Personally, I'd put up with any "features" I wasn't especially interested in as long as it helps Pentax keep selling cameras and making money so they can design and make some more sweet * and Limited series lenses.

As to live view, I don't have it (and therefore don't use it!) BUT I do quite a bit of copystand-type work and I could see that it might help save me neck ache, although I am planning to try using the K10 "tethered" with the next batch to see if that works better.

Best wishes, Kris.

A couple of nice early presents there. An ego boost is always worth a mint.

Best wishes and well done, Kris.

I had my eye on a sale which was poorly listed as "Pentax P30 with extra lenses". My eagle eye spotted that two of the lenses were SMC-A 200mm F4 and SMC-A 100mm F2.8 both of which would get a good price on their own (about £90-£100 each). The third lens was also Pentax but I couldn't quite make it out. Unfortunately, other eagled eyed persons also spotted it and went for £222.11, not an unsurprising price given the A-series lenses. More gob-smacking was that a SMC-M 20mm F4 went for £200. Quite a bit more than they usually go for (£100-£150).

Oh well, no bargains for me today!

Best wishes, Kris.

I would also stock up on memory cards and some spare batteries. A previous thread had some good tips for using the best man to help do the group photos.

The DA* 16-50 would be ideal if you can afford it. The QC issues are over-blown and easily solved (buy from SRS!). The 16-45 is very good too and much cheaper. After all, it is only 1 stop slower.

Congrats by the way, and good luck to your friend. The one time I was persuaded to "do" a wedding was one of the most nerve wrecking events of my life not helped by my camera not coming back from the service place in time and having to borrow one from the shop!

Best wishes, Kris

If we turn this question about and think "why would Pentax put face detection on a dSLR?" To make more sales, of course. If they do, I guess it would be at an entry level K-m type camera rather than at the "semi-pro" K20D level, cf. the plethora of shooting modes with the K-m (night portrait etc) compared to M, P, Av etc on the K20D. For the next semi-pro level camera my guess is that they will try and improve things like the live-view feature or (if they have been listening to some of us) the FPS as well as, almost inevitably, the pixel count.

Not being a camera designer, I am assuming that the face recognition stuff is all software based (like my webcam, very unnerving) and as they have cracked it for some of the compacts, it shouldn't be too difficult to carry over to dSLRs, and certainly less development time/money than a full frame or medium format camera.

Just my halfpenny.

Best wishes, Kris.

I think they went home early.

Paint shop pro and the like will sort out converging verticals (at the expense of variable image degradation) OK but won't give you the depth of field that the Scheimpflug principle and a view camera will.

I can't remember who asked (the OP perhaps which is a bit of a slapped wrist for going off topic) but a tilt-shift lens is one which allows the lens to be either tilted relative to the film plane and/or the centre of the image shifted relative to the film plane. Tilts allow one to play around with the depth of field (either getting a lot more DOF or being very selective) and shifts allow things like not having converging verticals when photographing a building (as one does not need to tip the camera up) or photographing into a mirror without being in the reflection. They are very popular with architectural photographers who don't want to use a view camera, and landscape photographers who want everything from the tips of their toes to the furthest mountain in focus. The Pentax version, however, is only a 28mm shift which in film days was fine, but isn't really wide enough on the current crop of digital sensors.

HTH. Kris.

Pray enlighten us all! Sounds interesting...

Best wishes, Kris.

Dimitri's site says this lens was made by Cosina. Does anybody have any experience with it or comments on its quality?

Many thanks, Kris.

Well to the fora. It is a friendly place full of helpful people.

My first SLR was an ME Super and I still use one regularly when I don't want to lug the LX about. The advantage of Pentax DSLRs is that you can use your old lenses on them with the advantage of in-body shake reduction. Principal disadvantage is a low "burst rate" if you need that sort of thing (I don't).

Best wishes, Kris.

PS could you fill in your location, please? Helps with recommending suppliers etc.