ND grads - graduated Neutral Density - help you to balance the brightness of the sky against the land, and are used if you have an irregular horizon, like hills against the sky. This addresses the problem where exposing for the sky would make the land underexposed and vice versa.

ND filters have the same effect, but are used where the horizon is regular, such as sea and sky.

If you want to learn about what filters do, how, why and when, etc, (plus lots more), try this site> http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/

A little left field, but have you considered a good point and shoot or even a bridge camera - Pentax of course! You'd certainly get something within your budget.

Small, compact, easy to operate, either fixed focal length or zoom dependant on price.

Welcome!

Monopod use; look here for best practice suggestions> http://www.outdooreyes.com/photo5.php3

Interesting little piece over on a Russian Pentax Forum, where they report the gist of a meeting with Pentax brass at a recent show (CONSUMER ELECTRONICS & PHOTO EXPO – 2012). Left the Russian in for any linguists;

"04/13/2012 Mr Anton Melnikov held a conference on the development plans of PENTAX.
Встреча прошла в камерной обстановке под пристальным взглядом модератора пента клуба The meeting was held in the chamber atmosphere under the watchful eye of club moderator penta . .

О главном: On the main point:
- был в очередной раз озвучен уже известный роудмеп объективов. - Was once again sounded the familiar roudmep lenses. Акцент был сделан на "не кропнутости" новых линз; Emphasis was placed on "do not kropnutosti" new lenses;
- PENTAX RICOH планирует утроить в 2012 финансовом году выручку от реализации своей продукции (если ошибся меня поправят; - PENTAX RICOH plans to triple the 2012 fiscal year revenues from the sale of their products (if wrong correct me);
- в 2012 ФИНАНСОВОМ году выйдет 4 ЗЕРКАЛКИ: - In FY 2012 will be released 4 SLR:
начального уровня, entry-level
между KR и K-5, between KR and K-5,
замена K-5, replacement of K-5,
и "не продавайте пленочные объективы" and "do not sell film lenses" Слово ФФ произнесено не было. The word was not uttered by FF.
- в К-01 действительно есть автофокус при съемке видио - необходимо удерживать кнопку автофокуса нажатой в процессе съемки. - In K-01 does have autofocus when shooting vidio - need to hold down the AF button during the shooting."

Link to the forum thread;

http://translate.google.ru/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=ru&ie=UTF-8&lay...

Ok, ordered one from Jessops, who seem to have the best price at present.

Thanks for the input; now just need to make final decision!

DA 16-45 anyone?

You have a pm.

Seem to be loads on eBay> http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/350297326482?var=lv<yp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&v...

I bought the DA 16-45 as a replacement for the DA 18-55 kit lens, and it's proved to be very good and there's nothing wrong with it.

I've been wondering, however, whether the DA 17-70 would be worth buying as a replacement for the DA 16-45?

Bit of extra reach plus some handling refinements vs loss of 1mm at the wide end and SDM only.