I have the A series (manual focus) 50mm F1.4......absolutely gorgeous!

Our cat once brought a moth into the house and while it wasn't exactly an atlas moth, it was huge and must have been four or five inches across.
We often have small bats that swoop over the fence that the cat likes to sit on and for a moment I was convinced that he'd caught one of them.
Fortunately, I managed to rescue the moth and release it unhurt - after taking a picture of it (if I can find it, I'll post here sometime).

It's interesting that some species feed and others don't.
There's a bush in our garden that for most of the year is quite uninspiring but when it's in flower, the butterflies and bumble bees absolutely love it.
I was amazed last summer in the evenings when most of the butterflies had fluttered by and the bees had buzzed off, that it was 'alive' with small moths (all identical and about an inch and a half across), flitting from flower to flower sipping the nectar in exactly the same way as the butterflies and bees had done earlier in the day.
There were literally dozens of them and it was quite a spectacle.

Our garden might be a bit of a mess but it's very popular with the wildlife - hedgehogs, squirrels, mice, frogs and insects........and I wouldn't have it any other way!

I think that's an argument that applies generally these days, I mean you can buy a complete pc system today for £600 to £700 that is more powerful than one costing twice as much just a couple of years ago.

Building your own is nowhere near as cost-effective as it used to be and while Vista is undoubtedly memory hungry, any modern system with more than 512MB of RAM should be able to handle it.
Just make sure that you leave yourself with options to upgrade components as and when required.

May I be so bold as to recommend this site, for all matters computer related:
http://uktsupport.ipbhost.com/index.php?

....they're a helpful bunch!

I think image 1, for all the reasons quoted above.

It is a pity about the sun though, for a sunset shot it is positioned lower and therefore better in the sky but I prefer the way it looks in image 2, especially with the clouds passing in front of it.

I kept thinking that I could get a fair chunk back by selling on the body but there comes a point where you just have to say "enough is enough".

I didn't buy the grip strap when it was available new for about £70, because I thought it represented poor value compared to the Minolta equivalent that was £120 but which had vertical controls and I think a battery compartment too.
I still really want one but you've got to be pretty desperate to pay more second-hand than the original new price, especially for something that is more cosmetic than functional.

I was very disappointed a couple of years ago when I missed a Z1 body c/w grip strap that sold for £65 but I was wary of buying from Honk Kong, although I have bought smaller/cheaper items from there since, without any problems.

That's excellent Chris, thankyou very much.
I did win the MZ eyecup for 95p + £4.75 postage (steep for p+p but I consider it just part of the overall price) and it will probably do the job but I must say that I'd much rather have the proper thing in order to keep the camera original.

I also managed to bag myself a new cable switch fdp for £3.99 and £2 p+p - so I'm well chuffed with that
I've always managed ok with my cable switch F on my Z1-P, so I don't know what the difference is but at least I've now got the right one!

Didn't do so well bidding on a Z1-P body plus grip strap fdp though, I bottled out at nearly £112 - as much as I love my Z1-P, I didn't want another one but just the grip strap. I missed it by £2 but of course there's no way of knowing what the winners' highest bid would have been!

Thanks again for the offer Chris, I'll drop you a PM

Thanks for the input folks.

I've received a price of £16.52 for a genuine replacement (don't know if that includes postage) but it's currently out of stock and should be available in about three weeks.
The MZ eyecup is similar and looks as though it'll do the job, so I'll have a bid or two now that I know what a fair price would be - I generally set a ceiling of 50% of the new price for second-hand items and I'll probably go a bit lower for this, as it's not the exact model for the camera.

Thankyou Peter, I think I will!

I could use one from one of my SFXs but it's not ideal and it has that little built-in window for the flash ready light - so sounds like an MZ type would be better.

Thanks also to John and Steve.

Would anyone happen to know, or be able to try, if an MZ series eyecup would be suitable for my *istDL?

I ask because although I've enquired with Pentax for an original, there is an MZ type eyecup for sale on eBay and thought it might be worth a try, if I can get it for around £5.

I'm waiting for a reply from Pentax, so have no idea of the price for an original but the eBay listing ends in less than 24 hours.

I think that's the main benefit of multi-point AF ie. hopefully one of them will lock onto an off-center target.
Fast moving subjects and especially those that are fairly small in the frame are always going to be a challenge for AF systems, no matter how sophisticated they are or how quick and accurate your aim is.

If absolute focus precision isn't the priority but you do want to maximize the number of reasonably successful shots, it's probably best to switch to manual and use hyper-focal focusing