Yep. Lovely !

There is something very special about babies' tiny hands, feet, fingers and toes ! Memories for life.

Congratulations Don & Mrs. Don !

I also have a copy of this Metz flash and it is excellent, the P-TTL works just fine.

The only feature I prefer on the Pentax's (and I'm not sure which ones have it) is the flip-lock as opposed to the knurled wheel on the Metz. I had one of those wheels lock-up on me and had to use pliers to loosen it.

I would also say that a lot of street photography comes down to confidence and a smile no matter what lens you are using, obvious or not.

If anyone indicates they don't want their photo taken .. smile and don't. If they query you then smile and make eye contact, state it's for a project you are working on and if they want a copy you'd be happy to send one to their email address .. and then I give them a name card. I have never had anyone get aggressive or ask me to delete their photo.

I'm sorry John but that doesn't make any sense to me at all ! If a feature is provided in camera or in-lens then why not make use of the possibilities ? Pentax made it possible and it's a wonderful function that makes manual focusing (and catching movement with MF lenses) a lot easier for many folks so why deny them that pleasure. The addition of a tiny piece of silver paper or metal tape is all that is required. for non-compliant lenses.

Sure !

Once you attach the AFA any AF mechanism is cancelled and you have to MF the lens, however the mini-focusing mechanism inside the AFA can focus itself over a very small range therefore e.g you have a bird at 30m, if you MF the lens to 28m (this is only an example not the actual distance) the AFA will then take over to pinpoint accurate focus on the subject. When the lens is set at infinity then of the course the AFA is also within it's small range and so you now have an AF lens !

I hope that is a little clearer - if not I'm sure Google is your friend

Interesting that F*300 doesn't work with CIF. I wouldn't have expected that at all. The only F lens I have left in the house is the 70-210 and that has no MF switch.

Virtually any lens without contacts is going to work with CIF, so my K lens and adapted to PK Zeiss, Cosina and Voigtander lenses work perfectly, as does my DA*300 and

The Tamron 90 di doesn't because the AF/MF sleeve is basically just a quick-shift by another name and doesn't actually disengage the screw drive as it does with those with dedicated AF/MF switches.

BTW for the Tamron 90 and any other lens not working with CIF, including all AF lenses without an MF/AF switch, you can force CIF to work by depressing the lens lock with one finger and holding down the shutter with another as you manually focus the lens. The AF screw drive will turn but as the screw can't engage the lens' focus mechanism, only when achieve focus manually will the shutter trip. Just don't let the lens fall off !

If you have a lens with contacts that doesn't work with CIF then I believe (but haven't had the need to do this myself) that you need to short out one of the contacts by scrapping the paint off it so it's bare metal (sometimes this is a problem with M42 - PK adapters whereby you need to do the same thing).
To make sure that the lens body does short the contacts you can either 1) remove the paint on the lens body over the relevant contact or 2) place some aluminium foil or metal tape between the lens and the body when you attach the lens. You can then use your lens with CIF. Theoretically this should also work with the F*300 as it effectively makes the lens an MF lens no different to a K.

If you are going to do that then any of the UWA will serve the purpose. Check your budget and what is out there, almost all have good reputations and plenty of supporters (Pentax 12-24, Sigma 10-20 (there are two current versions) or the Tamron 10-24).

1. When you put the AFA x1.7 on any lens it's immediately semi-AF. That is it is manual focus until you are in the vicinity of the range that the AFA covers by itself (it has a tiny focusing motor built-in) then the AFA takes over and snaps into focus. When shooting birds at infinity this means it's virtually an AF lens.

2. Most reports say so. But the 150-500 still looks amazing value for money.

3. Supposedly, because of the form factor and optical formula and with a slowish max. aperture (f5.6) the 560mm will be in the US$2,000 - 3,000 range. So no more than £2,000 tops and probably a lot lower. Whether that is the reality we'll just have to wait and see. However there's no way it can get near the Sigma 500/4.5 which is around £3,000 as that would be suicidal .... oh hang on

Hardly. I doubt anyone used to using nothing, an iPhone, or a P&S, for their photographic needs (which covers 99% of the population) would even notice the difference between the T 17-50 and say a 77 as seen next to it. I also use the 50-150 for street (far right) and haven't noticed any difference whatsoever in attitudes or the frequency of being noticed ... even if you had the 40 XS on there it's still a honking big DSLR to most people !