andrewk

I use three kinds of filters ......... * ND grads for scenes where the brightest part of the sky is much more than about 2.5 stops above a mid-tone. If you do not use an ND grad and expose for the sky, mid-tones and shadows will be underexposed. You can, of course, push those in post processing, but depending on how far you push them and which camera make you use, you can end up with excessive noise and loss of detail in the shadows. Alternatively, if you expose mid-tones correctly then you can/will blow out the brightest highlights and that will not be recoverable in post processing. ND grads work for me. * Solid ND filters. I use those so that I can use slower shutter speeds in daylight. I have a 3, 4 and also a couple of 10 stoppers. They are useful for taking those shots of the sea or rivers/waterfalls that you often see that look milky. * Polarizing filters. I tend only to use those occasionally to reduce reflections in water or oher surfaces. They can also increase the saturation of the sky if used at right angles to the sun. They do not work too well with wide angle lenses. I never use UV or "protector" filters. I don't see any point in putting more glass in front of a decent lens.

I was not apologising for Pentax. I intended to buy a Pentax ME Super around 1980, but ended up with a Ricoh KR10 instead, coz it was cheaper and I was hard up at the time. I was very late buying a DSLR and after quite a bit of looking around in 2008, I bought a Pentax K200D. I did have a couple of K-mount lenses at the time, but the K200D handled better and felt way more solid than the competition. It was also weather resistant, which none of the others at a similar price were. I replaced the K200D with a K30 in 2012, partly because it has way better high ISO performance - and partly because there was a silly cheap offer on at the time. It's fine at ISO 3200 and I don't worry about shooting at that if needed & printing at 16x12 (or 18x12) for camera club comps. I am not convinced that the current Pentax flagship APS-C cameras are much better - 24 mpx, but (slightly) worse high ISO performance, so I'll probably stick with the K30 until I'm ready to buy the new Pentax K-1 full frame. I have no intention of jumping ship, even though the Nikon D750 and Canon 5D Mk iii are now cheaper than the K-1 launch price - and the Nikon D810 (similar spec to the K-1) is now not much more.

Yes but only just. The Lancashire/Yorkshire border runs about 500 yards from where I sit as I trype this. It runs right through the middle of my nearest pub - the Kings Arms at Grains bar.

Hi all, I am a retired electrical engineer and strictly amateur photographer. I live a few miles north east of Oldham. For no particularly good reason, I tend to take mostly landscape photos, probably just an extension of taking snaps whilst away on holiday - though I am trying to widen the scope of things that I point a camera at. I tend to struggle taking photos of people and am especially hopeless at studio photography. I am a member of Oldham Camera Club and enjoy club competitions and making new friends with similar interests. I use a Pentax K30 APS-C camera, at the moment, but am likely to buy the new Pentax K-1 full frame once the initial price has come down a bit. The only real reason why I use Pentax rather than Nikon, Canon or whatever is because I have had and used a Ricoh KR10 K-mount film SLR (with manual everything) from about 1980 onwards and had already accumulated a few compatible lenses. Cheers Andrew