Another Yongnuo fan here, as long as you are ok with a manual flash. Very capable gun, well made and ridiculously good value for money.

Having a bit of a clearout and have decided that the following lenses don't get enough use to justify keeping them. They are all in excellent condition, optically superb and cosmetically showing only minor signs of careful use. If people are interested in a specific lens I am happy to send some images.

The lenses I am thinking of selling are:

20mm/4 SMC Pentax M - great lens which does particularly nice things with colour (especially blues, which often works well for landscapes). Comes with original Pentax case, although bits of the lining have seen better days. £185 incl RMSD within UK

28/3.5 SMC Pentax M - a nice upgrade compared to the more common 28/2.8, these lenses are generally reckoned to be very good performers. On APSC it is an almost perfect standard field of view. £60 incl RMSD within UK

135/3.5 SMC Pentax M - every Pentaxian should own one of these at some point! Lovely compact lens with excellent results. £45 incl Recorded delivery within UK

200/4 SMC Pentax M - mint example with case. £55 incl RMSD within UK

The prices are for bank transfer but I will accept PayPal if the fees are covered by the purchaser. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like further details.

Best wishes,

Jon

They are based within 10 minutes of my work. At least it's a real shop (albeit one stacked with boxes of stuff rather than offering service and advice) that's been there for quite a few years - I'd prefer to buy there than some of the HK based Internet companies that appear to be based at first sight.

I've bought a few filters and couple of Sigma lenses from Microglobe over the years. Never had to return anything so can't comment on the after sales service. But I can tell you for nothing that I'd prefer to give Microglobe my money than the so-called "pro centre" barrow-boys at TCR Spectrum just around the corner from my office....they really are truly truly dreadful.

Have recently returned from a walking trip in Portugal where I only took primes (mostly old ones but a couple of new). The 40XS and 70/2.4 were used a lot, a 35/2M gave great results when I bothered to use it, a 20/4M was used less than I expected but gave lovely colours (blues to kill for) when I did, and a 135/3.5M coupled with Tamron 1.4x TC gave me some lightweight telephoto when I needed it.

Having learnt from this experience, next time I'd just take my Tamron 17-50/2.8, the 70/2.4, 135/3.5 and teleconvertor. I think that would cover most bases very well. If weather was an issue, the 18-135 would replace the Tamron and I'd stuff the 40XS in there as a bright normal-ish prime that's barely larger than a body cap.

Well John I don't agree with the stable comment. Try using the EVF in a mirrorless with IBIS (eg the OMD) then you get stability to kill for, especially with longer lenses. EVFs are getting better all the time, and the latest generations are much more pleasant to use. Really good ones are easier to use than OVF in poor light, and the best no longer look like low res tv screens. Don't get me wrong...I also prefer OVF on the whole, and particularly like the one in my X100 where I can see what's happening around the edges just outside my image. But I don't think the very best EVFs would be a deal breaker for me if the rest if the camera made th compromise worthwhile.

Tamron 500/8 in mint condition. Used once or twice a year but definitely a keeper. Used with care it delivers great results.

Just been listening to an episode of This Week in Photo podcast on my way up to Leeds this morning. These guys are major Canikon addicts which makes the discussion all the more interesting.... Key points:

A feeling that mirrorless is now getting good enough to replace lower end dSLRs (top end m43 plus Fuji and Sony)

A suggestion that unless you already have already bought into an existing system, the very high end FF cameras are going to become increasingly irrelevant for anyone other than speed merchant press/sports photographers. In future mirrorless FF developments building on what Sony has begun with the A7 will provide the image quality....

.....and ther specific quote was "why buy a D4s when for a small additional cost you could head to digital medium format and buy into the Pentax 645D". Followed by a bit more chat suggesting medium format may be due for something of a renaissance....

Maybe Ricoh/Pentax are being quite canny.....

I second the suggestion of the Optech bag - it works brilliantly.

To add to the praises, this is simply the best compact sensor camera I have used. Image quality is much better than I would expect, and certainly surpasses the Fuji X10 with its larger 2/3" sensor. Given I've seen nothing to suggest the X20 is better than the X10 in the IQ department, the Pentax should hold its own against that too.

Images are usable even at ISOs that I would not normally use for compacts (800 is more than acceptable, and 1600 decent enough if you take care with the exposure). Build quality is excellent and inspires confidence, autofocus is fast and sure and the lens/sensor combination also shared with the Olympus XZ-2 is superb.

Having used mine for quite a while now, the only downsides that strike me are:

(1) lack of hotshoe and optional EVF may be a problem for some (doesn't bother me really)
(2) the raw buffer is too small so raw image processing is quite leisurely (not an issue for the type of photography I use it for)
(3) poor auto white balance in tungsten light - you need to use the tungsten setting
(4) no ability to adjust jpeg noise reduction. The image quality from the camera is great, but I'd probably go for even more detail at the expense of more noise if I could

At the kind of prices they are available for now, I think they are an absolute bargain.

Jon

Difficult to know without talking to the daughter, but if she's anything like mine, I'd carve out some of that budget for a WiFi card or buy a WiFi enabled camera. Connectivity and sharing photographs is really important to my (17 year old) daughter so a camera that can't do that will be left at home after the novelty has worn off, whereas the cameraphone will be used.

This is described as a "first camera" rather than 'first serious camera" in which case I think some reflection on whether a dSLR is necessarily the right way to go is also worth having. Wildcard...Pentax Q (or micro Four Thirds). Or buy an MX-1 at the really good close out prices they're available for now.