See if you can put your name down for a Demo model after the show. You may save another £100 or so.

I would get a LowePro Slingshot AW100/ AW200 - superb for changing lenses (just slide it around to the front), raincover and easy to wear.

You're going to get arrested.

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-handcuffed-female-thief-in-black-balaclava...

Ha ha - oh God forbid. Wonder how many other shooters hate being on the other side of the lense as I usually do !

I used to be a golf nut and got hell for that (away 2 days a week and spending US$500 a week on it - golf is very expensive in China) but now it's better, i'm not usually gone away all day (and evening), and I can take her with me if there are other things of interest to do and see.

On the finance side it's much easier ! Golf equipment devalues like crazy - lenses for the most part retain a very decent part of their value .. so in her eyes, and mine, it's not a waste. And of course she goes shopping for bags & shoes at least once a week, eats out with her group of girlfriends ALL the time, goes once a week to an expensive hairdressers and has massages 2 or 3 times a week. We are both happy now !

Really split 50/50.

Sigma 10-20
Tamron 17-50
Sigma 50-150 (on the way)
Tamron 70-200 (is the next purchase)

add in the Tamron x1.4 and AFA x1.7 and that covers virtually every FL I could need. However I also use *a lot* :

43 Ltd
Tamron 90 Di macro
DA*300

and have a number of M42s covering 28 through 300, but they don't see the light of day much, even though I love them dearly.

The 31 Ltd is high, very high, on the wish list.

So neither primes nor zooms score an outright win for me.

TAv 80% of the time for me (M the rest). Set a max ISO and then I know the K5 will take care of it whilst I adjust Shutter and Aperture as required. I have never used SV mode.

Excellent - really lovely colours & shots ! $3 or $3 would be my favourite.

Wise decision to exclude the distracting house silhouette from the shots (other than #1). Only other criticism is that they are quite noisy - should be able to clean them up, no ?

Thank you Mat ! Noisy buggers those Shrikes !

Cheers Tyr ! I love this DA*300 so much - I was worried at the lack of flexibility in some situations, however that will now not be an issue once my 50-150 arrives. However since the minimum distance is 1.4m for this lense, and no bird is ever going to come closer than that, it's superb, totally silent, brilliantly sharp and actually it focuses very fast - so long as I'm not trying to get it to go from 50yds to 5 yds in under 2 seconds !

Then best lay off the alcohol when handling expensive equipment ! Those beer cans run awfully fast at times.