Genuine Pentax for £4.99? Not a chance!

It's a 3rd party one which many people on this forum have bought and it seems quite satisfactory (although it's rated slightly lower in mAh than the real thing). I'd rather have a real Pentax one but at 1/10th the price it makes a compelling case for itself...

Point taken, but the Nova 2 I pointed the OP to isn't exactly huge. I'd think of a minimum size being something that could carry a body, 2 lenses, spare battery, memory cards, flashgun, cleaning cloths, filters and a remote - that should cover most eventualities!

I have 2 bags - one huge one that can carry pretty much my full kit, and a smaller one that fits the description I've given above. I tend to carry the second one most of the time and just bring a couple of lenses depending on where I'm heading that day. I'd really struggle to live with anything that offered much less stowage space though tbh...

I think your list is a good one - the K20D + 16-45 will make an excellent combo to start off with (you'll get a hood thrown in, I personally don't bother with UV filters as a rule).

An extra battery is an absolute must-have in my book.

As others have said, two smaller cards would be better than one big one (either 2x 4GB or 2x 2GB or 1x 2GB + 1x 4GB).

Tripods and flashes will both allow you to expand your creative possibilities in more ways than an extra lens would - you'll almost certainly end up with both at some future point but if I could start with just one or the other then I think the tripod would be my choice (the camera does have a small flash built-in that will do for starters).

With camera bags I think it would be wise to buy a larger one than you think you need - you'll very soon fill that extra space with extra bits and bobs and larger ones don't usually cost a lot more than their smaller brothers and sisters.

Can you do it for £800? Let's see...

K20D + DA16-45 £695

Spare battery £4.99

Two 2GB Sandisk Ultra II SD cards £9.49

Lowepro Nova 2 camera bag £16.99

Velbon Sherpa 550R tripod and 157Q head £59.95

I make that a grand total of £786.42 - add in a bit of postage and I reckon that'll just about be £800 give or take a few quid.

I've used my K10D + DA18-55 in (very!) heavy rain with no ill-effects. I wrapped a plastic bag around the lens barrel and secured it with elastic bands to stop water getting in at the lens mount (the part that worried me most).

If I had been in a salt water environment I would probably have added a UV filter to the front, but as it was I just kept the lens pointing down while not in use and wiped it dry now and again.

I was trying to take photos of lightning but I failed miserably - happily this wasn't down to equipment failure though...

Out of interest, why not ship to Spain? It's in the EU so there are no customs forms to fill out - you just address the package and take it to the Post Office like any other parcel. Small packet air mail delivery charges to most EU countries are usually only a few pennies more than sending a first-class package to a UK address. Even outside the EU there's only one small customs sticker to fill out with very little information (CN22) - takes 30 seconds or less as a rule.

Increase your market and you're more likely to get the price you want!

Welcome Gordon - I echo what Gwyn says above.

Yep, that looks more like the sort of thing I'd call a crane fly - I still like Don's photos though.

Excellent series of shots Clarky. I think the first one of the ants is my favourite as there's a little more "action" going on, technically though they're all superb.

Your crane flies are more colourful than ours! We tend to get drab brown / tan coloured ones up here. Nice captures, especially the first one - I'd probably have wanted to get more of the right eye in focus on the second but I know how tricky it is working at these macro distances.

Hello Martin, welcome back to the Pentax fold.