amazon have it on lightning deal now for £328 but only for an hour or so or until stock gone.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0073TGL8G/ref=gb1h_tit_c-1_0267_A1L0D3SGRKOKOS?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0TWZNS7PET39GFDETDF6&pf_rd_i=350613011&pf_rd_p=344320267

by the way, will absolutely second Mera suggestion regarding astronomy forum site stargazers lounge, absolutely brilliant site and you may notice linked to firstlightoptics who i think are one of the best suppliers in the uk.

some suggestions

budget scope

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/clearance/celestron-c90-mak.html

i have one of these and it is brilliant for size

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/william-optics/william-optics-megrez-72-fd-ddg-a...

then choose a t mount adapter dependant on the eyepiece diameter, normally 1.25" or 2"

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/adaptors/flo-125-inch-t-mount-camera-adapter.htm...

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/adaptors/flo-2-inch-t-mount-camera-adapter.html

and attach to camera with a t-ring

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/adaptors/t-rings.html

you will need to seek advice in relation to focus travel, some scopes, not the above in my judgment, had problems in that the amount of focus travel to enable an attached slr to focus was not sufficient.

yep, was number 319 on wait list with chance of getting deal quoted as "poor". then 5 mins later was able to get it!

thanks chris.

anybody able to assist with my questions 2 and 5

Bump. Anyone?

I know a lot of people will be using other editing programs but wonder if someone can assist me with the following questions about the K5 supplied software:-


1. if i have the DNG file on my screen and simply add it to process queue without any alterations and then hit ok from image process queue will it create a jpeg exactly as the camera would have created a jpeg, and

2. my understanding (which may be subject to error) of when a camera creates a jpeg from a raw file is that one of the things that it does is create a tone curve, why when i open a jpeg in PDCU is the curve flat, when i process a DNG is a tone curve being created at all or is that one of the things i am supposed to be doing myself as a matter of routine.

3. Is "extract jpeg" used when you have made alterations to just provide a preview image of what the final jpeg should look like

4. if i have a histogram where there is no data at one end, should i be dragging the arrows in the exposure pane curve to cause the histogram to have data spread evenly. (this question may not make sense!) i have used other software that allows levels adjustments, dragging the sliders to the black and white points. what should i be doing in PDCU instead?

5. i am assuming i will find a set of adjustments that i will like to be generally applied to my photos and then save those adjustments as a parameter?

Regards

Mark

found the answer re the digital camera utility problem. had to delete a checkinfo file in local settings/application data/pentax as i was getting a runtime error. now it is working.

as my current home computer has died, as did my 1000 quid laptop, i have decided to hold out on any software purchases for the moment.

anyone know why the Pentax Camera Utility would have suddenly decided to hang, it is the 4.3 version??

have not yet invested in any decent image software yet. Pentax Camera Utility loaded on work computer last week and now it hangs on the dialog box and does not load. also have tried Serif Photoplus 10 which worked last week opening a jpeg file.

my question is do i need a supercomputer to open a DNG file from my K5!!!!

photoplus shows not responding as soon as i try and open a single DNG file.
computer is xp professional 64 bit, 3 ghz processor with 1.25gb or ram and i have tried opening the DNG files with no other programs or unneccesary processes running.

any advice?