I'd agree on the tripod too. If you want something compact (tabletop/rocks/car roof as a rest) then look at either the SLR version of the Gorillapod or the Slik Mini Pro range. Both are a cut above the average small cheap tripod and will cost around the £20 mark (or less).

If you want a larger tripod then there are a few threads about them. You just need to consider whether you want a rock-steady big tripod (can be light but usually bulky) or a slightly smaller tripod. I bought an old Slik 500G for £8.50 on ebay which is fine with my K-m and even fairly large lenses, it might be worth looking at that route if you want a good all-rounder tripod for not much money.

I also have a big Velbon CX-540 which is superbly stable but a bit too bulky to carry around. It's currently in my living room with a set of binoculars bolted on to watch the activity around the bird table!

Don't worry, RIAT is already booked and the tickets are in the safe here!

I will probably end up at the following Welsh photo locations at least once over the year:

Elan Valley
Llyn Brianne
Llyn Clywedog
and various mountain roads

I would agree with the suggestion of which lenses to take on holiday, those two will offer the most useful spread.

The 18-55mm would have been sold with the camera, it's a very well-regarded lens and you can get excellent photos with it. This lens covers wide angle through to a short telephoto and is probably the one to keep on the camera, from what you have there. An all-rounder that will cover most situations.

The 28-80mm was a standard lens in film days, on digital it becomes a short telephoto. I've heard that it feels a bit plastic but produces decent photos, so try it and see what you think. This would be good for things that are slightly too far away for the 18-55mm but it doesn't have the wide angle of the previous lens.

The 35-80mm is another film lens, however as it's an A version it doesn't have auto focus and you will need to tell the camera what focal length you're using in order for the shake reduction to work properly. For this reason I'd advise you put this one aside for now, you already have the same range covered with a more useful lens. If this is the lens I think it is then you wouldn't get particularly good results from it anyway - I have the F version (identical apart from auto focus) and it's very poor.

The 70-300mm will be handy for longer range photography, and seems well thought of although I've never tried it.

Look up "crop factor" - basically as a result of the sensor on a Pentax DSLR being smaller than a frame of 35mm film the lenses become longer than they would be on 35mm. A 50mm lens fitted to a Pentax DSLR is equivalent to a 75mm lens fitted to a film camera. This is why you hardly ever saw lenses shorter than 28mm on film, and why the standard zoom supplied with DSLRs is usually an 18-55mm.

You will probably come across "prime" lenses - these have a fixed focal length (say 28mm, 50mm, etc) and are generally higher quality than zooms as they don't have to make compromises to allow for zooming. They also tend to be more compact and with a wider aperture, meaning that they make your camera a bit handier for walking around with and more effective in low light. Don't go wading in and buying any just yet though, what you have is fine for learning how to use the camera.

Definitely wander around the old City Docks. I'd suggest something like this:

Visit SS Great Britain Cafe (great panini with view of the harbour)
Wander along the waterside. There are some abandoned buildings next to SS GB, if you walk on past the Marina, flats, and caravan site you'll eventually come to an area that hasn't changed much with a few old dockyard pubs, swing bridges, and the locks into the river.

Going the other way you have railway lines, cranes, the horrible mess that's been made of the old Industrial Museum (mangled into a "Museum of Bristol") and another swing bridge. If you can plan your trip for a day when the museum railway is operating then it's well worth it, failing that try looking at the footpath that runs between the railway line and the New Cut (where the river was diverted when the harbour was built). There are a few interesting bridges, and once you get to the far end there's the much-battered Ashton Gate swing bridge and the old tobacco warehouses.

Have a look here for inspiration:

http://bristol-rail.co.uk/wiki/Index.php

It's a rail history site but their virtual tours of the old harbour lines make great guides, the chap running it seems a keen photographer of the "record it before the bulldozers level it" school (an approach I heartily approve of).

I will be going to RIAT, I may also see Top Gear Live if the same crowd as last year decide to go. I used a 28-90mm zoom for the latter last year which was neither long enough or fast enough for indoor photography of fast-moving vehicles - now I have my 120mm f2.8...

A friend of mine has a Sony, but recently admitted that he was sorely tempted by a white K-m when they came out. His wife (the one with the full frame Alpha) did not look terribly impressed by this, and even less so when I said "They're offering the K-x in the same colour now, and you can haunt ebay for cheap primes...")

I am slightly surprised that they don't do the 55-300mm in colours to match the K-x, considering that they bother to make 18-55mm lenses in the full range of shades. I'd have thought they'd be ideal for the deluxe kits with both.

Two tests from the 120mm f2.8:

Firstly the ever-popular kitchen cupboard at f2.8, 400 ISO
[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/IMGP1576.jpg[/IMG]

Secondly the daffodils that seem to be appearing in quite a few images at the moment, I think these were at f4 or f3.5, somewhere around there anyway. 400 ISO again
[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/IMGP1579.jpg[/IMG]

I will attempt to take some better photos and give the lens its own thread in the Gear section over the weekend, these are just quick tests. Amazingly it does seem to meter correctly in M mode - all I had to do was set aperture and press the green button. This is probably the first pre-A lens I've owned where this is the case.

Well quite. Consider the Scalextric set you could buy for £500 and the fact that after the day ended you'd still have the set...

I'd say it's a near-certainty that the coatings have changed over the years. Pentax must surely improve them with every new lens design, considering the competition they face.

Largest I own is this mint SMC Pentax 85-210mm f4.5:

[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/IMGP1539.jpg[/IMG]

I have the correct lens hood on order at the moment after finding an ebay dealer in Canada with a handful of them.