The end of May brought some beautiful weather which generally means that all the garden jobs seem to accelerate! I did however take a short respite from mowing and weeding (the garden is my Wife's domain so my activities are limited and under supervision!) to give the K1 and Irix 150mm F2.8 a run out - hope you enjoy my efforts.

1. A rose growing in the shade of a mature Cherry tree on the boundary between the garden and meadow beyond.



2. Aquilegia. Long been a favourite of mine



3. Day Lily. A bumper crop of these in the garden this year



4. Anemone



5. The curious case of the thirsty spider! My wife was filling a watering can and the spider shot out of a crevice in the stone wall to gather water.



6. Even when the water was switched off it hung around for the last drop



7. Starr doing what she does best - find a shady spot and relax

Says it perfectly

Super pictures of some great gates

Add me to this list - superb set

Great question to start with Lenny, and some brilliant insights from other members. Being a spring chicken still (not seeing 70 until January) I still have too much gear a lot of which is heavy - this has led me to being more selective about what I take out with me but invariably the lens that I leave at home is the one that I want!
I have tried the OM system which I did find too small and fiddly, and unless you used the expensive Pro series glass I found the results disappointing. Fortunately it is a very popular system so selling my kit was quite easy!
My current Pentax alternative is the Canon RF system (2 full frame bodies the R6 Mkii and the R5) Mainly purchased for wildlife where the auto focus is blisteringly fast. Downsides, neither the camera or lenses feel as robust as my Pentax kit and the menu system is not yet intuitive for me (time and practice may resolve this). There is a weight advantage but it is not significant. Having said that I tend to use the K3iii for wildlife and not my K1, the Canon kit has more of a weight advantage over the K1. The EVFs in the Canon bodies is good, but does not equal the OVF in the Pentax
Results from the RAW files are excellent but do not seem to have the depth of the Pentax files when working on them on post - I process in LR and Topaz, use native Canon RAW and DNG files on the Pentax.
The one time I have used the Pentax and Canon together (sat comfortably in a Photo hide) both produced superb results which you would be hard pushed to separate.
If I had to sell one of the systems now I am pretty sure it would be the Canon. I just feel more comfortable with the Pentax, be that APSC ,Full Frame or my very heavy 645 kit !

Not sure my ramblings will have helped other that being one who has invested in other systems I keep coming back to the Pentax kit

Another vote for 3 and 5. Particularly like the sky in 3. Thanks for sharing

Superb shot with great detail (definitely best viewed large)

I look forward to your thoughts on the K70. I had one for a few years and found it a very capable and easy to use camera. Later model K70s had a different solenoid so should not suffer from the aperture block issue. Over the years I have only had one body (a K30) which developed the problem so hopefully you will avoid it with your K70

Really like the first one, stands on its own really well. The second image I do see working as a very effective part of the sequence you have described.
Personally I love the black space in the images, certainly adds drama

Nice set of a stunning location. I agree with others about the need to correct (slightly) the verticals.
My favourite image is number 3, super shot of the arches receding into the distance and beautiful colours, not the normal view one sees of this location and shows you eye for an excellent image.