Thanks for that, I will give them a ring in the morning!!!I think this is the MK1, I was hoping for the later version. I am also waiting to see the results of a test on the Sigma 100-300 with a 1.4 teleconverter by anothe forum member before deciding

The siggy 120-400 weighs 1750g versus the Tokinas 1050g, so there's a fair difference in weight. There's no difference in f stop, so it must be down to the build of the lens I guess.

I would love to see a test!

John, thanks for the links to the reviews, it sounds like the 120-200 is quite a good lens.

I'm pretty much set on a Tokina 80-400 now, but the only problem is there do not seem to be any available!

Another possibility is the Sigma 120-400, but I can't find a good review on it, dpreview don't seem to have done a full review of it. It's still quite large though: the main appeal of the Tokina is its size.

Anyway, going out with the camera now for the first time in ages, been too busy studying to get out!

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Sigma 120-400mm F4.5-5.6? Seems a bit smaller than the Bigma.

Thanks for that Jon, interesting review. I definitely want one, the size is what swings it for me (compared to the Bigma). There don't seem to be any available at the moment, but the first one that comes along I will snap up!

I have to confess that the menus on the K7 drive me mad sometimes. I'm not a great person for reading manuals (I get enough of that at work), so even though I have a Magic Lantern Guide there's nothing more frustrating than trying to find a setting that's buried under layers of completely useless (to me) settings. Some menus, eg language, date, time, text size etc. do not need to be accessed on a regular basis, and I feel I should be able to disable them until I want to use them.

At work, I use "intelligent" checklists that work out steps that are not neccessary to complete a task. The colour on these items changes and the next logical step is automatically highlighted.The option to activate the items skipped is always there, after a failsafe check to make sure I actually want to change these parameters. I'd like to see something like that on my camera, with the ability to specify which items I think are important. I don't think that this would be very difficult.

I am surprised that given all the hacks available for mobile phones, computers etc that there is not a budding community of camera hackers out there writing alternative software for cameras, to get menus working as they want. Of course there would be warranty issues but you could always reinstall the original software.

Basically, I love the fact that the K7 can do so many things, but I wish I could choose which ones it does.

Unfortunately, Hefty, you're probably right. Low volume would mean high prices. I'd still like such a beast though. I have never fancied a Leica. Have to confess I've never heard of the SDXX series.

What would be useful is to be able to erase menu items in current cameras. Sometimes it takes loads of scrolling through unused menus to find what you want. Things like in-camera hdr, the various filters, are not used at all save once when I played with the hdr function (software does a better job.) I never use jpeg, so all the features pertaining to jpeg are not any use to me. It would be nice to have a stripped-down menu. Surely that would not be difficult, an ability to edit menus and remove the stuff you don't want?

The only topics I can think of that would specifically require a PP technique are montages, mono or Hdr. Possibly panoramas.

Talking of the competition, anyone any idea when it is going to be set?

If a manufacturer came out with a cheap, rugged dslr that just shot RAW, had only the basic modes (aperture priority, shutter priority, manual and Ev compensation, with a simple light-meter like the one in the Spotmatic), I am sure a lot of experienced photographers would happily sacrifice features for price. I certainly would if considering a second body. However, I am not sure I would consider it as a primary camera. I do really like the idea though.

I like this from dpreview's review of the Bigma:

"To satisfy photographers who are absolutely terrified of the things they like to photograph, Sigma has introduced the frankly enormous 150-500mm f/5-6.3 zoom. "