I like the first photo - great flower.

Cheers.
Philip

Did you take these with the 18-135, John?

Cheers.
Philip

I'm no expert, Nigel, but I'm sure I've read somewhere that you're always supposed to get the eyes in focus.

Cheers.
Philip

I prefer the first image - the flare does not look so realistic in the second image, though I agree with Nigel about toning it down a bit as described. The missing head does not matter to me - I just assumed he was leaning forward - and it adds to the mystery...

Cheers.
Philip

In the MX-1's Menu C2, item 7 is "Electronic Shutter" and its default setting is "Disable". I can't find anything informative about it in the manual. Does anyone know what this feature is, and in what circumstances it should be enabled?

Thank you in advance for your helpful replies.

Cheers.
Philip

My experience over the last two years is similar to Smeggy's - little difference between the performance of OEM and cheap 3rd-party batteries in a K-5. I wonder if Pentax source them on eBay and stick the OEM labels on them?

Cheers.
Philip

Paying ten times as much as one needs to spend on a spare battery seems to be risk aversion OTT. If the capacity and longevity of the cheap ones is less, buying two is still a big saving. There must be many millions of replacement batteries now in use in consumer electronic devices around the world, and yet reports of equipment being ruined by them appear to be quite rare. If camera damage is the main concern, that would seem more likely to occur by accident during general use, so just put it away in a cupboard and leave it there - remembering of course, whether it is OEM or 3rd-party, to remove the battery first.

Cheers.
Philip

Thanks for that link, Nigel. Now downloaded and installed - it looks rather good.

Cheers.
Philip

Great images to compliment the MX-1 Andrew.

For any interested recent new MX-1 users, the auto lens cap, model JJC ALC-MX1, is a useful accessory - scroll down this page:

https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/topic/mx-1-auto-lens-cap-47872

Cheers.
Philip

However, Mike, have you noticed a different odd effect in the top left corner of this one, that doesn't seem to be in the first one?

Philip