OK I'm convinced. My little lens sale did better than I expected so I have a bit to spare. Now to trawl the internet for prices (avoiding Pixmania it seems...)

I'm considering getting an Optio W20 for occasions when light weight and/or foul weather make me reluctant to cart an SLR up a mountain or on a trek.

Has anybody any experience of this (or even the W10 or WPi) - will I get decent A4 photos out of it?

But...

They are listed as D-FA which means I think they are backward compatible with the film cameras. Which means mechanical AF. Perhaps even a switch on the lens to switch between the two modes (withdraw mechanical link - engage AF motor...) Should have an aperture ring too...

I've not really used my user mode yet - but it seemed to me that it would be best to set it up for landscape work (my first love, as it were), then if I see a beautiful scene and want to grab a shot I just switch to user & it will be OK. And even in more considered moments I can switch to user and then tweak settings if I want to, knowing the rest is in place no matter how much I have messed with the settings previously.

So it is set at 200ASA (you don't lose much and it alows a smaller aperture for greater DOF) aperture priority, DNG+JPG with the JPG settings as bright and +1 sharpening (might as well have the JPGs punchy "out of the box" as I always have the RAW file to play with) WB set to cloudy (equivalent of puting a warm-up filter on - again this only affects the JPGs)

Now all we need is a bit of passable weather....

The Sigma EM140 DG ring flash is supposed to support P-TTL. That would apear to be the only option for automated ring flash on the K10D. I have the cheap Vivitar ring flash which will only work in manual with the K10D. But with a couple of tests shots and a glance at the histogram there is no real problem with this.

My DS is now on permanent loan to my sister-in-law who was using an MZ50. However she is still obseesed with photographing her children (aka my nephews). While it is not in my camera bag as a second body (either the Super A or the MZ6can fulfil that role) at least it is technically recoverable. I'm slightly more dubious about loaning her the 18-55 - I have the 16-45 but that is a pain if you want to take wide angle snapshots with flash at a moments notice. I have to dig out the external flash and then the moment is gone.... But without the 18-55 she only has the FA 28-80 (and a cheap secondhand Sigma 70-200) which is a bit limiting fron her POV.

There is something somewhere in the K10D manual which warns that the readings on the screen of the AF 360FGZ are a bit odd when working with digital cameras - probably because it is a relatively old (pre-digital) flashgun (it was developed for the MZS when Pentax were planning a full frame digital SLR after all). However it gets the zooming right. Just ignore the display!!!

Comes of using the "sell a similar item" option and not checking I have changed all the right bits properly...

I've now put the correct picture on. Unfortunately as bidding has started I cannot remove the eroneous picture.

I hope I am not causing offence by putting an 'ad' here but I have decided to offload a few fairly rare, cherished but largely unused lenses to offset my K10D purchase - they are on ebay and my user ID there is tony.milner.

I hope they go to someone who will use them a bit more!

Actually a fungus affected lens is unlikely to infect other lenses as it is very unlikely to grow to the point of fruiting and spreading spores. The atmosphere is full of fungal spores in any case - the chief cause of fungus on lenses is inapropriate storage. If they are sealed in boxes it can create the kind of damp climate that allows the spores to grow. Oddly, one of the worst places to store a lens from this POV are the plush lined leather cases that were provided with older Pentax lenses!

http://www.chem.helsinki.fi/~toomas/photo/fungus/