A thought about bug repellant - many of them damage plastics, so handle with care when you are using your camera and repellant at the same time!

A step at a time and you'll get there!

Well, good choice and when you get to grips with it all I'm sure you'll be very happy with the results.

1 Take lots of pictures
2 Use every setting to see what it does
3 Take your new camera wherever you go as much as you can
4 Read, read and read until you understand the basics
5 Ask lots of questions whenever you get stuck
6 Have fun and enjoy the process

That was six, wasn't it? That's just my advice, but I wish I had taken my current advice on board at the start: Always buy the proper lenses and accessories, so Pentax only for Pentax cameras. That would have saved me a fortune in unsatisfactory buys over the years.

You will need a 24mm lens on film to be the same as the wide end of your 16-50mm on digital. A 24-70mm lens would probably suit very well.

All Pentax bayonet lenses can be used without restriction, and screw thread ones with the appropraite adapter (Adapter K) - the only lenses that might cause a problem are the DA digital lenses that do not have enough coverage for the larger 35mm film frame. All lenses will work within their feature set - for example, manual focus lenses remain manual focus.

It's worth trying digital lenses anyway as stopped down they might not be too bad, and sometimes a slight darkening of the corners can help an image.

Focal length remains the focal length regardless of what film format is behind it. What you will notice is that a given focal length will appear to be a wider angle lens on 35mm film than it is on digital.

The best thing to do is try all your lenses and see what happens for yourself - some of them may pleasantly surprise you!

The Tamron 18-250mm should cover most things, to which you might add the Pentax 50mm f1.4 for low light use.

My experience is that macro lenses are generally unused on holiday trips and you don't need the 18-55mm kit lens as well as the Tamron zoom.

So if down to 2 lenses and a flash, perhaps a smaller bag as well to keep things light and unobtrusive?

Time to steady on everyone - we've got the gist of the various points of view by now, so let's not make this another inflamed thread. If it heads that way it will be taken off, so steady down please.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome from the shadows!

I'll remember it from now on, so that's up to you!