Perhaps you should consider a K7? as it does`nt appear to use a Dark Frame (unless it can do it simultaneously with the original exposure or something like that?)
It would be interesting to find out as i have not read anything in reference to it,
As regards doing your 30 second test could you not just do a test with 15 seconds or less and use a wider aperture than you plan to use for the final shot? Say - Test at 15 secs at F11 instead of 30 secs at F16.
Best regards - pete

Hi Mike,
Nice Shot but i think that you might find that the limiting factor regarding focusing speed is more due to the Camera rather than the lens, I use the 50-135 on the K7 and it is fast and silent!

Regards - Pete.

Hi Howard,
If the setting is "Bright" then the Camera is adding a degree of sharpening to the image which you will find increases the noise, That may not be a problem as many people like the effect. However if you are planning to do any Post Capture processing on your images then Sharpening is usually best done at the very end. "Natural" setting does not add any sharpening so the images straight from the Camera will be less noisy. It will probably take a while for you to settle on how you want to set the Camera up for your own preferences as only you know how you like your images to look.
Incidentally its a good idea to make a card up with your Contact details and Photograph it at the lowest quality JPEG on each of your Memory Cards and then Lock it so that it does`nt get erased when you delete
(Don`t forget to re-set to a higher quality afterwards!)

I`ll send you some of this lovely Sunshine we are experiencing today, I can see the Summit of Snowdon some 30 Miles away!

Regards - Pete

I have an old Weston Meter with Invercone when i first moved over to Digital i would use it frequently but these days i just take a preview shot to make sure that the highlights are`nt burned out so the Weston stays in the bag these days.

Regards - Pete

Hi Howard,
I hope that you are enjoying the Camera as much as i still do!
It looks to me as if you are using the Natural Colour setting which will give you much smoother noise free images than the default Bright setting.
Lets hope that you have some better light this week-end! Don`t forget to have a go with the Video too!

Best Regards - Pete

Actually i take a lot of long exposure shots and i have been all too aware about the Dark Frame exposure especially if the event being photographed is only of short duration say a Firework display which may be only 15 minutes long! It is not confined to Pentax K10D or K20D but is an established method used throughout all manufacturers. What i do find astonishing is that the K7 does process long exposure images in the same amount of time as a normal exposure! Roll on Nov 5th!!!

Regards - Pete

My tastes are a bit more mundane,- Peter Gabriel, Genesis,Gerry Rafferty, Pink Floyd, Phil Collins, Clannad and Strawbs.

Regards - Pete.

Hi, My point was that we don`t know which lenses were used for the test.
As they did not specify. The test results did not include any lens info at all, So to make any comparison of AF qualities of the CAMERA then one would need to keep any variables to a minimum.

Best Regards - Pete.

Yes,
I bought a spare Manfrotto Quick Release Bracket and that had a Pin too but it was made from a hard plastic and just pushed it out from underneath.

Regards - Pete

These Developments are exciting as they usually filter down to more affordable Camera`s eventually! With Hasselblad developing a new Autofocus system it just shows how far there is still to go in Camera Evolution!

Regards - Pete