Hi HG.

My "Mr Canikon" jibe was aimed at the less enlightened sales assistant, and not at the products on display.

Were it not for my historical brand loyalty and years of trouble-free Pentaxery, I might even be tempted over to the dark side.

As for a job with J*****s, er - no thanks.

Ok - so this thread should perhaps be in the "Lenses" forum, but it's not, so there!

I'm now seriously thinking of buying a K-5. I currently have a K-X which I bought with the 18-55 & 50-200 kit lenses. Question is, is the K-5 with the 18-135 WR lens really worth £340 more than with the 18-55 & 50-200 WR lenses?

I feel that the 18-135mm range would be very useful, but would that be at the expense of image quality?

The threads in this forum Canon some occasions be difficult to follow.

Might be barking up the wrong tree here so dont "shoot me down", so to speak.

When shooting throught the front windows, the surface on top of the flight instruments will reflect on the windows into the lens. Car manufacturers usually select dark, non-relflecting materials for the top surface of dash-boards for exactly this reason. Could you place a matt-black card on top of the instruments before shooting.

Also, place the lens as close as possible to the glass as this will further reduce the effects of any flaws/marks on the windows.

I use a Logan cutter with 24" "Adapt-A-Rule". It is really easy to use and works well for me.

Small tip tho' (and this might work for other cutters too). I now use it on top of a piece of scrap backing card as my cutting mat seemed to break the tips off the blades.

I was in a well known High Street retailer in Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow today, you know, the one which recently decided to stock Pentax products. I asked one assistant if I could handle the K-5 which was on display, at which point his colleague walked past and made a rather disparaging comment. "Dont mind him" said the assistant, "He takes the piss out of anyone who uses Pentax"

Well, Mr Jessop, be assured of this. I will not give your sales assistants the seemingly obvious displeasure of my company again, and Mr Canikon can stick his camera where even ISO 52000 wont work.

Might one suggest that that is more accurately the definition of a technophobe?

As a relative newcomer to digital after a long break from film, I think HDR is yet another useful tool/function made available to the digital photographer. Choose to use it, or choose not to.

I find some HDR shots straight from the camera can be quite bland however it can work really well with some landscapes, bringing a huge amount of detail to an otherwise bland sky.

Amen to that!

I think the coloured (and multi-coloured) versions of the K-X are fantastic. I personally wouldn't buy one ( I have a black one) but I can see the appeal to younger people, perhaps starting out in their hobby/career. A shrewd move by Pentax.

Yes, Flossie, they are a matter of personal taste. Personally, I think the Mona Lisa is a minger. I wouldn't hang it in my toilet.

B.