Chris - I used to have the Olympus E-1 plus 14-54 lens (amongst others) which was a wonderful weather resistant kit. The high grade Zuiko lenses are fantastic, and the E-1 is that rare thing: a "classic" digital camera. In my view, in terms of sheer handling the E-1 is the best camera I ever owned. Shame it is rather slow and a little lacking in resolution though, not to mention noisy.

Taking the bodies first:

K20D is very well made and specified, and in terms of IQ probably at least equals or outperforms anything so far from Olympus. Build quality of the E3 and E-1 probably a little better, but the K20D is still pretty bomb-proof. If you are interested Jacobs in London (Oxford St) have a Samsung GX20 in the back which is I think brand new, on special offer, and essentially the same camera.

K-7 is as close to the spiritual successor to the E-1 that you are going to get. Wonderfully made, great handling and very little need to dig into menus. 100% VF and nice quiet shutter. It does offer some advantages for landscape shooters too (horizon correction, ability to tilt sensor for image composition, better live view implementation, better sensor clean (similar to SSW on Oly). I suspect if you picked up a K20D and K-7 you'd find it hard not to buy the latter!

If you are used to fantastic Olympus JPEGs, you may find that Pentax ones need to be adjusted to taste (softer and Oly have colour cornered). But, especially with K-7, if you venture into RAW, the Pentax files are superb.

For lenses you'd be hard pushed to find Pentax zooms that do better than the pro spec Zuikos, but good zooms are definitely there (DA* in particular). Where the system really shines is with primes: in that regard it is without rival. And there is a lot of fun to be had in tracking down and buying some secondhand glass - esp if you don't mind manual focus.

Does this help? Good luck whatever you decide!

Jon

I really like SmugMug.

Unlimited storage for files 12MB and under, and if you pay extra you can also upload and store RAW files. There's a lot of control over how things look, even with the basic package. And it is possible for people to download decent size files (if you want them to be able to) or order prints through shopping basket. If you go for more expensive accounts, you get to keep more of the money from the sales.

One more thing for Photoshop Elements users like me - if you set up your PSE preferences to make it think you're in the USA, then under the "share" menu, you get a "send to SmugMug" option, which makes sending things to your account an absolute doddle.

I suppose this links to what may be a disadvantage for some - it's an American site, and any printing etc is done over there before being shipped over here. Doesn't bother me, but it might bother others.

Very nice shots. I also like the old MF lenses, which are remarkably compact, built with great precision, and will hopefully be usable on a FF dSLR one day! My lightweight kit is to stick one MF prime on the camera, and carry a couple in my pockets. The 49mm filter diameter consistent across many of the lenses helps too.

If the wildlife is not moving rapidly, consider a good mirror lens - the Tamron 500mm is probably the one to get, or even the very highly sought after 350mm. Sharp and portable with few lens aberrations.

Mirror lenses come with their issues, but used carefully by people who are prepared to learn and know how to work around their foibles, good ones can turn out stunning results.

I have the SMC A 28mm 2.8, which I suspect is optically the same as the one you have in front of you - I like it, and the focal length is almost perfect as a standard lens on APS-C (the equivalent of the 43mm!).

I've read good things about the 75-150 too, which I think is supposed to be one of the best of the earlier zooms that Pentax made. It might be worth picking that one up as part of your set, and see whether it'll make a good replacement for the Vivitar.

If you do go for the 18-250, SRS were advertising the last of the brand new Pentax ones for £299 recently - good price, and the Pentax version talks to the K-7 (Tamron does not) for automatic lens corrections etc, if that is an issue of interest.

A note on 18-250 vignetting:

It is worse at wide angle than the DA AL II, but I don't know how it compares to the earlier kit lens. It certainly pays to use thin filters, or a plug in like PT Lens to make PP life easy.

That said, it's not a problem once you stop down beyond f5.6 - and perhaps ask the question about how many times you'd shoot at 18mm wide open? I know I don't as usually my 18mm shots are ones where I want decent depth of field.

So in reality - it's not an issue for me, and certainly not one to dismiss the lens.

With the 18-250 in general, I think the people who like it tend to be the people who own it. I understand why people would generally dismiss the idea of a superzoom, but I think it may surprise a few doubters at its capability: it really is rather better than you'd think.

I think the test on SLRgear.com is a good place to look for more info.

For the money, a good copy of the 50-200 would be great - it is amazingly compact for a tele lens.

Are the car shows indoors or out as that might colour my thoughts on which way to go? If indoors, I might be tempted by the Sigma 17-70 as a fast, bright and sharp lens that covers a decent focal range all in one. And static displays means you can always "zoom with your feet" anyway!

Also agree with JR that the 18-250 is surprisingly good - even at the longer end the centre stays reasonably sharp, and at the shorter end it outperforms the kit other than with regard to distortion and vignetting (you get more of both, but they can be processed out easily enough).

Got one from a member of this site a couple of weeks ago and for the money they normally go for, I think it's a great lens; for free, it's stupendous!

Seems to be sharp and contrasty to me, as well as nicely made and very compact.

I've noticed a bit of purple fringing when shooting through tree branches on bright days, but lots of lenses old and new will do that - and it's probably not the kind of use you'd normally put a fast short tele lens to (given that's what it is on APS-C) so not really an issue. Wonder what else is in the box!

If you ever see one, and don't mind MF, I'd suggest the Tamron 180mm SP f2.5 - stunning lens that is quite possibly the sharpest I've ever used. About £300 when they come up (which is not often).