That kind of rain is quite common here. We don't get drizzle and endless damp days. Wall to wall sunshine for months on end, then a deluge and its back to sunshine.

You've doubtless heard of 'El Niño' in the southern hemisphere, we get the northern hemisphere version called 'Gota Fria' about every seven years.

Excellent result. Do show us some photo's of the snow, some of us don't get to see it much any more.

That's the problem with rain in Spain Mike, it doesn't stay mainly in the plain and when it does rain like that I challenge anybody to trust the weatherproofing of their camera to keep all the water out.

Whilst it's entirely possible to take photo's one handed clutching a brolly in the other, in rain like that, it ain't pleasant. So no, I don't go out in the rain with my camera, mostly because we don't get very much and when it hammers down as in the video, who, except perhaps a journalist, would want to.

What's rain?

It's actually a bit difficult for me because I can't see either image in their entirety on my screen, both are too tall for my screen even with all the toolbars removed but I go with your lady's choice and prefer the uncropped version. She obviously has taste .

SRS sent my repaired AF160FC flash via ParcelForce to my home in Spain and it was delivered to my door by the Correos (Spanish Post Office) within a few days of it being posted.

The only time I've had a problem was when SRS shipped my K10D to me a few years ago. When the package arrived there was dated evidence of the package arriving in Madrid on a certain day and of its leaving Madrid . . . 10 days later.

No other problems so far.

It could very well be. Apart from the last one which was @ ISO 400, these were shot wide open ISO 100 @ f1.9 as I wanted some OOF parts to the images.

I'll have to do some more tests.

Looking at the original, if you look at the left hand edge of the right hand leaf that meets the bottom border, that illustrates what I am wondering about. It's almost as if there is the main image, plus two 'ghosts'.

I'd be interested to hear from others with this lens if they have noticed any similar behaviour.

2 & 4 are also my favourite, but, do I have a problem?

If you look carefully at the right hand edges of the lower leaves in #2, there is a strange greyish halo.

All of these images have had some PP work in Lightroom 3, but not much more than saturation, luminance, sharpening adjustments and cropping.

The halo effect is there in the original too. I took two similar shots, both had the same halo. They were shot with the sun very low and the camera facing slightly towards the sun but not directly at it. The leaves are lit by the sun from behind.

Any ideas.

I decided to take the 43mm Ltd for a walk yesterday for the first time in ages so I was a bit surprised to find this. I may get time to do some more today with other lenses to see if they exhibit a similar problem, if it is a problem.

This is the original image with no adjustments or cropping.

Re Camera shops, I have seen Pentax stocked in some of the bigger stores like Media Markt, FNAC, Saturn etc., but never in great numbers and certainly not the whole range of gear. Not even all current bodies.

Media Markt in Nuevo Condomina in Murcia had only a K-x the last time I was in there a couple of weeks ago.

I never made it up the hill in the end. Went for a walk in our local garden instead.

I took these in our local garden this afternoon as the sun was going down. The last two were actually in total shade though.

Taken with K20D + SMCP-FA 43mm 1:1.9 Limited.