Mac, I hope you crop your photos when printing at those different sizes. Sorry if I'm saying something you're blatantly aware of but the uncropped pics from your pentax is in the ratio of 3 wide by 2 tall. Out of the sizes you mentioned only 6x4 will keep that ratio. ie 3x2 times 2.

Printing at other ratios will result in either distortion or unwanted cropping (depending how your pharmacy prints). For example printing 8x10 will result in the sides of the picture being cropped off (if in landscape orientation) or the whole width of the image being squashed together.

If printing at 7x5 for instance you'll need to make sure your image to be printed is in the ratio of 7:5. Or you'll be left with a print with bits missing compared to your original.
If you have a normal uncropped image, the best thing to do is print at compatible print sizes - eg: 6x4 9x6 12x8 etc. (all variations of 3x2)

I find a better way of cropping small amounts is to paint a white section over the part to be cropped off. This way you're print will come back in the original dimension but with a white square which you can then physically crop off with a guillotine. Not ideal for framing though.

Tricky as this has been translated I would think.
This could mean their launching cameras in 3 different sectors & that the new SLR is only a minor design change.

This would fit in with the rumoured Medium format sensor that's been long in development & also the K20d upgrade with GPS built in.

Of course rumours are unreliable by nature. Whatever is released I hope it's a worthwhile upgrade & is properly advertised, the growth of Pentax will benefit us all.

Does anyone have both the 10-17 & 12-24. I'd like to see the fisheye set at 17mm versus the 12-24 set at 12mm, to see the difference in FOV. obviously the shots would need to be taken in the same place to really compare.

- THIS COMPARISON - got me thinking, I know the 10-17 is less fishy at the long end, but does it still retain the greater FOV in comparison to rectilinear super wides ?

Hefty, til the end of Jan (when the cashback ends), I can get pick up the Pentax version from a local pro centre for £411 & then get the £50 back. So I'd be amazed if you can get £450 for it.

Although there are a few mugs around still, they're getting harder to find.

That's just an ad, drawing attention to his individual auctions. He has 2 of these "ads" buy it now's !

The in me wants to start a bogus ebay account & buy it now on both of them. I'd be disappointed that I couldn't see their face when the ebay bill arrives though !

That third pic is the best of the bunch. That poor old rock has been bombarded & you've captured the craters wonderfully.
I've ordered a cheap chinese split prism focusing screen off ebay, when it arrives I'll let you know if it's any good.

About 10 pages into the K20d manual, loudly exclaim "OH NO ! It's not compatible with our pc system - I'll need an extra shiny box to plug in !"

This should work a treat, try not to ruin the ruse by instantly bringing up a bookmark & ordering one though.

Matt. I think you've jumped to the wrong conclusion re: noise levels.

It's higher pixel density that causes noise. I was going to start explaining it, but found this on the net & it sums up what I was gonna say - so I've taken the lazy copy & paste option.

Full frame is 36mm x 24mm

APS-C is roughly 22.2mm x 14.8mm

I say 'roughly' because the size of an APS-C sensor can be slightly different between camera manufacturers, though the difference is negligible.

Given that you have a 10mpx camera, one at Full Frame, one at APS-C, the full frame camera will provide the best result in low-light. This is because the same amount of pixels are spread out over a larger area, which allows some spacebetween each pixels.

This is good because when each pixel is placed further from each other, it is less likeley that the electrical charges 'spill' from one pixel to another - this is more prevalent when using high ISO speeds.

When the pixels are placed closer to each other, there is more chance that the adjacent pixel will be receiving electrical 'spillage' from the adjacent pixel when the ISO is turned up.

Long exposures and/or high ISO's increase the sensitivity of the sensor so if you do either or both of these, it increases the chances of 'noise' appearing in your pictures. This is why when engaging either of these two methods - a camera with a full frame sensor, or comparitively a camera with a lower pixel density (x number of pixels over larger sensor area) will have a cleaner, less noisy picture than a camera with a higher density of pixels (x number of pixels over a smaller sensor area).

Hope this helps your understanding Matt. One thing I would add though, is that APS would provide an advantage in the studio as it gives greater depth of field than a FF equivalent. This is not so good when trying to isolate subjects in an uncontrolled environment by throwing the background out of focus. In the studio however the background is controlled & therefore greater DOF is an advantage.

Ok 2 things to add - Some pros are using the Olympus E3 which has a crop factor of 2 over FF & this really suffers from noise at high iso. but is delivering excellent results in the studio at base iso.

Ok 3 I think the megapixel race will thankfully start to slow shortly as sensors are starting to out resolve all but the best lenses. Affordable glass will be the limiting factor in Image Quality terms for hobbyist photography over the next few years I think.

Like Womble, I had the same email today. I have not replied as yet.

I am tempted by the Tamron, as it is still very good value at well under £50 delivered. Still over £100 most places.
It is heavier, but then again I am seriously considering a 70-200 f2.8 instead of the 50-135 so it'd still be my lightweight option, plus it'll have that extra reach. By the sounds of it, it'll be some time til they get more Pentax stock if at all !

Looking around at reviews it does seem to suffer from CA quite a bit in the usual conditions, but as I only shoot raw I'll have an opportunity to reduce/remove it. On the plus side there are some very nice images from it on flickr & Photosig (plus the usual tat)

If you think the D90 kit lens had a quality focus ring then when you try out the K20d ask if they have any of the all metal limited Pentax primes for you to try with it.

If you're into manual focus then Pentax is a great choice for you. Many excellent old manual lenses can be picked up cheaply on ebay, I picked up a 50mm f1.7 for £15 & the focus ring is excellent, very well weighted & damped to use. All K mount lenses will work on the K20d & all the even older m42 screw fits will too, with an adapter.