 'astro-turf' appearance.

On the last one with the buildings around the silvery water basin, the focal length is 14mm, so I corrected for a small amount of barrel distortion, and a bigger amount of vertical perspective correction. I referred to the centre buildings mainly, and the correction was applied to the entire image.

I'm no expert of complex distortion correction, but it seems that you can't get all areas equally correct - there has to be some compromise somewhere unless you are going to crop into the frame massively. I admit I really don't know how the reflections have been affected by this. I may have to accept it as 'one of those wide-angle things'!

I didn't use any Pentax film cameras sadly, , but I was always interested in the features and qualities of high end film SLRs, and in the times when they were very expensive, I long wished to possess something like it.

My biggest delight therefore when coming to Pentax (after a chance encounter with a K7 in a shop), was how it offered so many traditional 'pro-spec' controls & configuration possibilities which the competition only matched in a much higher price bracket.

I don't suppose anyone would now describe the K7 sensor as 'pro-spec', although I believe professional quality results are easily obtainable from the model, but certainly many other important features and controls on it (& the K5's & now the K3) do fall into this top category.

Its interesting now isn't it, that most of the discussions about our latest model (K3) & the alternatives within the range, focus on IQ and sensor-related matters, and much less on the huge range of capture management controls, many of which would have been applicable on earlier film-era models also.

If this forum were active back in 1988 say, I wonder what the equivilent detailed discussions and analysis would have have focussed on when comparing the various Pentax SLR choices? When somebody wrote 'the LX is my favourite' I wonder what specific qualities they valued most, and what aspects were most important to each different type of photographer?

It can't have been anything to do with image quality - that would have been determined by the choice of film and 'developing' used - I suppose the metering might have been more refined on some leading to a higher keeper rate, that would have been important maybe.

So I'd presume therefore that the discussions would have focused on ergonomic, ease of use and 'capture management' features offered by the cameras. And also presumably those qualities are still of importance now, both on our legacy film models and also on the latest digital wonders.

The next set of images from my 'city mission' last week, a sunlit afternoon in the City and then Canary Wharf for low-light & night shots.

The first set are here if you didn't see them ... link

All images taken with the K7. The telephoto shots are with the Pentax 'M' 75-150 f4.0 zoom, and the wide-angles are with the Samyang 14mm f2.8.

All thoughts and feedback much appreciated






























































Thanks for taking a look . Nigel

Thanks Peter & Russ, I appreciate the kind comments. The K7 and my lens combinations have provided great IQ I think - very much up to the job

Peter, watch this space, there will be plenty more to come as it was a very intensive and productive photo mission!

Thankyou John, I have done a bit of night photography before, but on film in my pre-Pentax days. What a great pleasure & satisfaction to now have such excellent gear to help me along the way