Dealt with now, it just depends when they arrive and who's around to deal with them at the time.

Can I thank everyone who PMd me regarding this, always appreciated, although when there are quite a few then please forgive me if I don't actually reply to them all. If there's a special point that needs answering though I will always reply.

Likewise, hence my "Pentax only" decision.

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1291209

You can have a look at my latest wedding book by following the above link.

You only need the 18-55mm and 50mm lenses to do the job, and you'll get by with those.

Starting from scratch I'd be tempted to get the SMC Pentax-DA 17-70mm f4 and in fact I'm currently considering that to replace and extend the range of the 16-45mm that I now use.

Very occasionally another lens might be nice, and on Saturday I actually used the 12-24mm for a series of shots, but if I hadn't had that I would have worked around it.

The only time I would dream of using studio flash for a wedding is if the weather was atrocious and I needed to do a lot of indoor formal portraits. Even then I would prefer a location background rather than a plain white one. See the picture I've just posted in the Gallery as an example of location use.

A portable flash (I use the Pentax 360)is essential for fill-in flash outdoors in very sunny weather. This minimises harsh shadows and is a technique that should be learned.

I do actually carry an Interfit EXD200 set with me to weddings, but only for emergency use and I've never used it yet. There isn't time really.

The key to wedding photography is an absolute total knowledge and control of your equipment. After that is achieved, you get on with the more serious people handling matters.

When we shoot weddings almost all my shots are made with the SMC Pentax-DA 16-45mm f4 lens, even indoors without flash if necessary. I use a fast 40mm or 50mm lens when shooting in disco lighting in the evening, but for no other purpose.

I have often wondered if a really good photographer could actually shoot a wedding with a compact digital camera, and I suspect it might be possible. I'm not going to try that on a paying customer though! But the principle is that you don't need masses of equipment. Things move too fast for that.

I paid £12.95 in the early 1980s.

Posts don't disappear, so if there's a particular problem for you please PM me so it can be looked into.

Why not? Information is never wasted.

Why would you want to do this? Why replace a perfectly decent lens with an unknown of similar spec and function?