Nooo, you do not want a VW!

I can't fathom the appeal. They're slow, don't handle properly, tend to catch fire and aren't even much good as a camper (stowing the porta-potty under the kitchen? No thanks!) Plus they are ridiculously expensive new or used.

For the same money you can buy a used Hymer A class which beats a VW in pretty much every department. It'll cruise at 80mph on the Autoroute, has a proper shower, blown air heating, ridiculous amounts of cargo space, and the ability to scare the living daylights out of stroppy people in normal cars.

I remember the *ist D coming out at similar prices. At the time I had a K1000, 50mm f2 and an old Takumar Bayonet 28mm f2.8. Still have all of them although I'd rather play with my ME Super and 40mm or KX and 28-50mm!

It might make up for:

The Winder MX for £50 (saw one a week later for £30, but at the time I hadn't seen anything cheaper in decent shape for ages)

The black MES for £15 that turned out to have a non-cocking shutter

How do people find things like an F 50mm for £30? I search "Pentax-Buy It Now-Newly Listed" on a regular basis and I've never seen anything that good.

As I understand it the M series version was a simple renaming of the K series? I'm not sure how much was carried over from the Takumar, and there's a fair chance Pentax changed the composition of the glue at some point.

K 55mm f1.8 for £8.50...

I'd probably have had a bid for that much - I don't know what lens prices are like in NZ but a good M 100mm f4 Macro usually goes for around the £100 mark here.

Not too surprising - remember the fuss about the APT when a bunch of (probably slightly drunk) journalists complained about feeling seasick?

The "problem" there was that the train's tilting mechanism was too good. It was cancelling out all of the sideways G force that you'd normally expect to feel, causing an imbalance between the eye and the inner ear (which causes all motion sickness - it's the brain having a panic attack about how one sense tells it that you're moving while another disagrees). After the system was adjusted so that not all of the sideways G was cancelled out the complaints ceased.

With OS on a lens the image you see in the viewfinder will be stabilised, which could have similar effects as what you're seeing won't match what your inner ear is reporting.

I noticed that - they still have the previous version of the 150-500mm which was the price I quoted (we don't really need OS given the camera already has it!)

I would normally expect the shorter zoom range to indicate better performance, but I haven't used either so I really don't know. I do know that if you're buying a new Sigma you need to buy it in a shop where you can put it on your camera and test it, as apparently their quality control can be a bit variable (but get a good one and it'll be fine).

Look after that 28mm, it's worth a fair bit of money! You'll find it very handy on the K-x as it'll be an ideal walkabout lens which doesn't add much bulk or weight to the camera.

The 35-70mm is easier to find and probably one of their best standard zooms before you get into the * or Ltd ranges. Again, hang onto it.

I'm not sure what the 70-200mm is like, I have the 28-80mm from the same series which is a good lens (slightly faster than most at the 80mm end). If you had one of the Z series bodies then the Power Zoom would work, which sounds fun to play with judging by the descriptions I've read.

How does it compare to the Sigma 150-500mm?

My Dad is muttering about DSLRs again and wants a giant lens (he initially wanted a gigantic white drainpipe with Canon or Nikon on, but I think I've talked him around to a K-x or K7 and a Bigma as he still has his fully functional K2 and likes the sound of a body which won't be much of a learning curve), but there's about £800 difference between the 150-500mm and 50-500mm brand new from SRS.