Don't worry about it Emma, it's full of jargon. Just ask

Heh, you have my sympathy. Dealing with bushes is hell

4000 actually means 1/4000 of a second. 1 will mean 1 second. for 1/180 you're looking for a readout of 180.

It's also the fixed speed that some cameras use for flash (X mode on mine, I don't know about your model though)

Did your camera not come with a manual?

Cmon, a note of realism here, gear isn't irrellevant - better gear means you can have sight of more situations. Especially when using natural light, f stop matters. It absolutely doesn't define your ability though, ie what you can do with it. You can make perfectly sharp shots with a kit lens and low MP camera, but enlarging them to A2/A3 is always going to be trickier than with high MP and best lenses.

I didn't look at all of it but the question here is really what service they were contracted to deliver. If they claim professional and there's no contract then they're setting themselves up for a fall, arn't they, because professional isn't clearly defined. There's a lot we don't know about this case and there's a bit of showboating going on too. For all we know this was a package and the bride chose the low res JPG package - we just don't know. Their website has been taken down too and it's not available in the wayback machine either. We just don't know.

For me the most disturbing part was that the photographer ladies seemed remarkably unaware of technicalities. There are some basics that you have to know as a photographer and they didn't seem to demonstrate a lot of knowledge about those. They really didn't help themselves - for example not to know the speed of the lens!? Hello!?

There also seem to be various directions of light? I definitely like the lines in the crops behind the tortured tree - there's a lot going on in there so it's a location to keep up your sleeve for another time maybe. I always get very cranky with my shots when they have bits of bush in them like yours on the right... call it a character flaw

Ahhhhhh - I get it. Thanks Peter - though did you mean risk increased rather than reduced?

And yes, point taken Greytop

Ok... I did some more homework on this, I wasn't satisfied with my answers. I think that I've got it, or at least a pretty solid indicator what's to blame here. Exchange rates have a lot to do with it.

This is a 2 year graph of Sterling vs. Yen - a 40% drop (wow the UK is in trouble)




Canada vs. Yen doesn't look much better BUT the axis is different - it's much less dramatic (10%)




Similarly, US$ vs. Yen




Obviously there's been a bit of a run on the Yen. This affects Pentax in 2 ways: they make less Yen from abroad per sale AND their foreign workers, ie Ned Brunnel in the US and their factory guys in Vietnam cost them more. So it's a double edged sword for them.

Stats all taken from http://www.advfn.com/p.php?pid=qkchart&symbol=FX^CADJPY

I swap between the Pentax and 3rd party battery continuously and I've never noticed any difference... works fine, fraction of the cost, no brainer

I'd buy this in an instant, reportedly it's a great item. The thread is 49mm though so I think it'll give me issues with my 85 Tak which has a 55mm thread

Lloydy, that looks identical to the one I bought, £10 off some Chinese guy on eBay. Have you had any issues with it? Works perfectly to me, not just 95% but 100%. The genuine one I accidentally acquired afterwards was an unexpected bonus in a bellows set for £7 - in its own little Pentax box. the difference appears to be the size of the metal catchclip screwed on, the Pentax one is smaller. Happy days.

Another example, the K-7 grip. Branded: £230 (UK), £150 (US), 3rd party £65 or so. 3rd party lacks weatherseal but is, by all accounts, good. Surely if several Chinese guys can make and sell that then it's not a manufacturing limitation that makes the Pentax one so steep, it's just markup.