Where I stay in Cornwall the night sky is spoiled by a bright glow from a nearby plant, frustrating any star shots. Turns out it is the Sharps brewery churning out Doom Bar by the tankerload, so almost forgiven!

Thanks pschlute, I will look at the video. Yes I used the SW150 adapter and had a go last night in Lightroom to reduce the vignetting, but it is the distortion that bothers me most.

Here are a couple of photos I took earlier, both with the DFA 15-30mm at 15mm and a 3-stop soft grad filter. For the second I added a Lee 10-stop big stopper to extend exposure to 30 secs; I was quite pleased with the effect but there is serious vignetting which I guess is due to the light path at the edges having to pass obliquely through both filters. Also, more worryingly, there is serious loss of sharpness at the upper left and right edges. This is my first try with this filter but I am rather disappointed with the result, has anyone else experience with this set-up?




And now with the 10-stop filter:

This outfit on Amazon UK has some kit at tempting prices, including a Pentax fit Samyang 24mm TS lens for £500.00 + £8.00 postage - almost £200.00 less than the cheapest price at established retailers. The lens has been on my wish list for a while but just before I hit the buy button I did a bit of checking - the business name is FX Trading Ltd. which according to company accounts makes very low profit and has equally low cash which doesn't reflect the value of the stock listed on the website, and the address is a shabby shop front which clearly does no retail trade. The sole director is Hubert Grzegorz ADAMCZYK with a Polish address, who turns out to be the figure behind Irix lenses which operates from Switzerland. There is only one delivery option which is around the end of the month so it doesn't take a genius to work out that the stock is in Poland or even possibly in the far east.

So, I think I have talked myself out of this but has anyone else had any experience, especially how problems are dealt with?

A further search brings up DSLR Gear SHOP at the same address but £525.00 + £9.99 and delivered by UPS in 3-7 days. The terms and conditions confirm all stock is held in Poland to where faulty goods must be returned. Hmmm.

A little-advertised fact about the K1 which is mentioned in the brochure is the unique design of the mirror mechanism. In all other DSLR Cameras the mirror simply flips up when the shutter is pressed; as the mirror is scaled up to match the larger sensor this results in a deeper body. However in the K1 the mirror both slides back and flips enabling it to use the gap between the mirror pivot and the back of the body, resulting in a shallower body than otherwise. Just one more clever piece of engineering unique to this brand.

Before I bought the K1 I handled it at a show, as well as the Canon and Nikon alternatives, so I knew what to expect. For the same reason I got it with the 28-105mm lens, being the lighter option. After a while I got used to the size and weight, and when I picked up my K50 a few months later I was amazed at how much lighter and more compact that felt. It isn’t just the body, the DFA lenses are quite heavy and bulky as well. I didn’t think I would use the K50 again but I realised it would serve well as a lightweight option for going on walks. The K3 is quite a bit heavier and bulkier than the K50 so maybe not the same alternative purpose, but I would recommend putting the K3 aside for a month or two and just use the K1 before making any judgements. Trust me, you will be amazed at the results if a good lens is attached!

Chris, I think it did some short circuits occasionally as well as blasts up the runway, but they had to stop a couple of years ago when the remaining Vulcans were grounded. I live in Wellesbourne and cannot forget looking out to see this thing flying low and slow, then at full throttle going into a vertical climb, rattling my windows!

Curiously there is a D-FA fish-eye zoom on the road map to be compatible with FF, which would make more sense as we already have the DA 10-17mm. I wonder if that is what it will turn out to be? Maybe we will know a bit more soon.

PS Scratch that, the other post shows photos and it is a DA* 11-18mm.

At last, some news on the new lenses roadmapped, plus a nice surprise with the 11-18mm. Interesting that they are aiming high with expanding the * range.

Image Sync takes over live view with the added benefit of a touch screen, touch anywhere on the image and the camera will focus on that point as well as making exposure changes. You can also review the photos you have taken but the resolution stays the same as you zoom in. You have the same issues of looking at a screen in daylight so probably more useful in a studio where you would use it to review the lighting. It works for me on a mini iPad but I cannot get my iPhone 5 to tether - I thought that would be a handy remote shutter release.

From Jak’s link it looks as though the KS2 will work and the K70 manual will say if that can be used as well. By all accounts the Pentax system is better than some of the others.