One feature the recent Pentax releases have that is missing on the K5 is focus peaking. I've not tried it but it sounds ideal for older MF lenses...

Many of the features mentioned previously would also be required.

Oh & George, longer than 77 is preferable for some portraits (for more pleasing perspective) whilst 'bird nuts & sports fans' often crop even with a 500mm. Digital zooming is no match for quality optical zooming, & overly high resolution sensors just increase file sizes.

Few photographers will gain much from sensor resolution above that of the K5, it's better to concentrate on improving the noise/dynamic range futher still.

Just had a quick look through my photos from Yesterday, & discovered one featuring another pentax user!
Shame I didn't recognise it at the time




Is this anyone from PU?

I've managed to spot one a most of the major events I've been to for photography this year:
One on the Knockhill BTCC grid yesterday (I didn't have a chance to talk to him) IIRC there were others at Snetterton, Croft & Brands Hatch.

Then there was a young fellow with a K200 at the Clacton airshow on Thursday (I Managed a brief chat before my family returned to drag me off)

Canikon users outnumber us at all these events, but I've seen more Pentaxes than Sonys...

I've never captured a bug for photographing, but I have access to non-food fridges so I might get tempted to try it one day...

I got my F100-300 for £70 a couple of years back, and have seen them & the FA equivalent going for similar prices often enough. It's rather heavy but if you want longer than the 50-200 it makes a cheap option with reasonable IQ, and doesn't sacrifice the auto focus/aperture.

Going further back there are numerous manual focus lenses that fit your budget, but not many reasonable ones go much beyond 200mm without getting very expensive. You might be able to pick up something around 70-210 very cheaply, but I suspect you'll end up going for one of the autofocus models afterwards.

500mm mirror lenses (MF, fixed aperture, typically from ~£50) are an extra long option but an acquired taste, and the focal length is a big step up from the kit lens. I'd leave them for a possible later addition.

What are you planning on using it for? I find the K100d's viewfinder a little awkward for manual focusing (I came to it from an ME which is much easier) for wildlife or action shots you'll probably find autofocus is worth the extra, if it's just picking out details from distant views AF may not be an issue.

I think I've seen some third party ones that are compatible with a wide range of manufacturers SLRs that where 10m on e-bay.

If I'm right it was the same manufacturer from whom I got a couple of the short model, (over a year ago) which have worked fine with my P-TTL flash on both the K100d & K7.

I can't remember the manufacturer now, but I think they came from the USA. The short ones were ~£15 each.

Algi
I suspect the Novoflex 42mm thread you had was a T2 thread which is 42mm with a 0.75mm pitch. It's quite common and can easily be confused with M42.

As far as the tolerances for mount adapters, M42is an international standard, with known tolerances & as long as the K mount fits securely it will be fine. The important tolerance for mounting lenses is the flange distance, which is not relevant here as the K mount was designed to have the same flange distance as M42. M42 lenses fit flush with the body, any change in this (flanged adapters) will effect the lenses focusing, normally making infinity focus impossible.

Paul, you are mistaken in saying moths are Nocturnal. Whilst many of them are, there are also many day flying moths.


Bernard, You've already got access to one of the best bug books!
There are some very good web sites for identifying such species www.butterfly-conservation.org is one such - that confirms this as a Skipper, but I'm not sure if I could identify which one from just this photo.

The ones I saw last weekend were little skippers, although the Essex skipper is fairly similar & I saw them in Essex...

HSM is Sigma's name for SDM. So according to the title - no.
I believe you need the PZ model for HSM/SDM autofocus.

Mind you Lenny's previous post shows this ones sold anyway.

Not as simple as Flickr certainly and different sizes are not available.
If you click on the photo, you go into a slide view mode, here there is a button to view original photo if you click on that you can save the image url which can normally be posted with 'IMG' tags: