We use Billingham Hadley Pro bags - very accessible, waterproof and compact. We find them big enough in the field and they hold quite a bit of kit.

The SMC Pentax-DA 55-300mm zoom is the best I've used for digital. The L version is relatively cheap, but nowhere near your £40 requirement.

It's probably a question of how worthwhile it is to delete people who aren't active anyway. Is it a problem?

I would think one of the biggest dangers would be to reach into a bag and put a nice greasy fingerprint right in the centre of a lens.

If you have a routine that never alters, putting a lenscap on is not exactly time consuming.

Yes, Pearl White was the choice, it just looked too good to resist!

Yes indeed I do and I've been using it for a few days now.

Suffice it to say that the design is gorgeous, the quality is so far very encouraging and it seems a little more reliable in terms of those results that a lot of small cameras.

I've decided to order a vintage look leather and canvas Pentax case for it as well. Might as well do the job properly!

I you want to see some results have a look at today's set of 6 images of gavestones on EPZ. My username there is johnriley1uk

So far my one and only problem has been a minor software fault on a new I-10, exchanged instantly by SRS.

And this is covering a lot of time and a lot of cameras.

What you are doing in the analogy is cutting out the bright sky so you can see the view more clearly. This is what the lens hood does. I know it's not exactly the same, but it does illustrate the advantage of shielding.

In a similar way we might use the visor in our cars.

It would be interesting to make an eye hood that did not encroach on our field of view to see if it had any effect, but we have such wide angle eyes it probably wouldn't help much!

Actually, for a long time I have used the Pentax dedicated hoods even in the days we had to buy then separately. This was mainly because they clipped on instead of having to mess about screwing and unscrewing them.

Using a hood is far more important than using a filter. If we use a filter that's a reflective glass surface too far forwards to be effectively shielded by the hood.

I use a lens hood all the time.

On a very bright day, just look at a bright distant scene, then see how much easier it is to see if you shield your eyes with your hand or step into the shadow of a tree or building.

Your lenses feel the same way.