Agreed, good shots and the egg shots really look good. Snoots can be so useful!

I have a Sigma flash gun and they have a good range too. I have the EF-500 flash unit which has been superceeded by the EF-530 units now. I use the EF-500 with no problem on my K10D. I hope this helps.

Trust me George, I am saving for the new Sigma 18-250mm lens.

I have a similar lens (Sigma Aspherical IF 28-200mm) and have done quite a few shots with it on film and digital SLR bodies. My lens has the magic ability to not focus correctly on my K10D body particularly over 80mm focal length. I am running firmware/software version 1.30 on my K10D and all my pentax lens work perfectly fine on the same body running the same software. What firmware/software are you running on your K10D body?

I spoke to Pentax and they suggested speaking to Sigma as Pentax cannot support Sigma products. Sigma offered to have a look at my lens which I will do as soon as I can. I find the problem is intermittant and both Pentax and Sigma had not heard of any problems with my lens/body combination.

I always think a lens that covers alot of ground is going to have more elements so lens designers will always have to balance extra elements losing optical quality over the advantage of covering more focal length with one lens.

Just to complicate matters the glass composition for new digital lens also allows for the fact that light will have a greater chance of being reflected back from the sensor to the lens so if you have tried all the setting in addition to the latest K10D firmware from Pentax then I suspect you might find the same as me where the performance is not what you expect.

I hope this helps at least. I am saving for the new Sigma 18-250mm lens to replace it.

Hi Guys,

Sorry my life has been hectic and just had a chance to log in now. Narbeth doesn't sound too far and if I try to organise something in April how does that sound?

I got a WFC (it's a Flickr group) meeting in Swansea on the 13th Feb so I will see what interest the Pentax users have in meetings as well on top. OnceI got more info I will send messages to anyone who replies to this thread or sends me a private mail.

My transfer into my bank took about 3 or 4 weeks. If you give Pentax a ring there is a dept. that can check the progress for you.

Item: Metz Mecablitz 15 MS-1 Digital
Final price: £279.00

It's able to be setup to not just use Pentax but other systems inc. Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Samsung and Sony. Very easy to setup and I am very impressed with it. Hopefully it will prove very useful on model/portraiture shoots with the power it has from my testing from getting back from the shop.

I have tried the DA and DA II forms of the lens on both the K10D and the K20D. Both versions are good kit lens and I do find the DA II version to be sharper and the DA version is very good by it's own merits. I would recommend the MK II lens myself if it is within budget if anyone is looking to get a 18-55mm lens.

I got a reply from the ray-flash website (incase it helps anyone else):

"
Hi Steve,
Thank you for your interest in our Ringflash Adapter! We know that a Sigma
EF500 flash will fit the Canon version of the RA for the Canon 580EX MKII.
There are three versions with different heights: RAC160-2, RAC170-2 &
RAC175-2. They all do the same thing and work in the same way, but cater
for different camera heights and to find the best model you need to measure
the difference between the centre of the lens and the centre of the flash
units reflector/diffuser:

Ray Flash Measurements/Specifications

Model Number Ring Outer Diameter (in.) Ring Inner Diameter (in.) Ring
Center to Tube Center (in.) Weight (oz.)
RAN160 6.89 4.06 6.30 16.30
RAN170 6.89 4.06 6.69 16.86
RAC160 6.89 4.06 6.30 16.30
RAC170 6.89 4.06 6.69 16.86
RAC175 6.89 4.06 6.89 17.46
RAC160-2 6.89 4.06 6.30 16.30
RAC170-2 6.89 4.06 6.69 16.86
RAC175-2 6.89 4.06 6.89 17.46




Hope this helps!

Regards
Hardy

Hardy Haase
Flaghead Photographic Limited
P O Box 6143
Poole, Dorset
BH12 9AS
01202 733 123
www.flaghead.co.uk

Company Number 533 8134
VAT Number 854 2303 43
"

I have ordered a Metz unit as well now as it's under £300. Pentax stock seems not to have been released and Simga have not released the Pentax version in the UK (looks like that may be a while yet too)