Well I vote for St Albans, as that's where I live

I'm free on the 10th, so will be able to attend.

Cheers,
Reuben0

Like you, I do like the *ist D with the grip and I did try the K10D with and without the grip whilst deciding whether to buy the grip as well (thanks for your patience Chris!). However, the K10D is a lot bigger than the *ist D and the grip made the camera far too big for my taste. If I'd wanted a brick-sized camera I would have bought a Canon

To answer the original point, the grip attaches very solidly and doesn't wobble at all. I'm also mystified by the comment in Practical Photography about the grip being too narrow in portrait orientation - the reviewer must have hands a lot bigger than mine!

Cheers,
Reuben0

I bought the 21mm with mine and as you say it's gorgeous engineering

[Having played with it for a couple of days though, I have to say that I much prefer the optical characteristics of the old FA limiteds.]

Chris was trying to tempt me with the A50/1.2, but I stayed firm (well actually I was tempting myself)

I was going to buy the grip, but it makes the camera a bit too big for my small hands.

Cheers,
Reuben0

It is indeed, I remember a similar fuss about jpg softness when the *ist D came out

The *ist D jpg's are indeed a bit soft, but the raw's are fine. In fact I compared them at the time to some from my brother's Nikon D100 and there was very little, if any, difference (mind you, Phil also thought the D100 soft - "Lacking in-camera sharpening leads to 'soft' looking images".

So I'm sure the K10D will be fine (if I ever get my hands on one)!

It seems PUK(e?) put the order "on a van" on Wednesday.

Quite how it will take until Monday to be delivered from Slough to Watford I will never know

I think that's a bit unfair

What is true though is that he likes Canon-style over-sharpened, over-saturated jpg's straight from the camera and his reviews reflect that preference.

It's the same with his liking for ACR - good sharpness, but poor colours etc etc.

I'm personally happy with the Pentax/Silkypix more film-like rendering and read Phil's excellent reviews with these differences in mind

Cheers,
Reuben0

The hyperfocal distance depends on the focal length, aperture and the "Circle of Confusion" value appropriate for the format in use (and the desired enargement size of the final print).

If you play with a DOF calculator (eg www.dofmaster.com) you will see what I mean.

Using a 28mm lens at f8 and using CoC values appropriate for small prints gives the following values for hyperfocal distance:

*istD (CoC 0.02mm): 4.93 m
35mm Film (CoC 0.03mm): 3.29 m

In other words, the 28mm on the *istD has a smaller depth of field for the same aperture (because the CoC is smaller) and so the hyperfocal distance is further away.

Cheers,
Reuben0

I've used the 1.7x AF TC with my K400/5.6 (which is very similar to the A400/5.6) and the AF works fine in good light.

However I don't particularly like this combination, because it's a bit dark after losing 1.7 stops and the IQ is not great wide open (the IQ is good without the TC though). You have to stop it down a bit to get decent quality and that makes it even darker

In these days of digital, I find it's better to forgo TC's altogether and crop and upsize in post processing, but YMMV...

Cheers,
Reuben0

The A50/1.4 is one of the best Pentax lenses I've ever used, so I know which I'd choose

At one time or another I've had all the manual focus 50's (but don't tell the wife!). The only pentax 50 I prefer to the A50/1.4 is the K55/1.8, but not being an A lens it is somewhat harder to use on a digital body.

Cheers,
Reuben0

I have both the FA31 & DA40 and I can happily report that there are no problems using the 31 on a digital body and it's at least as good as the DA40 (both are limited by the sensor in terms of resolution).

It performs superbly on my *istD, with all the good points that you get using it on film

There is a big difference in size/ weight and cost between these two lenses though. The 31 is big and bulky and the 40 is, if anything, too small...

Cheers,
Reuben0