The DA35 is lovely, so lovely in fact that my Flektogon 35mm may well be finding itself on eBay in the New Year - it hasn't been on the camera once since the DA rode into town last summer.

Perhaps it's just simplified as the camera it's bundled with is aimed at "beginners" and maybe they don't want to intimidate them? How many folk moving up from a P&S have ever focussed a lens manually before - and if they get hooked enough to want to explore hyperfocal distances in the future then I'm sure Hoya would be happy to sell them an upgraded version of the lens...

In fact I may now start referring to my Mk1 as my "DA18-55 Luxury Edition"

In normal circumstances you can't see the pre-flash simply because it takes place just milliseconds before the main flash and the human eyes/brain just aren't quick enough to take it in. You see it when you have the camera set to the timer because then there's a clear 2 second delay between pre- and main- flashes.

Unfortunately your slave devices *can* tell the difference and they'll be triggered by the pre-flash, as their duration is only measured in thousandths of a second they'll have already done their bit before the main flash fires and the shutter opens. This is why you need a "dumb" flash on the camera that doesn't have a pre-flash for triggering a set up like yours.

In fact all the nice toys we'd like Santa to bring

Nice, but I'd rather have the 200 Macro

I'd never noticed the missing distance scale before! Another good reason to stick with my Mk1

Never been to a photography show - what are the freebies like and are there any genuine bargains to be had?

The beauty of digital is that you can experiment and learn quickly - I'd say go for a good flexible manual flash like the Vivitar 283 or 285 series with a tilting/swivelling head and a respectable amount of power and control. Plus I think some (all?) of those have a PC sync socket which may come in useful in some situations.

Samsung never upgraded their 18-55 which has always remained in "Mk1" guise, not heard many GX20 owners complaining...

I've had a couple pass through my hands, they're Tessar designs with a very flat field so handy for macro work on the bellows or tubes. Really needs stopping down to about f/5.6 and beyond to be properly sharp but in macro you work at small apertures anyway.

Construction is, indeed, about as simple as it gets but that means there's not much to go out of whack and they're near indestructable. You'll often find them with old grease jamming the focussing helicoid solid - needs a firm grip to free it but not it's not impossible.

A clean and re-greased example is actually a really nice little lens to use and quite capable as long as you work within its limitations.