beauty!

Resurrected - camera and lens now back on offer

Split price -
£45 including postage for grip (includes UK postage)
£220 for the body (postage will be extra)
£15 for the spare DLi50

Camera and grip are boxed with leads etc. etc.

Altogether £260

Items will be sent on clearance of payment (bank transfer)

Other half is a photographer as well and every time I buy something the 'agreement' is that something else makes way for the purchase, something I am quite successful on..

She, on the other hand, is not so successful selling stuff. Buys on impulse and then faces having to sell the old stuff

Only major snag with going for Win OS post Vista is that many older bits of hardware such as Nikon Coolscan scanners aren't supported - drivers optimised for 32-bit systems and obliging you to splash out on software to enable continued use.....

So my 4 year old Vaio will be wrapped in cotton wool when I get my new desktop so that I can continue to use film and scan into PS.

Sony Store - build your computer? - must investigate. Thanks for the tip!

Another perspective - isn't using a wideangle or telephoto lens 'cheating'? arguments saying that using photoshop changes the view is the same as changing the focal length to expand or limit the view...isn't it? Don't want the fat bird or the red cagoule in view - just zoooom in...problem gone.

Unless you're Steve Austin, the Bionic Woman or Superman a true field of view would be 43mm on a 35mm Pentax...

Ok good luck Mark, hope it gets sorted.

Hmmm - 16-50 is a different class. Unfortunately it is hampered with the SDM reputation. However, when mine was at JPS getting fixed I pondered about a 17-70 - about the time there was a deal at Jessops - ordered it and was about to pay when I said can I check it out on a K-5? Guess what? The AF didn't work, the 16-50 came back a much better lens....

Similar thing - 60-250 plays up so I get a 55-300 to cover - didn't like it so the default lenses for me on the K-5 are the DA*

do you only have a K-30?

if you had another AF camera you could try on that would help root out the probable cause....

does the focussing ring move when the lens is off the body?

also suggest locating a nearby member.....you don't give your location but it's worth casting the net just in case. When my DA*60-250 went on the blink a second time - I just went to the first person I saw with a Pentax body and asked if I could borrow it for a second....

lastly, if you have a jeweller's screwdriver use that to try to turn the AF screw in the lens... that did the trick on my DA*

Zoom range vs aperture

that's a difficult one...Because I have the DA* I have no overwhelming desire to get the FA*, but if I had the FA* I would have gone for the Sigma EX100-300 for the extra reach....

But if an FA* became available at the right price I'd get one and use it on the Z-1s

Mine will have its first serious outing on Sunday - photographing garden birds...can't wait.