Really? I'm 28 and still don't use it all that often!

£58 is ridiculous - that's over a third of the price of the lens!

It can't cost anything like that much to produce, or at least if it does then Pentax need to make the process rather more efficient. It surely can't be more complicated or use much more plastic than, say, the Lego minifigure magnets which sell for around £10-£20 for a pack of three.

I would like one, but I draw the line at paying £60 for it. I'll keep haunting ebay for an old hood at a sane price.

Hmm, on film or digital?

On film it would be:

SMC Pentax 28mm f3.5
SMCP 120mm f2.8 or M 135mm f3.5 depending on situation
M 40mm f2.8
M 50mm f1.7 (or SMCP 55mm f1.8, depending on which body I pick up)
M 35mm f2.8 (added to the collection a month ago as I wanted to see how it fared as a walkabout lens)

On digital:

DA 35mm f2.4 (now my standard lens)
Samyang 85mm f1.4
F 80-200mm f4.7-5.6 (soon to be superseded by a Tamron 70-200mm f2.8 )
FA 28-80mm f3.5-4.7
DA 18-55mm

In some areas they didn't cope - in the event of a car problem in the uninhabited wilderness you'd have had a long, cold wait for help. I know I mostly regard mine as a device for sending SOS messages, in fact I send more texts than calls as it's extremely useful to be able to say "am outside Debenhams" or "In pub, where are you?"

I do wonder how on earth anyone manages to wander around with one clamped to their ear all the time. Mind you, I do have this weird idea that a conversation involves two parties and actual communication takes place, rather than one party displaying verbal diarrhea with the other(s) too polite to tell them to shut up!

There was a series of Spotmatic adverts with the slogan "X's Pentax". I know Alan Whicker and Spike Milligan both featured, or at least their Spotties did!

I'm just a poor boy
I need no sympathy

(evidently Freddie had bought a lot of Ltds. How else would you end up poor but not asking for sympathy? )

Theoretically you could use one of the older Pentax (K, M or A) wide angle lenses, line up all the orange numbers (aperture set to f8, focus varies between lenses but it's usually the first numbers down from infinity) and have everything in focus from infinity to a couple of metres using this hyperfocal setting, although I've yet to borrow a video-capable DSLR and try this.

Caught in a land-slide
No escape from re-al-i-ty

Interestingly your AF160 is probably more use on your K10D than the AF400FTZ. Put the camera into Manual mode, set the sync speed, aperture and ISO to what the flash expects in whichever Auto mode you pick, then shoot away. You'll even get the little flash ready icon in the viewfinder, or at least my K-m does!

Have a look at the Dimitrov K mount site for an explanation of the various Pentax flash automation protocols and what the extra pins do.

To be honest, it isn't that hard to replace seals providing you have steady hands and can follow the instructions to the letter. Definitely worth having a go if you can get pre-cut seals to fit, you'll save the price of a few rolls of film for about half an hour's work.