Some excellent shots there.

Having been taught photography by someone who used a tripod 99% of the time, I rarely think twice about it. I'll admit, though, that I find the precise positioning of the camera when taking macros out in the wild a pain, but I'm always disappointed when I try and manage without.

K.

Technical quality-wise (I'm not making any comment about NAM's images) these are the not best images to judge the potential of 35mm film. Good quality film processed and scanned by a pro-lab would be a fairer comparison than a test-roll of consumer-grade 200ASA print film scanned poorly.

There are a great many reasons to use digital -- especially the experimentation factor mentioned above -- but please don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Personally I take great pleasure in using both film and digital but am equally happy to acknowledge it isn't for everyone.

Back to the original photographs. I think the images of your girlfriend have potential and are something worth persisting with. In general, try to get much much closer and cut out the clutter. Lastly, unless deliberately done for effect, don't put the main subject in the middle of the frame.

Have fun with your ME Super. My first camera was an ME Super and I took thousands of slides with it armed with just a 50mm f/1.7 and a 28mm f/2.8. I wore the camera out over ten years and replaced it with an MX.

K.

I'm impatiently waiting for my latest purchase to arrive with its 6x9cm 'sensor'. The downside is that you only get eight images before having to change the 'memory'...

This FF argument has been going since I first joined the forum. There has also been a slow but steady trickle of people who have left because they are going "full frame". Who knows if that trickle is enough to make financial sense. There were quite a few people being rude about the 645D too before it came out. They are strangely quiet now.

I'm not sure where K10D got the rumour about the k-mount, but I too believe it would be mad to drop it.

We live in interesting times.

K.

It used to. No harm in asking. K.

Excellent luck and excellent shot. K.

I must check my lottery ticket......

I'm nothing to do with Charley but I'm happy to say that this lens is as good as it gets for manual 28mm lenses. If I hadn't already bought one I'd be snapping this up.

K.

PS Live view on the K20D is dire. It was introduced in the 'spec race' before Pentax had got a decent implementation sorted.

K.

The K20D also has the advantages of dual control wheels and a real pentaprism. The K20D's IQ at base ISO (200) is excellent. It gets a bit dodgy at faster ISOs. If you're mainly taking landscapes at low ISO, perhaps using a tripod on those wet grey days, it'll do the job just fine.

K.

I noted a while back that the auto-white balance on my K10D choose very different settings with my K135/2.5 lens than with my DA* 50-135 etc. Setting the white balance manually (in software in my case) so that the K matched the DA* improves the colours on the K hugely. I don't know why, but that is one of the reasons I shoot RAW.

K.