PS one time a snow blower had cleared the road and deposited the snow over my car parked on the side of the road, when I came out at the end of the day just the roof was showing! Got warm digging it out.

I spent a winter in Southern Norway many years ago, when it got as low as -20C. Easy to sneer at U.K. chaos but there are major differences; for one snow is inevitable and planned for in Scandinavia and all cars by law must have winter tyres, and authorities are well equipped with snow clearing machines; second the population density in the U.K. is many times higher so far more roads and much greater demand on infrastructure and resources.

Google him, refreshing presentation, self-effacing and a natural.

I know, Gareth! As soon as I saw the tree I thought of the video and couldn’t resist so I confess to plagiarism, didn’t get the darker background though.

A few from today

But if you look at some forums there are those who have switched because of what the K1 offers. Personally, where there is a choice between a Pentax lens and an alternative I would always go for the Pentax one. A while ago I swopped from a Sigma 150-500mm to the Pentax 150-450mm once I could afford it, and although the Sigma was good I just love having everything WR so not worrying about wind blown spray and rain. I am quite glad however that Zeiss lenses aren’t available as I could be tempted to blow my pension!

And the F2.8 D FA zooms 15-30, 24-70, and 70-200 are virtually a standard set across all brands so it made sense to launch these first; they would be the most popular and also paired with the K-1 more likely to attract customers from other brands. I saw recently a list of best first buy dslrs which consisted of Canikons in the top eight and the K70 ninth - the reason it wasn’t higher, the reviewer said, was purely down to the limited lens range available. But in reality there are far more aps-c Pentax lenses than anyone else but of course the FF range is relatively limited so it is great to see Pentax working hard at this and I am sure as the range expands we will see more niche lenses appearing. Bear in mind that Pentax is a relatively small company so doesn’t have the resources to churn out loads of new launches but it is reassuring to know that each one is rigorously developed.

How many times does it need to be said, Pentax lenses are NOT rebadged Tamrons! Those that are similar are made under licence by Tamron to Pentax specification and glass, with special coatings and weather resistance. Also without SR and with better materials in construction. The superior performance this gives has been shown in side by side tests and that is what you are paying for. It really doesn’t help to keep repeating this misinformation.

Smugly thought we had missed the worst but got hit this afternoon by a huge blizzard and now it’s freezing. Large single malt followed by beef casserole and red wine tonight hit the spot.

S**t I had anticated this one from the hint in the earlier roadmap but couldn’t resist a bargain f2.8 version recently. It will be more popular with landscape photographers due to its lighter weight. OTH still waiting for the 2017 lenses so may be a while longer.