PSElements 14 and Lightroom 5

I shoot Pentax with my K50. I superb camera even with the kit lens. For more distant work I use the Tamron 70-300, which gives me the range of my bridge camera (almost)

I have a pixma 4850 and banding occurs if I haven't used it for several weeks. First try a couple of head cleaning cycles and if it is still incorrect try a deep clean. If still incorrect print, check your cartridges and change any that are less than half full. I have used compatibles (from 'The Cartridge people) right from the start and at a cost of £21 per set of all 5 they are about 1/3 the price of Canons replacements. As for quality, the results are indistinguishable from the originals.

I have had the X10 now for over two years now and I love it for street and casual photography. The sensor is between the small p&s 1/2.7 and the 1" premium compacts and to be honest, except for rather large crops and prints up to A4 it is not noticeably different to my Pentax K50 with kit lens. I have not had any problems with the on/off switching or the orbs (but I do mostly use it in daylight). There is hardly any grain at up to ISO800 and even ISO 1600 is possible.
The build quality is superb, it feels a quality product and has plenty of controls to play with, although even the fully auto gives good results, colour and autofocus are excellent and it can take raw photos as well. The only slight negatives are that the protruding lens means you need a fairly big pocket to hold it, and the battery-life is not the greatest, I manage to get 200 - 300 shots per charge, so a fully charged spare is a necessity. Overall it is a great little camera, especially for someone who wants to go a couple of steps above snapping, and now it is at bargain prices it is even better value

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Taken at ISO 800

here is one from the other day. It was about half an hour before sunset and the sky was a misty blue. I think the ISO was a bit too high and this caused grain in the darker areas. The camera was my HS50EXR with quite a small sensor (1/2.0")

F7.1 @ 1/400sec and iSO 800. Focal length 1000mm

Thank you both for your comments. I attended the funeral of one of my employees on Monday, She had died at the good old age 0f 96 and on her 80th birthday she had said that before she died she would love to go to the lighthouse. Her sons hired a boat from St Ives and took her across the bay and round Godrevy Island, but it was not allowed to land as Trinity House was doing a lot of work there. Still she loved the trip and the close up view and I like to think she died contented.

At the special request of Sirius and Sailorsmom, a couple of todays shots of Godrevy.

I was not alone in the wind

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Finally the sun came out, but still breezy

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I have searched my files and do not have any fine weather pictures of the lighthouse, it always seem to be stormy and wet. But I have promised 'Sirius' that the next fine day I will nip down there, it is only about ten miles from where I live, and will post a sunny version on UHH. Now I am waiting for some fine weather.

Thank you John, much appreciated, its a shame that many are now unmanned and rely on automatic systems.

Thank you Carlysue and Pfrancke, so glad you liked it, makes my trip out there worthwhile.

OK Sirius, your wish is my command. I will go there on the next sunny day and take a bright one for you. (that is if we get some sun sometime :D )

Thank you, Snappin and Sirius, it was just above freezing and was the tail end of a Force 11 gale. The day before the waves were breaking all over Godrevy island and there was a lot of storm damage to the coastal towns. On the south coast the railway line at Dawlish was washed away and we are still cut off from the rest of England.

The lighthouse that was written about in Virginia Woolfs "To the lighthouse"

Very true Captain, I was told "Smile and the world smiles with you, cry and you cry alone". Even so, I like it despite its shortcomings, but I know it wouldn't win a prize except maybe from the models husband or mother.

Capt C, I appreciate that, but the instructions that night were to obtain the best result with the minimum of equipment. It was so dark that I had to use manual focus and measure distance with a tape. Even shining a torch on the model didn't allow the camera to focus or even to compose. I had to wait for other club members to press their shutters and then click mine. Sorry, excuses, excuses, but I was fairly pleased to get a result at all.