Coincidence you posted this as I'm in the process of registering, my main reason is that I'd possibly like to teach photography in the future.

Having spoken to the course tutor I think it's probably worthwhile for you as it does cover a range of genres and all aspects of photography. From my experience too (not just photography related) support/motivation and advice from a tutor can make all the difference rather than just wading through books/mags, even moreso if you're just starting out

Simon

Thanks everyone, 2011 certainly been a good year - just for information I was approached by the editor of WDC magazine who saw my Flickr gallery so it's worth having one

Simon

Probably a good idea if I posted the photos, only the 1st one is taken with the K5 though:


[IMG]http://www.landscapephotographyuk.com/images/llyn-gwynant-lake-snowdonia-north-wales-2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.landscapephotographyuk.com/images/Conwy_Castle_winter_sunset_3.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.landscapephotographyuk.com/images/penmon-lighthouse-sunrise-anglesey-north-wales-image.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.landscapephotographyuk.com/images/Llanddwyn-Island-sunset.jpg[/IMG]

I've had a few photos published in the October Issue of What Digital Camera magazine (readers gallery, p38/39) and managed to add a few comments on the virtues of the K5, can't do any harm to spread the word on it's capabilities!!

Simon

I use mine quite a lot, saves messing around with the hot shoe level I used to use - it's level when showing 3 bars to the left so I just remember this when using it, still be nice to be able to calibrate it though!!

Simon

I think if you check the T&Cs of your household policy it's likely to be more "extensive" than the E&L insurance - cover away from home, reasonable excess etc. I've had a quick look at the dedicated camera insurance but it didn't seem great value

Simon

If you edit your photos then some form of calibration is pretty much essential - I print all of my decent shots too and so many problems in this respect are caused by uncalibrated monitors, just look on the web at all the threads where people are complaining their prints from labs don't look the same as on their PC

Simon

For landscapes then ISO80 whenever practical, one of the reasons I bought the K5 was for its wide dynamic range and as far as I'm aware ISO 80 makes best use of it.

For high Iso I've just been away on my holidays where I shot lots of interior shots at ISO6400 and the results are excellent so I now have auto ISO limits set to ISO 6400, amazing how low the light can be and the K5 still gets great shots

Here's one example:

Good question - I bought the DA35mm F2.4 when it was first released and thought it was very good for the money, sold it after a short while though as the images didn't really "pop" for me, maybe I'm just too fussy. Reviews suggest little difference between the DA & FA but I do think the FA produces nicer looking shots, slightly better contrast I think - not sure it's so significant as to justify the price difference but I do prefer the FA over the DA

Simon

Had the same experience with the K20D, used +0.7EV most of the time as it seems the metering was a little on the conservative side - the K5 isn't though, perhaps in answer to one or two reviews that criticised early models for underexposing, the K5 is pretty much bang on, don't find I need to use compensation anywhere near as much which personally i prefer.

Simon