Here's the test shot I did of my coffee mug (looks quite neat and brought me on to another idea... thanks for that):
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/_PRI6646pu.jpg[/IMG]

Prieni

Just had a quick play around. You're right, when you have no flash on camera it won't go below 1/180 shutter time. When you put flash gun on camera, same thing.
But when you set the on camera flash gun to wireless (and controller), then it works at shutter speeds below 1/180. Only the off camera flash fires.

Hope that helps,
Prieni

P.S.: MattMatic's flash guide is always a good idea

Yupp, I agree, it seems to be quite versatile.
Is that an outdoor church in #1, it's hard to make out a building at all? Without the title I probably would have missed it alltogether. Nice scenery, though.

#3 must be a very big crop as you say. Either that or the tarmac is quite rough.

Prieni

Great series, not surprised that the family is pleased with the shots.

#2 has an unfortunate crop at the bottom, took me a bit to figure out that I see the arm going round baby and leading to the thumb. Because of the perspective the thumb is almost as wide as the upper arm.

#4 seems to suggest that baby hasn't real appreciation for a Pentax, yet. Great shot, though.

The idea with the black background and everyone wearing black worked well (and even Mum's hair fits the theme!).

My fav as a parent would be #1 with Mum's face from #6 (Dad is not looking so favourable in that one).

Was well worth taking that risk of a first baby shoot.

Prieni

Just tried it on my K20D with the 540 on camera, no problem.
Set the flash to High Speed Sync, set the camera to shutter speed (in manual mode) and Bob's your uncle.

MattMatic's Pentax dSLR Flash Guide might be an interesting read for you...

Prieni

Mike, I also like that shot. Yes, with less clutter around it it would have been even better, but theres not much you could have done (apart from taking the caravan up and set it down a few paces from the clutter).

The sky is great and so typical of a 'wide angle' sky. You did well to darken the sky a bit (but you should treat the part that you can see through the skylight of the caravan in the same way). It let's the caravan shine in the light with it's fantastic design.

Prieni

Glad to read that

Prieni

Oh no Bob!

What will be the Nikon replacement for the 10-17 I wonder. I'm sure your wife will get a Km just for that lens alone...

Well, I hope it is the right decision for you, I'm sure you will be able to produce great shots with the new kit (as you have with the "old" kit).

We certainly will miss your creative approach,
Prieni

Regenerative energy

[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/_PRI6518pu.jpg[/IMG]

Camera Make: PENTAX
Camera Model: PENTAX K20D
Lens Model: DA* 16-50
Image Date: 2009:07:03 18:27:44
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 19.0mm (35mm equivalent: 28mm)
Exposure Time: 0.0020 s (1/500)
Aperture: f/22.0
ISO equiv: 100
Exposure Bias: 1.00
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
Exposure Mode: Manual

Well, to give the new Silkypix RC a test run and to answer the long standing question I tried to perform a test that is a little bit more exhaustive. I took a test frame with a high dynamic range:
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/_PRI6500all.jpg[/IMG]

I took a lot of shots from +0EV to +3EV (as shown in the viewfinder), manual settings of aperture (constant 11) and time. The poppy is out of focus as I wanted to concentrate on the fine structure of the background (as it is the background that blows out).

Here are 100 percent crops of the lower right corner. These were developed in SilkyPix Pro, pulled back -1.4 EV.

1. ISO 100, +2 EV
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/_PRI6492.jpg[/IMG]

2. ISO 200, +2 EV, D-range off
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/_PRI6497.jpg[/IMG]

3. ISO 200, +2 EV, D-range on
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/_PRI6500.jpg[/IMG]

To see the influence on the shadows I developed the images again, this time with +0.5 EV in SilkyPix. Crops are from the center of the frame:
1. ISO 100, +2 EV
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/_PRI6492_1.jpg[/IMG]

2. ISO 200, +2 EV, D-range off
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/_PRI6497_1.jpg[/IMG]

3. ISO 200, +2 EV, D-range on
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/_PRI6500_1.jpg[/IMG]

For me it shows that by leaving D-range on not much is lost. Yes, 200 ISO does show more noise than 100 ISO and perhaps the 200 ISO with D-range on is a smidgeon noisier than 200 ISO with D-range off, but it is hard to make out the difference.

Prieni

P.S.: No poppies were harmed during these tests, it's an artificial flower. The EXIF data have been saved with the JPG's for you to examine.