Gah! Thanks for that -- I hate it when typos slip in.

I am sure the articles will stir up some debate and debate means more attention, which is a good thing.

Over on my blog The Theatre of Noise I'm writing a series of articles on photography for those interested in digital SLRs. It's targeted for beginners but there should be something for everyone to disagree with.

I have three articles so far:
* To Say Nothing Of Megapixels
* Why Use An SLR?
* Which Digital SLR?

Just doing my bit to promote the Pentax way.

Though you can check and reserve at the store of your choice online. And it really works. I bought my K100D Super there a few months back at the best price in all of Europe. Not to mention they are just about the only store in all of Ireland to even carry Pentax.

I realise Argos are generally crap, but not when it comes to Pentax!

A couple things I forgot.

Argos has the K100D Super kit for £270. The major dealers are generally sold out I think.

But don't spend time on all the scene modes. To my mind these are a waste of space even for a novice. The "P" mode works fine for snaps. Learn how to tweak that with exposure compensation -- it's a single adjustment. Next learn about setting ISO for lower light. ISO 400 and 800 work perfectly good. Beyond that you'll get more noise but use if you must.

After that, try aperture priority mode to pick your depth of field. At this point you'll like a fast prime for precise DOF handling.

It's all lots of fun. I've taken 2500 shots in two months, without really trying.

This is basically what I did. At the end of January I bought a K100D Super for the best price in Europe and since then have spent about twice that amount on four lenses. I'll upgrade to a K20D when the prices look more like the K10D does today.

It's tempting to always upgrade but there are other things to spend money on. Speaking of which, my computer is six years old and getting long in the tooth...

Though it is more likely the prices will come down even further as K200D and K20D prices reduce from their initial high. Bodies are not a good investment; buy them to use them. Now lenses on the other hand...

Thanks for the comments. Not sure I'll ever be going past that spot at night again... but I'll try for a different framing if I do!

All well-deserved. I particularly like the winning shot, but the balancing act is an attention getter for sure. Well done all!

Please Drive Slowly!

(Taken today specifically for this contest.)




(This is a bit late since I had difficulty uploading.)

Why not? I don't think it's redundant. To replace the kit lens I bought a 16-45mm and the 43mm limited at the same time. Though the focal lengths overlap they have different uses. The zoom I can use for cityscapes and to capture group shots, the 43mm for low light interiors and portraits.

I was tempted to get the 77mm limited instead of this prime, to give a wider focal length range overall, but decided I'd use it significantly less of the time. I will get one eventually, but first went for a cheaper 100mm macro.

I guess I've given up on the idea of "one size fits all" since even inmy limited case that would have to be a 16-100mm f/1.8 macro with low distortion and high resolution out to the edges. I don't think that exists, and if it did it's cost more than I'm worth in a year.

More advice could be given if you said why you do not like the double kit zoom combo. One thing I can suggest is that the 50mm is a world away from the kit lens in terms of light capture. It is great as a portrait lens, equivalent to 75mm, for those cases where you want to manipulate DOF, or simply don't have enough light. However it may be too telephoto if you need a lens to capture groups inside... a bunch of friends in a pub for example. All depends on what limitations you find with the kit zoom.