BTW the images were not mine, wish they were lol!

These are done with extension tubes: link

If you are shooting indoor still lifes, you may have sufficient lighting equipment in your house in the form of anglepoise lamps, torches (the LED ones are good), makeshift snoots and reflectors made of tinfoil etc. Some of the most amazing creative shots are done with stuff people have just lying around the house!

Whether you invest in kit or cobble stuff together and 'make do', it's still up to you to have the vision and control the results.

Andrew... set the camera to do a long exposure at f22 pointed at a bright wall with the camera defocused. Download the picture to photoshop, flip the image (to give a mirror image) and you will have something to refer to to pinpoint any bits of dust.

I got dust in the viewfinder using a blower once. I just gave it another good blow and that removed it.

No doubt forum members will be able to advise on the best (expensive) macro lenses, but this weekend I got some astonishing results from some cheap extension tubes (20 quid) on a 50mm Pentax-A lens (about 20-50 quid and essential in any case!)

The Pentax rawconverter software is nice to have as it's based on Silfypix, but unneccessary as you can download RawShooterEssentials for free legally. PSE7 is another story.

Whether you use Pentax's raw converter or a free program like RawShooterEssentials, you will still need PSE7 to make the most of your photos.

You love that K-7 don't you? So do I; it's not really the improved features of the camera so much as the gorgeous design. I'm setting up savings account specifically so I can afford it in a year or two's time lol.

To be honest I am finding the K200d a lot more power-hungry than my old DL2, although even alkaline batteries are atill giving me a lot more than 5 mins so I am not sure what is going on with your nihm batteries.

Have taken other forum members advice and ordered a main brand ultra-low discharge rechargeable. Eneloop seems to be the brand of choice. These are a lower mAh rating than the nimh batteries I have but should hold their charge a lot better over time and last a lot longer. I didn't know about these batteries till I came on this forum so thanks, fellow Pentaxians!

Close inspection of the image seems to confirm what you are saying! Perhaps the lack of noise was just indicative of a lack of pixels lol. Dang, I thought I had cracked the problem of noise in my black and white images!

Perhaps as John says I need to refine my technique using the channel mixer. But isn't there another way, tone mapping or something?

(Edit - I think I mean 'gradient map')

Stop talking about giving yourself a big treat in spite of financial burdens! I'm skint too and it's started me off justifying to myself buying a 15mm DA Ltd prime lens although god knows I can't afford it!

If you find yourself really stuck, Tesco are doing their own brand 'Power Hi Tech' batteries for two four-packs for 3.50. They used to last a long time on my *ist DL2!

Hmmm... Warehouse Express conjures up an image of high volume/low margin selling. But at least they offer paying in installments, so we can cope with their inflated prices!