I was recently in Currys Digital in Cardiff, and was quite impressed to see that they had most of the major DSLRs on display including the Kx and K7. Not so impressed that the K7 and the Nikons were represented by boxes though - surely a dummy body of the same shape and size could have been used, as they do with mobile phones? I can understand them not wanting to put expensive gear out in public but it'd allow customers to get the feel of a product and then ask to see a demo model.

Their lenses were a trifle odd too - a 50-200mm (which for some reason had no hood and an old Pentax-F lens cap) and a 100mm macro. Bit of an expensive specialist prime for a high street shop!

The lens is pretty worthless to anyone without the adapter - I'm not sure what he intends to offer to connect it to a camera. This is the second time I've seen a big desirable lens missing this crucial part - read a thread on another forum about a similar problem a while ago. You'd have thought they'd keep something so crucial attached to the rest of the lens!

Theoretically you could have a precision engineering works machine one for you if you had all the measurements, but I wouldn't like to guess how much it'd cost.

I have a cheap IR remote release for my K-m, but for things like landscapes the 2sec self timer will work just as well.

And I thought my K 85-210mm was a big lens...

I use a couple of Slik tripods - a 500G and a Mini Pro V. Both have pan/tilt heads, are very light, and still stable.

The 500G was £8.50 on ebay including postage, it has a few scrapes and two of the legs don't seem entirely straight but it works perfectly. I've even used it with my Km and 730g of K series zoom on the front with no problems. For the money, you really can't argue.

The Mini Pro V I bought new, it's a mini tripod but unlike most it's a well built one. I've put my MX on there with the same lens (heaviest I own) and it was absolutely fine. It's small enough to carry in a camera bag and you can use it on car bonnets, rocks, benches, etc. The little suction cup on the base of the column is best ignored however - if you try to use this it makes the tripod unstable. Used in the traditional fashion with just the three legs touching the surface it's great.

I also have an old Velbon CX-540 that I bought over ten years ago. I've barely used it as it's huge and the quick release head is annoying - as I tend to use more than one camera with the same tripod I'd rather the fixed type. It's light and well made, just a bit too bulky to carry around. Works very well with a set of binoculars for watching garden birds at the seed feeder though!

It won't pop up with the camera off as it's an electronic thing rather than the old-fashioned mechanical lever releasing a clip, but it should pop up in any mode with the camera switched on when you press the button.

The Hereford branch had a bargain bin area just before Xmas, so I picked up a 5m flash sync cable for about £5. I don't think the teenager behind the till had the faintest idea what it was!

Two weeks to order a can of compressed air will just drive people to the internet. Or Staples - I think they sell it?

Good luck - the Macro lenses always go for big money!

I have had some success with closeups using my Pentax-M 40-80mm zoom, which has a macro function.

I'm mostly marvelling at how sharp it is - I tend to use my kitchen cupboards to test lenses as the wood grain shows up well. This lens beat the Pentax-A 28mm f2.8 by a comfortable margin.

Very odd. I know the chap I bought my 50mm f1.7 from said in the listing that he'd tried it on digital but didn't like it (something to do with contrast IIRC). I've never had any trouble with it, in fact I tend to use that lens as a general walk-around one. It's a short telephoto on digital but I find that helps to cut out unwanted foreground clutter - it takes you over the fence and closer to the lake, for example.

Just snagged an A 50mm f2 on ebay for £15, supposedly near mint. Not a bad investment and it'll be going on my Super A. Planning to get hold of an original strap and use that as a second manual focus film body alongside my MX