I think it’s down to all the hot air coming from Parliament this week, Labour, SNP, LibDems, backstabbing Tories, the whole bloody lot of them. The eternal conundrum is whoever believes they are suited to be elected there should be automatically disqualified for that reason.

Here is something I find curious: I sell images through Shutterstock and the latest download is from Kyiv, Ukraine. Subject: Starship Enterprise. I would love to know in what context that is being used.

Tempting as Amazon’s prices are I never buy photo equipment there as I think they undermine other retailers who provide a much better service, as well as a physical presence where you can inspect products before you buy.

JohnX, I was on a multi-exposure course with Valda Bailey (I actually thought it was a landscape session!) when going around the small group she said so-in-so’s Sony needed a special app downloaded, a Canon did up to 8 and Nikon up to 10 blended exposures. Their smug looks soon changed when she then said my Pentax did up to 2000!

Longtimelurker, yes the first impression just picking up a camera tells me whether to bother investigating further. I have tried this on several highly regarded models and put them straight back down so next time someone tells you the Fuji XT-4 or whatever it is is so much better than the KIII mk 3 just ask them if they have actually handled one!

Just a quickie, I have two other camera brands apart from my K1 but the camera adjustments and menus on the K1 are so much better. Neither of the others has the shortcut menu, one has a similar display but adjustments have to be done deep diving into the menu. I explored multi-exposure in one, found it would only do two (K1 does 2000!) unless I go through an elaborate process of preselecting shots to blend in-camera afterwards. What a faff! Also outdoors in daylight the rear screens are less easy to read so having to scroll through menu settings just to change something the Pentax has a button for or is in the shortcut menu is too time-consuming to bother with.

I suspect reviewers who are inured to their own brands’ operating systems don’t appreciate how superior Pentax cameras are in this regard.

I agree with David, looking at the rocks it appears the white balance is too cool so experimenting with that in post processing would be worthwhile. For a long time I left the while balance in the camera settings at auto but found the results benefitted from editing; you don’t actually realise until you compare a warmer setting with the original. I get much better in-camera results by changing the camera setting to daylight for outdoor shots, or cloudy for when it is really overcast.

It sounds as if something has got under or around the ring somehow, I would have thought the best answer would be to get it repaired rather than the risk of making things worse; I had the same issue with some old binoculars, tried the same as you suggest with Vaseline and they were never right afterwards.

The file for a pixel shift image from my K1 is around 100MB whereas a standard file is around 41MB, so if you are stacking say 10 or 15 images then that makes a huge file and an insect would need more than that. It might be interesting to try, I have blended 3 differently exposed pixel shift images for a high contrast interior to great effect. The biggest problem I get with stacked shots is taking enough to get them aligned by the software without odd artefacts.

Yesterday I decided was right for a g&t in the garden but it’s been a long time since I made one. I emptied the refrigerated tonic water cans into glasses and just topped up to the brims with the gin, chucked in lemon slices and the rest of the afternoon and evening passed in a haze so that probably wasn’t right - anyone know the right mix?

They look really good, a pity you both live so far away!