I use the Boxwave screen protector. You can find it here.

http://www.boxwave.com/pentax-k-7-screen-protectors/pentax-k-7-cleartouch-anti-g...

I use it for it's anti-glare properties not so much for protection but for visibility in bright sun conditions.

Dick

I switched to DNG years ago to avoid having to worry about sidecar files for metadata.
The K5 DNG format now uses compressed images which my K20d didn't. So its DNG files are approximately the same size as the PEF's. In the past I used to convert my K20d PEFs to DNG with Adobe DNG Converter (ADC) with a significant reduction in file size as compared to the native camera DNG format. Now that step is not necessary.

One other point. I like DxO Optics Pro as a raw converter. It is virtually automatic, and creates finished images requiring very little touch up. It does not support DNG files created by third party converters like Adobe DNG Converter. But it does support ALL camera generated formats - Pentax k??? among them. So it will read DNG files created with the camera, but not necessarily converted DNGs. It worked with my ADC converted K20d PEF's but it does not work with my ADC converted K5 PEF's.

At the risk of jumping in without reading the whole thread...

The diopter setting is not intended to focus the image... It compensates for your eye's ability to focus on the focus screen. I find the best way to accomplish that is to simply remove the lens altogether and look through the viewfinder at a plain wall or white paper. Of course you can achieve the same result by de-focussing the lens. Adjust the diopter to sharpen the brackets on the focus screen. That's it. You should never have to readjust the diopter setting.

Now with the lens on, carry out your lens focus tests as described throughout this thread. Don't try to improve on the focus by adjusting the diopter.

If your manual focus test fails to match viewfinder focus with resulting image focus, then your camera needs to be calibrated. There are thin shims behind the focus screen to make this correction. When I installed my Katz Eye viewfinder focus screen, I had to exchange this shim with a thinner one to get proper manual focus. The Katz Eye screen was .05mm thicker than the Pentax focus screen.

Note that the above has nothing to do with auto focus. The actual focus sensors are below the mirror, and have nothing to do with how your image looks like the viewfinder. It's quite possible for your autofocus to perfectly focus your image, and it appears out of focus in the viewfinder. As mentioned above, before replacing the shim below the Katz Eye focus screen, my auto focus worked perfectly, but the image in my viewfinder was slightly out of focus. Replacing the shim fixed that, and they now match perfectly.

Hope this helps,

Dick

Interesting! Will have to give that a try!

I have a Panasonic LX3, and it has up to three user modes. You set the camera to what you want, then memorize the settings in one of the three options. Makes it very easy to select a custom setting.

My K5 has only one user setting, (I think? never tried it).

I guess I prefer to shoot RAW. I then use post processing software to achieve the effects I want. (And recover to a more normal image later if I need to... ) As a result I have not experimented with the in camera filters to see what can be done..

Dick

Edit: Oh my! There are five user settings in the K5. Time to go back and program them!!!

You might like to have a look at this:

http://dxo.com/us/photo/dxo_optics_pro/introduction

Version 7 has just been introduced, and needs a bit of work, but it is on sale until Dec 24, and I believe it has lots of potential.

Unlike other programs, it is designed to work automatically in getting the best image possible from your raw images. I've been using the previous version 6 for quite a while now, and was very pleased with the results.

The program uses calibrated camera and lens modules to exactly correct your images for your equipment. You can check to see if modules exist for your camera and lenses. If a module does not exist for your equipment, you can still use the tools in the program, but you will have to do your own adjusments.

Dick

Don't know if this is what you are looking for:

http://dxo.com/us/photo/filmpack/what_is_dxo_filmpack

DxO Optics Pro has two levels of film emulation, and they are currently on sale until Dec 24. You will need the actual RAW converter, Optics Pro V7.1, and the addon listed above to emulate the film type...

Dick

I can't remember where I read this, but the solution is quite simple.

The camera remembers the last file number used on the SD card, and increments by one to use for the next picture.

First empty an SD card by erasing all.

Now take a single picture.

Remove the SD card, load it in your PC and change the filename to your desired image number. That image number should be set to the number of the last picture you took, or better, the shutter count as determined with PhotoMe or Exiftool.

Now you have to get the camera to forget the filenumber it got from the SD card used during the repair. Page 5 of the Record menu shows an option called 'Memory'. This option refers to what the camera should remember when you power off. The last item on the second page of this item is an option called 'File Number'. Uncheck it. Power off. The camera now forgets the last number used.

Now load the SD card with the desired file number on it, power up and take a single picture with it. It will be one more than the file number you set it to from the PC.

Now go back to Record menu Page 5, memory page 2, and restore File Number back on.

That's all there is to it. I wish I could credit the article this info came from, but I cannot find it at the moment.

Dick

[quote:3496ace15f="Daydreamjay"]Sorry, I believe that it is this lens and does have auto focus etc

]http://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/showproduct.php?product=208&cat=44[/quot...

Ah yes. Then I imagine the 'A' setting is necessary for the camera to detect and set the aperture as suggested by Pentaxophile...

My quick response was based on how many times the F-- shows up with my M 50mm f1.7...

Dick

You did not give any detail about the SMC 70-200...

I suspect it is a manual focus lens, and does not have the proper connection to the camera to transfer lens information such as aperture etc. It will work fine, but you will have to use the camera in manual mode, as well as manual focus mode...

Dick

Not quite. Same idea though. the .spi and .spd contain edit information you applied to your raw file when you edited it. I don't believe Silkypix has any capability to create information such as tags, captions etc. Note that only Silkypix can read those files... Lightroom for example knows nothing about those files should you decide to change RAW editor some day.

If you add information to your image, eg captions, descriptions, tags (to find your images quickly), copyright information, etc that information will not fit in most RAW files. Programs that add this information called metadata, store the data in a sidecar file usually named the same as the image file, but with an xmp file extension. It's important to keep these two files eg img???.pef and img???.xmp together when moving files to other folders or the metadata will be lost.

The DNG file format has room to store this metadata together with the image data in the same file.

If you don't apply metadata to your images, you don't need to worry about sidecars.

Hope this helps...

Dick