This is intended for those members who now have experience of using one (or more) of the K-5 family, and who have knowledge from the evidence of taking many thousands of photos.

For hand-held photos, would you advise leaving SR switched on all the time? Or would you advise switching SR on only when the exposure needs the shutter speed to be dropped down to, or below, the threshold value of the inverse of the lens focal length x 1.5 (e.g. 1/60s for the DA 40mm Ltd) ?

Thanks in advance.

Philip

I like the compositions of these shots, Nigel, and the colours generally look very good on my screen.

Two small points -
The round shrubs in #9 somehow look an unnatural green to me, rather like that of plastic artificial leaves - are they real?
All the verticals of the buildings in the last shot are vertical, but I don't understand why their reflections all seem to curve to the right?

Philip

Agree!

Back to the OP, I started with the K-r which was good and now have the K-5II - not the S but, nevertheless, I agree with all your comments in the first post here Phil ("swarf"). I'm sure you will enjoy taking photos even more with your new Pentax - have fun!

Philip

And any that you print can go into your K-5 II S crapbook.

Philip

I like all of these, Nigel, except number 5. I agree with Jonathan (aliengrove) - the twisted arches feel uncomfortable to me. The trouble is that part of the image is lost when correcting perspective.




Philip

How an image comes across must surely be a personal thing, so I can only give an opinion about it: There can be appealing qualities in an image that was produced in-camera and/or in a processed image. However, appealing qualities were also in the original real scene (as perceived by my eyes and brain) that prompted an image capture. In the case of someone else's image, I try to imagine the appealing qualities of the real scene, based on my previous visual experiences. The majority of my own photography so far (2-3 years) has been scenic - mainly landscapes, structures and transport. My usual aim has been to use the skills I have acquired so far, with the camera and in PP, to recreate the appealing qualities of the real scene, or as close as possible for me. Some might agree but others will, of course, have different aims.

Philip

In a way, I'm with McG on this one - there is scope for PP, to play with the light in the image and give it even more life and depth. The small Jpeg is not ideal for editing, but perhaps it could develop into something like this -




Philip

That is a very attractive image, Nigel, and even more so when viewed on my monitor in sRGB which seems to enhance the colour and contrast favorably. The variety of autumn colours is wonderful and I like the way that you have displayed the colours and details in the shadow side of the trees. The rippling shadows of the tree trunks across the field adds the final touch to a good composition.

Philip

Superb shots, David. The impression of depth/distance is evident in all three, but particularly in the first, in which the change of colours from bottom to top enhances the 2D to 3D illusion for me. (Hope that makes some sense - at least I know what I mean!)

Philip

Apart from the tightness of the bow at the top left, it is quite a good shot of the ship in refit. Lightening the shadow areas reveals several cannons around the ship - perhaps if those in the foreground had been included (if that had been possible), rather than being partly cut off in the framing of the shot and hiding them in darkness, they would have added relevant foreground interest, making the other refit clutter less of a distraction.

Philip