I used two lenses on my trip. My 18-55Mk2 kit lens and the SMC DA 50-200 which i bought from someone on here for £70! Just goes to show that you don't need to spend a lot of money. Would be nice to spend lots of money on glass though

Thanks all for the fantastic comments.... i'm flattered

A few more from our trip...

This is Snoqualmie Falls. It's a bit skewed, but i was hanging over the side of a barrier a couple of hundred feet up trying to get a better, unrestricted view. It's the fall that made it's fame in the television series "Twin Peaks" which was filmed in the small town named North Bend which is a couple of miles from the falls. I shot this handheld using my ND filter and it turned out ok i think





This shot is from the same park as the previous Seattle shots above. This is on a day when "the mountain is out" as the locals say. Mt Rainier is just under 100 miles from where i took this photo! It's HUGE!






I've made this one a bit bigger (hope you don't mind) so as some of the finer detail is more apparent. Like the mono rail lines running along 6th Avenue from the space needle where the shot was taken to downtown retail district. It was amazing standing up there watching the city change from day to night on a lovely clear night. The tallest building is the Bank of America building which is 937 ft high and the biggest in the Pacific North West of America. This shot was handheld and i think the K20d worked pretty well. A little blurring, but not too bad.






This is another shot from Pikes Place Market. I think my K20d performed very well here in the low light.

Didn't do the underground tour. Is that on the metro bus system thing?

Thanks for the positive comments. Seattle really was such a photogenic place... more to follow

ok. points taken well on board and nail struck on head with this one.

wish i had the money for any pentax lens with a * on the name, but the 50-135 sounds very nice and very useful.

Having just returned from Seattle, i was quite often swapping between my 18 - 55 and 50 - 200. By the time i had swapped lenses, it was often the case that i had missed an opportunity of a shot, especially when kids running around in a fountain were involved, or switching between wildlife and scenic shots.

I think i've read some stuff on here about people using an 18-200 lens, or even an 18-300?? not sure though.

Has anyone got any experience, and do you notice any detriment to the quality of your shots, especially at the wide end?

Any info much appreciated.

I've just very recently returned from a magical 2 week trip to Seattle and an island by the name of Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands that lie between Seattle and Vancouver Island. If anyone has pondered visiting the area, i'd say "GO FOR IT!". It's a very photogenic place!

Here's a few shots from our trip. I'll maybe post up a few more over the coming weeks if i get a chance to process the 12GB of raw files!

This was a very moody sunset taken from Kerry Park which was just up the hill one block away from where we were lucky enough to be staying. I have many shots from here, mostly in glorious sun, but i like the mood here and i have rarely seen anything so lit up by the sun!





We spent a while exploring the cavernous Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. There were many many stalls selling anything that you can probably think of! This was a lively vegetable and fruit stall, next door to a very colourful fish stall - i'll post that later!





We spent a fair bit of time down at the fountain at Seattle Center next to the Space Needle. For around 5 minutes, we were lucky enough to witness this very colourful rainbow which appeared.





One lovely clear evening i managed to get to the top of the Space Needle. Countless shots were taken of the spectacular view to downtown, but i think my favourite is this that i noticed on the way home on a very lonely route. The lower half is the side of the building known as Seattle Arena. It's lit up by street lights. Love the way it sits abstractly next to the space needle.





Another view of downtown Seattle from Kerry Park. This was a nice stormy day and not many folk ventured up to the view point that day. On sunny days, it was crowded at times.





This was a Peacock at Woodland Park Zoo north of Seattle centre. He was very nice and behaved well as i shot from around 1m away!





We spent around 1 week on Orcas Island. It's a wonderful place and if you need to chill out for a bit... go there! This was a small village called Olga and where we met David, a wonderful old chap who took us out sailing for the afternoon.





This is west beach on Orcas Island. Most of the beaches were stoney. There's a holiday resort here so a bit of friendly tresspassing was undertaken to access the beach.






Although the island is only around a 30 minute drive from one end to the other, it is quite mountainous, with one peak comfortable higher than our own Ben Nevis. This is Cascade Falls which tumbles down the side of Mt Constitution. It was hard work getting into position for this shot, but i think it's been worth it.





This is the moment immediately after our 23 month old daughter realised there was a monster lurking behind her, at Seattle Aquarium, hoping to take either a munch from her, or her apple! Priceless expression.

cracking shot. love the way it draws you in. I really want to take a peak over the hill and see the surf now

this has all been very helpful and a great bit of learning for me.... thanks all for your time on this. much appreciated.

Still learning about all of this photography malarky, but loving it!

why is f14 odd?

do i not need to shoot in Bulb mode to get a 60 second exposure? I had gone out without my cable and don't know if i'm able to lock the exposure open for any more than 30 seconds????

If i can learn from this, it'll be much appreciated.