No still the Ds at the mo Martin, but a better lens is always worth having.
Still waiting to see what the 20D is priced at here once it is available. De Beukelaer wants to have plenty in stock before releasing them aparently.

I have the chance to buy a secondhand one. Is it as good a lens as I hope?

Yes . I'm not sure if it inspires me to try harder or want to throw the whole lot away in despair though.

Thanks for the link Clarky. Amazing photos, and I like it that he share his technique with us too. Not that I'm ever likely to set something like that up!

I shall be sat on an islandlooking out at the North Sea then, and hopefully not wishing I had a weatherproofed camera
I look forward to hearing all your reports!

If we someone walking around with one shoulder much lower than the other then we know it is chirpy after carrying his K20d and Sigma 500 around for a while

Or do you have someone to carry it all for you since you must have won the lottery to pay for that lot

If you go to his Flickr photos you will see amongst the tags Sigma.

Time to eat you words?

Mongoose, yes I looked at the K200d, but I don't want to take the backward step from a pentaprism really. Maybe when I can look at it in real life I'll be convinced otherwise. Not that either the K20d or the K200d is yet available here, sometime in the next two to three weeks
I'm hearing a few rumous elsewhere that are making me hold off for a while anyway on buying anything. My source can't say too much or he will lose his job, but I'm hoping he can say a bit more soon!

So No. And who really wants one? Could you afford one? What about all those nice * lenses you have which are only for an APS-C camera?

Now what I would like but realise is probably impossible is a camera the size of the Ds, with the attributes of say the K10D.
A nice small lightweight camera. Mmmm. Maybe I should have gone for Oly

Whatever it is that rolls of the production line next year or the year after I shan't be buying one (unless I win the lottery meanwhile ).

Changing the dollar sign for a pound sign has been standard practice for years and years, not just for software and cameras but for things like Levi jeans and other American clothing. It really is nothing new, and is not aimed specifically at Britain - things in mainland Europe are just as expensive, if not more so (eg the Sigma 10-20 lens).
Nowadays they change the dollar sign for a euro sign it seems.
If you want a RAW converter then look at Bibble, you can download that and pay for it in dollars with a foreign CC.

Lightroom is available for €250 at http://tinyurl.com/yovxd2 or €269 at http://tinyurl.com/28dfyx. Look around, maybe at German sites and you will doubtless find it for less.