They have an SMCP-FA 100mm 1:2.8 macro at a reasonable price too. It'll probably cost a bit more by the time it hits your doorstep though.

K20D + grip + DA* 16-50, SR = on, AF-S, Centre focus point, pattern metering, Av mode with f8 to start with, ISO 100, focus on AF button, meter and take the shot using shutter button (AF on half press disabled).

I change none, some, or all of these to suit a specific situation but with my default setup its one press for focus, and another to take the shot.

Simples.

That's a blow, I use Nero 7 a lot. Have to upgrade I guess although the machine comes with Nero Essentials which might be enough.

I mostly use it for burning .ISO CD/DVD images of Technet downloads.

My current machine is an ageing (5 years or more) Pentium 4 3.06Ghz with 4Gb RAM and an ATI Radeon graphics card.

I use a 4Tb Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ for storage, Epson R800 printer, Epson 2450 and Minolta Scan Dual IV scanners.

I just ordered:-

Acer ASPIRE M3802
Core 2 Quad Q8300-2.5G
2 750G HDD
4GB DDR2 800MHz
Bluray/DVD-RW
Windows 7 Home Premium
20" monitor

I'll probably reload it with Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit when it arrives this weekend, mainly to remove all the rubbish software that Acer seem to ship with their products, many of which slow it down a lot.

Trouble is, most of my peripherals could be considered old too, and may not have drivers for Win 7.

I am going to promise myself not to load the new machine with loads of freebie software that I never use.

Lenses: A 1:5.6 400mm and a 1:4 200mm'ish macro, both with SDM & WR.
Camera: Retrofit useful software features/enhancements to older body firmware.
Flash: Manual control of the built-in flash.
Accessories: 100% AF compatible extension tubes.

I think the main problem for beginners with new and relatively high-tech DSLR cameras with numerous buttons for this, that, and whatever is the temptation to play with all these features without first grasping the basics. Well done for taking the trouble to learn.

To expose an image correctly, that is, to allow the correct amount of light to reach the sensor such that whites are not over-exposed and blacks are not under-exposed, there are only three variables that you can control.

Aperture - the size of the hole through which light enters the camera.
Shutter speed - the amount of time that light is allowed to enter the camera.
ISO - Equates to the speed at which the sensor collects the light allowed in by the other two variables.

When you can master these settings you'll have cracked 90% of the problems encountered with exposure. A light meter helps. The meter in your camera measures only reflected light, a hand-held meter is more useful as it can measure incident light.

Next comes the creative bit, the remaining 10% which will probably take you the rest of your photographic career to explore. A creative photographer learns how to use these 3 variables in combination to capture an image. Wider aperture gives shallower depth of field, shutter speed selection will determine whether you have any motion blur in images of moving subjects etc. etc.

Keep practising, you'll get there.

Quite. World Series, yet only the Americans play in it :::

To reverse a lens you need a reversing adapter. It's a male K-mount with a male filter thread on the front. Screw the adapter to the front of your lens, then fit it to the camera using the adapter's K-mount. EG: If you have a SMCP-M or A 50mm 1:1.7 lens, you'll need a 49mm reversing adapter.

To protect the lens's K mount, take an old push-on rear cap and cut out its centre.

You will of course have no automatic control of anything, it's all manual.

Stacking requires a dual male threaded adapter to suit the filter threads of your two chosen lenses. Mount the longer lens to the camera and reverse mount the shorter lens to the front of the longer lens using said adapter.

I'd suggest you look for a Pentax 100mm Macro lens or a Sigma/Tamron lens of a similar size. The Sigma 180mm is available from several sources for around £700 - 800 but it's a lot of cash to lay out if you are not going to have the patience for macro photography of bugs. You'll need more patience than lens, I can assure you.

The longer the focal length of a macro lens, the greater the distance between your lens and your subject at 1:1 magnification.

For static subjects, 35 or 50mm is fine.

For moving or dangerous subjects, 90/100mm lens minimum, 180/200mm is even better. The longer the lens, the more expensive it'll be.

Extension tubes/bellows will give superior results to closeup 'filters' when using a standard lens. Raynox being an exception.

Reverse mounting a 50mm lens to a camera body can give good results, as can stacking a reverse mounted 50mm lens onto the front of a longer (200mm) lens to give approx 4:1 magnification.

Good lighting can be a key factor in producing outstanding macro images. Generally you'll need plenty of light.

With all of the methods other than using a dedicated macro lens at a reasonable aperture (f16 or smaller) and with plenty of light, depth of field, or the lack of it, will be an issue.

Tamron make good macro lenses, as do Pentax. My preferred lenses are the SMCP-FA 100mm 1:2.8 Macro and the Sigma EX DG 180mm 1:3.5 lenses. Probably the most expensive macro lens is the SMCP-FA 200mm lens recently talked about. One sold on ebay recently for almost £2500.00.

Sorry Dan, I only read the first page so I didn't see your post. But I did the search all by myself