I answered the poll no because I believe the DA*50-135mm lens is absolutely superb, even better than the DA* 16-50mm, and suits the focal lengths I use most. The DA* 16-50mm is always on my camera while it's in the bag . . . only because I can pack everything in better.

To say this lens is sharp seems an understatement.

Check out Matt's sharpening guide here.

Download his ready made Photoshop action here.

No matter what the weather, I usually travel with a coat which has plenty of pockets and I stuff them full with lenses and the like. Airlines never weigh coats. Once I've got past check-in, I empty my pockets into my hand luggage.

I have since heard that Ryanair are weighing hand luggage at the departure gate so I might have to leave the additional items in my coat pockets from now on.

My preference would be the Tamrac Adventure 6. I have the model 7x of this bag and it is truly excellent. The slingshot has only one strap which makes it convenient for swinging round from you back to your front but can end up being painful as it puts all the weight on one shoulder. It's a lot better than a shoulder bag but not as good as a backpack.

I think that at the time the TV programme was made, there were very few bowmen around who could actually pull them.

All I know is that the longbow is effectively a laminate which gives it it's characteristics. Although it is cut from one piece of wood, the inner surface has to be good in compression and the outer surface has to behave properly in tension. For that reason the piece of wood used to make the bow is very carefully chosen from a specific part of a tree (I can't remember which one).

I also know that we brake rather a lot of them in testing. It was quite sickening to hear these several hundred year old weapons snap.

No, I'm not an archer.

I think there may be another little dust spot immediately above the leftmost arrow.

Regarding sensor cleaning, I use a combination of Giottos rocket blower, and when necessary, the Arctic Butterfly from Visible Dust.

I would use a wet cleaning system only as a last resort since it took me absolutely ages to clear the smears from a *istD sensor after wet cleaning it.

Slightly OT but related to it. I once worked for a company who were involved in testing the strength and elasticity of the longbows that were recovered from the Marie Rose, Henry VIII's flagship.

The exercise was shown in a TV programme, Time Team I think it was, with Tony Robinson.

Some of the bows were actually 'brought back to life' after bending and stressing them. They were re-strung and worked very well apparantly.

I can see 3 spots in the clouds at top right and 1 just above the heel of the bow (if that's the right name).

Nice composition, I like it, but . . .

DIRTY SENSOR ALERT . . .

If you will be recording mostly memories of the holiday, holiday snaps in other words, I'd probably take just the K100D and 18-55mm. If it gets lost or damaged, they are the cheaper items to replace. Your DA 17-70mm will give you slightly more range of course.

You'll also get more images on a card from it's 6Mp sensor.

If you want the best quality images, then the K10D and DA 27-70mm is your best choice. I doubt I'd take the DA* 300mm with me.

I don't see the point in taking the other primes as their range is covered by the zooms.