Well yes, it is news and it does represent (some) progress, but test shots from a pre-production lens on loan from Pentax USA isn't quite the same as Chris down at SRS actually having examples for us to get our grubby mitts on and buy...

That's odd.

I've just measured the size of the jack on my cable release and it's definitely 2.5mm - are you sure the shop didn't fob you off with 3.5mm ones? They are a more common size so it's not beyond the realms of possibility...

I've never used a wireless remote with mine so can't offaer any suggestions there - sorry!

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/competition%20stuff/IMGP4020.jpg[/IMG]

K10D / D-FA100 / f8 / 1-125sec / ISO100 / AF360 (bounced)

Don't hold your breath for the DA*60-250, still no sign of a launch date. Some excellent photos on your Flickr stream though!

Those are seriously impressive photos! Who needs weather sealing when the 18-55 can stand up to that sort of abuse?

Not just you - I can't see the button, nor is anything marked in green (or any other colour) on this page. Maybe the option's only visible to the thread starter?

In that case I'd certainly consider the DA*50-135, everyone who owns this lens seems absolutely delighted with it (unusually for the Internet I don't think I've seen a single bad word said about it from any quarter!) and on the Pentax digital bodies the field of view is approximately 75-205mm (in 35mm terms). It's also weather sealed and on the later bodies (K10D, K100D Super, K20D, K200D) you have the advantage of using the SDM focussing system which is supposedly faster than the traditional "screw" type AF used by all the non-"*" lenses. Both these features would be handy for the sort of work you'll be putting it to. Of course all this doesn't come cheap, and prices tend to hover around the £500 mark - but you get what you pay for!

Sigma now make a 70-200 f2.8 (35mm equivalent of around 105-300mm) but it's a relatively recent lens and I've not seen any feedback yet. Price is also quite high at £680 and I don't believe it is weather sealed. Tamron are just about to release a 70-200 f2.8 but prices aren't known as yet, I'd expect it to be in a similar ball park to the Sigma and again there's no weather sealing.

If you're on a tighter budget (and don't mind manual focus) then you may well find what you're looking for on eBay - just don't expect older zoom designs to be as good as more modern ones as a rule, they've come a long way in the last few years.

Good luck anyway, hope you find something that suits

Some nice pictures on there Peter, you should think about entering our weekly competitions (you don't actually win anything but it's good fun seeing how others' interpret the theme each week). As for the cable, nothing special is required and a normal stereo cable would do just fine - Jamie's idea about making up several extensions of varying lengths sounds like a good one to me!

Depends on a couple of things; firstly, how much is your budget? Long lenses that are suitable for low-light tend to cost very large chunks of money! Secondly, what sort of football are we talking about? Shooting kids games from the touchline would let you get away with a much shorter lens than, say, shooting over the backs of 20,000 heads up in the nether regions of Wembley Stadium.

There are a lot of lenses out there so your answers could help us narrow down your options...

Take your existing Pentax cable remote, buy some cable from your local Maplins (or similar), cut the cable on your remote and splice in as much as you like of the new stuff. I use a 10 metre length with no problems.

If you don't fancy the DIY approach you'll find several longer remotes that will work just fine on eBay - mostly from Far-Eastern sellers but I've found postage from Hong Kong can often be quicker than postage from other parts of the UK. Here's a 5 metre one as an example.

Welcome to the forum by the way