I found the original post title to be quite surpising. While it is somewhat common to hear of auto-focussing errors, I have never heard of front or back focussing happening on manual focus. In my opinion , the diopter issue is really irrelavent with your described problem. You will notice that if you set the lens to sharp focus that no matter where you set the diopter setting after that, the sharpest focussing screen image (while definitely not as sharp as before) will still be found at the same sharpest lens setting. The diopter setting does not change the lens focus setting, only the appearance of the focussing screen. The sensor will still record the sharpest resolution of the lens setting and not duplicate what appears on the focussing screen. (I hope that came out right.)

Dave, by your wording above you do not seem clear about the red dot and the green hexagon and never did respond to ChrisA's suggestion to check the manual. The red dot's only purpose is to show where the segment area the autofocus has picked and it is not an indicator of it being in focus. If you have autofocus set on the centre spot it will always only flash on that spot. Only the green hexagon indicates when the lens has properly focussed. Do you think that may be the problem?

Assuming you are doing that right and are doing all your tests correctly then I can see no other reason for the picture to be out of focus using manual focus other than either; poor focusing technique, which you ruled out with the *ist Ds, or that the distance between the lens and the sensor is fractionally different than that of the lens and the focussing screen. "Can this problem develop?" Probably, if the camera was dropped or heavily bumped.

Anyway, those are my thoughts.

Not sure if this isn't what is causing Themightyimp's confusion George because the K100D manual clearly states that it is a KAF mount. Is that a misprint maybe? B. Dimitrov's K mount page probably more accurately describes it as a "crippled" KAF2 mount probably because it doesn't support power zoom.


HUH??? Yes please do George



No kidding information overload. Forget about the MTF red herring and go to the best source of Pentax equipment compatability at http://kmp.bdimitrov.de/ and you will see for yourself that both George's and Peter's short answers are correct. Your lenses will work the same as they did on your K100D.

BTW: That's where George gets all his information from.

Many thanks for that George.

Is this really a problem with the K100D as well? I thought the problem of incorrect exposures using Pentax M lenses was just with the K10D. I am presently awaiting delivery of a K100D myself so I would appreciate hearing from other owners if they they have experienced this problem with the K100D.

Here is a link to one of many discussions on Pentax lens fit rae000.
https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4359&highlight=pentax+lens+...
Hope that helps.

Regards

Drew

All very, VERY nice Lilly.

#1 Please don't change it. That is how you found it, why change it to so called "perfection"? That's life - that's death and decay, that's how the real world is. I like it a lot...as is.

#2 A scene that one often finds in nature but you captured it well. Are you tempted to change the one less-than-perfect petal? I hope not, it makes it real.

#3 The underexposed background makes the common Foxglove stand out beautifully here but so often it can look phoney, like a black velvet cloth hung behind. But, because of the fading foliage behind the subject you certainly made it look very real in this capture. Your choice of the four stalks in different stages of development is a great composition too.

#4 How many times have I come across a scene just like this in the 40+ years of my photography hobby? HUNDREDS!! How many shots have actually turned out this good for me? Well, embarassingly...none. Unless the original scene looked waaaay better in real than it shows up here...then, very well captured indeed.

#5 Amazing what a low angle and the addition of one out of focus tower will do to turn a mundane scene a great photo. Great composition Lilly and great to see ideas like this implemented.

In my opinion you have totally suceeded in capturing "the atmosphere of the summer and countryside near where I live" in all five of these photos. Great work! It just goes to show what the lowly 18-55mm on an overcast day can produce in the hands of someone with an "eye". In my mind , these photos are far and above most of the "snapshots" we usually see posted here for critique despite having top of the line cameras. Keep up the great work Lilly. YOU have created some great images regardless of your great equipment and post processing skills.

BTW: I don't think #4 looks nearly as good in B&W as it does in the moody green colour. But hey, that's me.

Regards

Drew

Hard to know where to set 100% but it's probably somewhere between Matt's output and Pete's dreams. I'm thinking any additional opinions and comments may spoil the vote (if not already). So I'm just going to give a rating.

IQ only - Boy Picture 70%, Landscape Picture 90%

Great picture but I'm with ChrisA, I like the original more than the PS'd version. It gives credibility to that unusual sky. Have you tried this as a B&W Michael? It has the full range of tones from the brilliant white of the roofs to the black of the doors, and all the other shades of grey in between. That, and the texture of the walls and the dramatic sky make all the ingredients of a fantastic B&W IMO. (and that would take care of the red roof too)

Give it a try.

Drew

PS: Is the Annoying People Removal (APR) feature only available in CS3? That would definitely make it worth the full price.

Great lineup there Pahrens. I went to http://www.acecameras.co.uk/ and priced out just your Nikon kit and it added up to 5780 £. If I was you - and had all your money - why stop there? I would go for the Canon 5D too and fill in some of those gaps with a half dozen IS lenses (why not??).
Of course if I was you, who the hell would be me (with my money)?

BTW Let me know when you plan on going out to take pictures, I want to see how you are going to carry all this stuff.

Sorry, just couldn't stop myself.

Drew

Of couse he moves fast, he's SUPERMAN!!

"It's a poor workman who blames his tools"

Tip: make every shot count.

Yes paper airplanes can be fun but photography can be addictive too.

http://tinyurl.com/gwyeu