Some gorgeous coastal scenery beautifully captured. My favourites are the ones of Lulworth Cove with their 'wraparound' compositions. Nice blue skies and seas, and no doubt the zoom allowed great flexibility and response framing up shots. You have given a strong sense of 'wish I was there' !

I don't think it would be possible to have an exposure indication with an M or K type lens, because there is no aperture information for the camera to use. The green button is required to perform a physical stop down action to read the actual light passing through the lens at the set aperture.

In M mode you can set an exposure compensation offset, but after moving the indication with your input it disappears. It remains effective though for subsequent green button pushes.

I was out at Embankment Gardens just earlier photographing the magnificent Tulips with the M75-150 .... yes, a real joy to use, and from what I can see on the camera screen some great looking results .... but on my Battery Grip for the vertical shots I sometimes pressed the AF button when I wanted to meter. Kept wondering why nothing was happening!

There's some interesting points raised about the control over the ambient and flash exposure balance here ....

Firstly, to answer Peter's question just above; yes, any smaller aperture setting will mean that more power is needed from the flash in order to maintain a fixed flash exposure level. With P-TTL flash this is automatically adjusted in response to your aperture changes, but a smaller aperture will reduce the effective range due to the higher power needed. This range is displayed on the flash info panel (eg. 1.5 - 8m, meaning between 1.5 and 8 meters the flash should be able to expose a subject correctly).

With normal, non-HSS, flash then the exposure time ('shutter speed') does not affect the flash exposure, however for HSS operation then then the shutter speed does affect flash exposure (just like aperture and ISO), and so each time you dial in a shorter exposure then the flash will be powering out more light to compensate (and again the effective range will drop, just as for the smaller aperture).

Assuming that the wide aperture is the 'priority' here (always nice for portraits), then the other settings to change to darken the background are the shutter and ISO ...... to take one example here, No.4 shot at ISO 320 f6.3 @ 1/400, then one-stop darker could be achieved by changing either the shutter speed to 1/800th, or reducing the ISO to 160 ...

Of course it is necessary to ensure that the other parameters stay fixed and don't move in response to your ISO or shutter adjustments, and the best way to ensure this is to work in Manual camera mode and make sure that auto-ISO is not active.

Nice focus effect! That is a lovely lens .... I still enjoy my M75-150 F4, which I guess is from the same era. Your shot shows good contrast and strong colours, and great exposure.

And yes, 'getting focus and exposure together' is quite a feat with an M lens ! Its a different ballgame to modern optics, where one press of the shutter button could potentially be all thats needed.

I find the main mistake I make is forgetting my aperture setting, or forgetting I need to change it, plus of course forgetting to re - meter with the green button when I've moved position or angle into different light!

I always think that ND filters sound so ..... booooriiiing!! HSS is much more exciting

We've got 1/180th (aps-c) and 1/200th (K1) max sync speeds. Most flash books I read refer to 1/200 - 1/250th as the common example, so we are only a very little 'slower'. I think even the top Pro models from Canikon have a max figure of 1/300th. I admit that would be handy, but in a real situation then I'm not sure the difference between 1/180th and 1/250th would be too critical? Ok, so it would allow a half stop wider aperture, or half stop darker background.

But in any case, there have been a number of members here over the years who have been wanting a shorter max sync time.

By the way Chris, yes, I think a Polariser is a good idea .... it should add depth and colour to the backgrounds in many situations, as well as drop the exposure by a stop (or two?).

A quick look online showed me that the 5D Mk IV (£2600) has max of 1/200th, and the 1D X (£3800) 1/250th ....

I have this ballhead on my Manfrotto 055B Pro tripod, and it is a solid and high quality item, with spirit level and compass markings around the base plate. Very smooth ball movements and excellent grip with the locking screw. A great value item. Good luck with your sale.

Thanks for these photos, they show the items well, and the comparison to the gripped K3 is interesting. There's a real difference in that right hand side shape for the fingers .... I'm sure that after the K7 (like the K3 with the deep indent) I would find it quite a different feel. But the grip adds substantially to the size and, no doubt, the ease of handling.

That's one big window! Perfect for letting in that nice natural light. A great concept for a venue, and you've really captured some soft gentle tones that complement your subject beautifully.

Now, looking around that room, all they need now are some plug sockets so a bank of studio lights can be connected up ...

I really like the way you've presented one flower alone within a wider context, which gives a sense of the environment and some atmosphere. The colour ones make most sense for this style and subject I think.