Weirdly the '80s flashguns are now more use than the ones from the AF film SLRs.

TTL flashguns only work with some of the *ist D variants as Pentax switched to P-TTL. Go back before TTL to auto and program flash and they'll work perfectly, although you may be disappointed with the lack of manual control on the "SA" suffixed program flashes.

I always reckon that the best budget flash for a Pentax DSLR is either an AF200T or AF240Z. The latter is very under-valued despite having a zoom/bounce head and program/auto/manual modes.

One of the Lowepro Rezo TLZ range would probably be your best bet, I have a TLZ 20 which handles the K-m and kit zoom with enough space left for spare batteries, SD cards, and even my old 120mm f2.8 laid sideways in the bottom of the case. I would expect the K5 to fit with a standard zoom and enough space for spare memory/battery, but check the dimensions on the Lowepro site before buying.

It's probably more accurate to say that a factory contracted to Kodak makes the 645D sensor. I'd imagine Pentax will be able to negotiate for the design and tooling in order to continue production.

There does seem to have been a drop in the number of sanely-priced BIN items from UK sellers of late. I think they're getting the idea that if you list as an auction instead it'll probably make more money. Witness the K 105mm recently where despite the seller being unbelievably obtuse with the listing (hinting that it had problems but not saying what they were) it still went for £60+!

I have a horrible suspicion that this might go the way of many collectible items. Utterly insane prices paid for some things for a few years, boosted by dealers who have a vested interest in keeping prices up. I've already seen the old 100mm f4 Macro leap from £80 to £150 as a standard BIN price in less than a year thanks to one infamous seller...

It's quite fun explaining to people that there was a KX which just had a needle to indicate correct exposure and which didn't use SD cards...

All the arty types seem to recognise the K1000, but the KX/KM don't register despite being more useful!

I might point out that the K10D/K20D are now pretty elderly in DSLR terms and were both intended as top flight professional bodies. We don't know if they've changed the trigger setup in the newer bodies or even whether the same components were found in the lower spec bodies of the same era as the K10D/K20D.

Pentax won't give any written confirmation of safe trigger voltages, so I won't use anything with a higher voltage than their own flashguns. I won't be trying the tiny Sunpak which came bundled with an ME Super and has a trigger voltage of over 200V!

I don't even know this cat's name. I know where she lives (as we phoned the number on her collar when she first turned up to check that she hadn't gone walkabout from somewhere) but that's about it!

A Mac won't protect you against port scanning or phishing though...

Providing your system passes the "Shields Up" tests then you've nothing to worry about, it's just like an opportunist thief trying every car door as they walk along a road. If all the doors are locked they'll keep walking.

Yep, trigger voltage is completely safe, used mine a few times on the K-m.

One useful trick of this flash (and indeed all Pentax Program flashes):

Put the K7 in Program mode and the flash in either red or green auto mode. Turn both on and watch the back of the camera. When the flash is charged the camera will automatically set the aperture to match the ISO setting - if you change the ISO the aperture will change to follow, just as on the table on the back of the flash.

It's a bit primitive but it works pretty well, this also applies to all the flashes with an "SA" suffix and the AF280t/AF400t models.

I think the more recent DSLRs are better at this. I know I don't have any problems with K or M lenses on the K-m down to f11 or so, but others have nothing but trouble on older bodies.

Weirdly the same people advocate using M42 lenses instead with the camera set to Av and using the lens like a preset one. If I try that I get truly hopeless underexposure! I think older bodies were better with the adapter but newer ones are better with native K lenses.