India’s leading newspaper Times of India and travel company Yatra.com organised a one day safari to the Turahalli Forest Reserve near Bangalore – US $ 13.50 inclusive of Guide, breakfast, lunch and fruit juices.

The group of 21 identified the different bird, butterfly and camouflaged reptile species, and learnt how to photograph them.

Some interesting take homes from the safari: a) most said the quality of photos depended on the price of the cameras and lenses used; b) it was a one day fun escapade from the humdrum of life and a glimpse into natures beauty, the hills and exotic wildlife; c) learnt 70 to 90 % of wild life photographic skills from the guide Mr. VS. Bayar; d) the group comprised of retirees, professors, techies, doctors, corporate employees and few wild life photogs – aged between 70 & 26.

Unfortunately I missed the event, being tasked to meet a prospective groom for my niece.

Thanks Algernon Sir, yours was the best & the clearest answer, and a very obvious one. No ifs & buts, no vague words like "it depends or subjective".
This could be one reason why someone on the Pentax Forums said to use Full ISO steps in the camera settings instead of Half or One-Third steps.
Regards.

Dear Steve, we value your thinking & the post. But do note all photographic sensors are not the same. Some have great DR and Noise Control built in. And some cameras have a great "photo engine" to keep noise down through software.
My K20D had little or no noise at 800 ISO. This was upped to 1200 ISO on the K-5 and 1600 ISO on the K-5 IIS. And sensors getting better with technology.
Now my query was related to this report on the Canon Forum: "Noise was almost absent at 100/200/400/800/1600 ISO. But when an intermediate setting was used on the Canon 6D like ISO 640, there was discernible noise".
The query: Do Pentax DSLRs demonstrate this same behavior??
For all I know I may be asking an un-scientific question, perhaps stupid to you Steve.
Regards.

There was a recent topic in one of the Canon Photo Forums as follows:-
"Canon cameras have least noise at 100/200/400/800/1600 ISO and not the settings in between".

So this guy was saying that he had a lot of noise at ISO 640 from his Canon 6D. He had posted the photo + a 100% crop. He also mentioned the photo was not tack sharp.
Now it is well known that the Canon 6D is renowned for it`s low noise and one wouldn`t expect to see this at ISO 640.

So the question and clarification I am seeking is, does Pentax DSLRs, the K-5 & K-3 series, have the same failings as this statement "Canon cameras have least noise at 100/200/400/800/1600 ISO and not the settings in between".

Thanks

In the first instance I fail to understand how you got a great sunshine photo with so much noise???
Secondly the 2nd PPd photo does not have the punch as the original. Even the bird, the subject matter of this great shot, has lost its sheen and sharpness.
Regards.

Please don't be sorry. It is not true that Tamron does not make FF lenses for Pentax.
I have the 28-75 / 2.8 which is an FF lens and a great one. There are other lenses too.
Regards.

Hello uksweetheart, here is the FIX: See Item 7 in the custom settings menu, turn OFF Auto EV Compensation.
Also play with the edial programming menu in Tv mode for a fix.
Sorry for a late reply, as I am on a long holiday to Canada and did not check out the Forum.
Regards.
nanhi
camp: Thornhill, Ontario

Hello John, Swarf's setting for the butterfly shot were: JPEG settings of 6M pixels and medium quality. Taken handheld at 135mm, 1/400, F 5.6, ISO 200.

To get the best out of the camera, what JPEG Settings would you recommend?
I use RAW + JPEG only on ASR basis.
So your point - in quotes above - was very interesting, as I felt the 18-135 has much better capability than that demonstrated in the butterfly shot.
Regards.

I bought a brand new K-5 with the 18-135 WR Lens from Henrys of Toronto this January.
I put the Pentax battery for charging in the supplied charger. The charger LED started flashing. I cursed Pentax-Ricoh for a bad battery, but then I took a Johnson Q-tip, dipped it in pure hospital rectified spirit and cleaned both the battery and charger contacts.
Presto the LED lights no longer flashed and the battery was fully charged in about 6-7 hours.
I think the battery terminals build up a thin film on contact with polluted air. So it is good to clean the contacts now and then.

Covering the eyepiece while the K-5 is on a tripod does improve the exposure. I just use a folded handkerchief over the viewfinder as it is a pain using the supplied plastic blind that fits the eye piece. My Leica SLR had a built in metal blind behind the viewfinder.
I was recently shooting a group photo indoors with relatives using the Pentax Remote. We were seated on a sofa facing the window. The camera was on a tripod with the viewfinder facing the window. The camera was set to TAv mode at f8 and 1/20 sec, ISO 400.
The first shot was under exposed. So I covered the viewfinder with my handkerchief. The rest of the shots were perfectly exposed.