If you bought it from a Pentax Pro dealer, warranty is 2 years.

If you still lived here Mike, I'd go halves with you

Got your gear back, now the car's trashed, whatever next?

Seriously, the car is easy to sort out, it just needs draining and refuelling (with the correct fuel). Only your wallet will suffer if it needs a tow.

Good to know that honesty prevails.

Now put a card in your bag with your name, address, and phone number on it.

Very happy for you, result.

I think the Rhododendron pic on your website probably shows what your coarse tutor is looking for. The foreground leaf that is furthest from the lens is nicely out of focus. If you had a 1:2.8 lens the leaf would have appeared even more out of focus.

So now you know what is meant by depth of field (DOF) and how it can be used to good advantage. I'd guess that the images you took at smaller apertures (bigger f number) don't look anywhere near as interesting.

Well done.

I feel for you.

My brother-in-law did exactly the same thing whilst he was here in Spain. We were taking photo's at a local medieval village and he simply walked away from his bag, then we drove off. Not until about an hour later did he remember he'd left it.

The items were never recovered but he was able to claim on his house insurance. Maybe you can too.

From Boj's site:-

The A setting is a real bonus but it's still an f4 lens. The later F and FA 100mm macro lenses are f2.8 and auto focus.

Getting close to the magical body + grip for under £1K. Actually, I expect they'd do it if you asked them nicely (Mike_P).

To try and help, the FA 31mm Ltd is a fabulous lens. If you can get a new one for a similar price as a good used one, GO FOR IT.

You will not be disappointed in any way whatsoever. That's why neither Nathan or myself will sell ours, not even for silly money.

That said, I think Nathan was offering his for sale some time ago, which is maybe why he's PM'd you. If it's a good price, take his offer (if it is an offer).

Sure, for the benefit of everybody, I asked him what the import duty/VAT 'hit' was likely to be. He said that he always declares items shipped to UK and he estimated about $US40.00.

Then I tried to get the price down. When it was at around £2330.00 GBP, if he had agreed to £2000, I would have had it. As it was, it sold at his asking price. I think it was probably in as near new condition as you could expect to find but he has sold others for more money.

Ian is a genuine and highly respected seller on ebay, he's a Canadian but has lived in Osaka, Japan, for the last 15 years and specializes in the 'exotica' of the photography world.

I simply lust after the FA* 200mm Macro, I certainly don't need it. I'm sticking with the Sigma 180mm and I'm going to try and use it more in 2010 too.

My thoughts are that Pentax might produce a DA* 200mm Macro in the future. If they do, it would seriously devalue the FA* version bearing in mind that at the end of their production life of around 1000 pieces, they sold for £US1500.00.

Ian Hobday doesn't think they will because it was never a volume seller. It has certainly become a cult lens though and I still want one, but I am resisting.