I presume this means that the *istDS is not available in India? I think if at all possible I would buy in the country where I live - it saves any difficulties if a fault develops.

Perhaps if you have to you could find an Internet Supplier with a good reputation, in which case their location may not be that important.

You could try the following:

Use a manual focus lens, but set the camera on AF

Focus on the place you want.

Press and hold the shutter release - when something appears at the pre-focused spot the shutter should release.

We have an "all risks" section in our household contents policy that covers unspecified items such as cameras for up to £500 each. Any items over this value can be specified. This is a lot less expensive than specialised insurance. That's what we found anyway!

The Epson handles JPEG and RAW, but will need a firmware update for Pentax RAW files. You no doubt already know that I don't use RAW capture, and I'm not too likely to be doing to be honest. I know I'm being incredibly lazy about it, but I am getting very good quality A3 prints without sacrificing the convenience.

Maybe one day....

We had a Phototainer, but found that the CF adapter for SD cards did not work very well. So we bought a Epson P2000, which has CF and SD slots built in. The quality of the image on its large screen is fantastic, and the device works faster and more reliably than the others we have seen.

Having said that, Sue uses the P2000 and I tend to use a large number of SD cards. If the P2000 failed everything would be lost, but it's rather unlikely that every SD card we had would fail at the same time....

You can buy a lot of SD cards for the price of any image bank.

I thought the zoom that retained its focus was a parfocal lens, and one that doesn't is a varifocal.

In practice, a two ring zoom is easier to keep in focus as you zoom - trombone types can be very difficult, especially as they wear and get sloppy.

I haven't personally used the models you list, but I have used several Pentax macro lenses that you don't list! As a general thought, I'd be confident in buying any Pentax macro lens. In the context of macro photography I don't think autofocus is necessary, in fact it's undesireable in many instances, but you might also be using a 100mm as a portrait and landscape lens.

For the digital bodies, I would choose a lens with the "A" setting on the aperture ring, for the maximum operational convenience.

Good luck with your new purchase, and don't forget to let us know how you get on!

I'm not sure it matters, just so long as we buy what we want at the right price and with the right degree of service. We could wait forever for a lower price or new model, but just think how much time could go by without actually having the camera in your hands and enjoying using it....

Tomorrow there may well be something new, but today I'm very happy with my *istDS!

You can use the aperture ring on the *istD with a firmware update and with the *istDS as it is. This enables the aperture ring which can be used on the *istDS to give manual stop-down meter readings.

The problem is entirely avoided if you use "A" lenses or later, as you can use the aperture ring on your MX and the "A" setting on your DSLR.

In aperture priority mode the command dial changes the aperture, as you have deduced.