If I ring that number without a card will it still
cost me £315???? or will it be cheaper

It's a hell of a lot easier carrying around the 55-300mm and a TC rather than something like a Sigma 150-500mm or Bigma

You can also almost take macros with the the 55-300mm and a TC.
The lens also seems to let more light through than any of my others so the light loss isn't a noticable.

Ger a few pies from't Chippy
link

Nice shots... you certainly got close

The Pentax-A 1.4X-S works well with the 55-300mm almost
no loss in quality. link

The Pentax-A 2X-S is also a decent converter and will work with the
55-300mm with a slight drop in quality. link

These are both manual focus only, but the A Series electric
contacts function OK on digital.

If you haven't already seen it you might find this test
interesting in which the Kit Lens seems better than the
31mm LTD link

I forgot to mention about AWB. It does seem to change with
exposure on non Pentax lenses and even the older K and M lenses.

Interesting test If the Kiron 24mm is like the 28mm f/2
it could be soft at the edges link

I like AWB, but it just doesn't work with some lenses, although
Manual/semi-auto WB is usually OK.

It would be interesting to include the 18-55mm Mk II kit lens
and the 12-24mm zoom. I suspect the latter wouldn't do as well as
people expect

There does seem to be problems focusing WA lenses for landscapes.
I've found it better to set the lens to infinity (providing infinity
focus is accurate) and f/8.... everything then from a few meters is
usually very sharp. Failing that it seems better to focus beyond
what you want to be in focus If you focus on it you usually
find something in front of it is in focus.

Anyone with American Express should carefully consider either
ditching it or using it sparingly. Their fees are very high
and the only way any retailer could cover these is by putting
up the price to all buyers. Do you really want to pay more for
everything just for this privilege

The banks have far too much money consider paying cash and
giving 5% or so to charity. The banks don't need to be treated
as a deserving Fairtrade cause

He never posted any??

John Lewis have the worst retail website I've ever used
I ordered a Sony TV off them to get a free 5 year warranty, they
were supposed to be in stock.... then at checkout they are out of
stock and they said they would send an email when they have stock

FOR LOOP 1 TO 5
An hour later I get an email, I don't know how I noticed it
because it was initially deleted as spam, because it had a header
saying "Your product has come back in stock" which usually
means they are trying to sell drugs Viagra etc. When I read the
email it confirmed that they now have stock....

Unfortunately it had a clickable URL that didn't work
so I have go through the order process again until I get to checkout...
and again they have no stock and will send me an email etc.

GO TO START OF LOOP

After I have been through the checkout 6 times I ring
them up and they said they won't have any in for at least a week
and they can't take the order over the phone I have to go
through the system and checkout etc. I explain that it's not
working and they just said they can't help that.

Strangely they call the notification an email alert

I ring a local branch to see if they have stock. They haven't
but are expecting deliveries in about a weeks time, but they can take
an order and are run independently from the website. I decide
to leave it and get one from Argos with a free 3 year guarantee

If you need to buy from them they may well have stock in
the stores and I think they will mail directly from the store
or deliver.