To be fair, Pixmania are French, so a French manual isn't foreign to them.

The K10D manual is available to download from:

http://www.pentax.co.jp/english/support/download_manual.html

Steve

http://www.siblingmedia.com/

Hi,

does anyone know which Extreme III cards, and at which retailers, come with P1C1 LE? The original press release seemed to imply it was just CF cards, but now it seems like it's all Extreme III cards. However, I can't seem to find any retailers saying anything about P1C1 at all. Anyone bought one recently?

Steve

Quoted focus distances are often measured from the film/sensor plane rather than the front element.

I can't comment specifically on the *istDL2, but with my *istD I noticed a small but significant (for me) improvement on changing to an 80x card. When shooting RAW the buffer cleared about 25-30% faster. I did time it in various situations, but I forget the numbers now (I might even have posted them in another thread here). The DL2 should write faster anyway, so you may (or may not) get more of a boost.

I certainly notice a slowing down in RAW frame rate when I fill up my 80x Lexar WA and have to resort to my spare unbranded card.

Steve

http://www.siblingmedia.com/

Matt,

some interesting samples here:

http://www.pbase.com/geforcemx/k10d_sample

Steve

http://www.siblingmedia.com/

Hi,

does anyone know if there was a dedicated lens hood for the 1:2/35 Super Takumar?
(non SMC version: hence need for hood :wink

thanks,

Steve

http://www.siblingmedia.com/

I've been impressed by the Sigma EX 50mm f2.8 macro, and I'm not easily impressed. It's nice and light, has a surprisingly nice feel, and produces very good results. I don't have the direct Pentax equivalent to compare it to, but I do have both the SMC Pentax A 100 f4 Macro and SMC Pentax FA 100 f2.8 Macro.

That said, I would certainly avoid any of the older Sigma lenses.

If you find yourself on a limited budget, then your 50mm f1.7 on extension tubes will be ideal for macro work. As you say it's an M lens you've got then the electrical contacts Matt mentions aren't necessary as you'll have to use stop-down metering anyway. You should be able to find manual tubes on ebay for £10-20. While I agree with Matt that the 50mm f1.4 is a great lens (in all its incarnations), in my experience the f1.7 is better suited to macro use.

As for a constant-aperture zoom, if you're not bothered by lack of auto-focus then the SMC Pentax A 35-105mm 1:3.5 is a superb zoom. The zoom action is a little fiddly compared to modern designs, but it is a good lens. They crop up on ebay reasonably frequently, but tend to go for quite high prices.

Steve

http://www.siblingmedia.com/

With a 50mm lens, even a few mm will lose you everything beyond a metre or so, so I'm inclined to agree with John unless you have a Micro Nikkor gathering dust and want to use it for macro work.

Glad you liked the elephants. They were hand drawn, based on photographs of elephants walking.

Steve

http://www.siblingmedia.com/

You mean these?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-Nikon-Lens-to-all-M42-mount-camera-adapter-Pentax_W0QQitemZ180043196502QQihZ008QQcategoryZ30059QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

They don't say anything about infinity focus, and it looks too thick to allow it. There's only about 1mm between the Nikon and Pentax register, so if it's thicker than that (and it certainly looks it) you'll lose infinity focus.

Nikon, like Pentax, have always stuck to the same physical bayonet, so your old Nikkor H lenses should work fine. In fact the older lenses will work better as you have to be able to set the aperture manually.

In theory stacking adaptors shouldn't be a problem. In practice it isn't always that simple. For instance, I have a K-M42 adaptor and an M42-M39 ring. Both work fine individually, but if you stack them there's a light leak due to a bit of a design flaw on one of them. Definitely worth trying, though.

Another solution for macro work is to hunt down an old BPM Universal bellows. These had interchangeable mounts so with the correct combination you can mount just about any lens on just about any camera.

Steve

http://www.siblingmedia.com/