Oh well. Looks like I won't be buying either of the Pentax lenses on my wish list for the foreseeable future......both already up by £150!
Every time I get close to buying a DA21 the price jumps.
Better blow the cobwebs off my old manual focus Sigma 24mm then for travelling light.

As already stated. A good manual focus 24mm f2.8 would be an excellent start.
If you feel you really need something wider than the 18mm end of the kit lens then by all means go ahead but as you will be stacking multiple images anyway you don't really need the extra f stops. Just take more pictures for the stack.
If you really need wider then the Pentax 12-24, Sigma 10-20 and Sigma 8-16 are worth a look.

I have Hama mini traveller pro. As a small fairly basic tripod it is actually quite good. The leg angle isn't adjustable just open or shut basically but it opens to a decent height and is very light yet stable.I don't think I'd trust it with a gripped K5 and 60-250 on it but for my k5 and 17-70 it works fine.
My only gripe is it could do with a hook on the bottom of the centre column to hand my bag on for more stability.
But it hasn't bothered me enough to actually try to find a screw on one!
Got mine at Amazon for around £16.

For a step up from the kit lens the Tamron 17-50 and the Pentax DA 17-70 are worth a serious look. The 17-70 can be pressed into use as a macro too (just)
For old manual lenses look at any of the Pentax M or A series in 24,28 35 and 50mm range. The Sigma superwide II 24mm a also very good.

Well I have a friend with much deeper pockets than mine who has a D700. When I had a K20 I was very envious of his low light/high ISO performance but having moved on to a K5 there is much less difference between the two. In fact I would say there's nothing in it and given the size ergonomics and solid feel of the K5 I no longer covet his great big hunk of plastic.
(the Canon 5DMkII feels even worse to me)
Where the D700 wins is the fact he has a much greater selection of fast glass to stick on the front. Pretty much all of Pentax's fast glass is at least a decade or more old in design terms. Or discontinued!

The Sigma is a very good lens but I would also have a look at the Pentax 12-24. Second hand ones ( or the identical Sansung version) can be had for quite reasonable prices. I think you will be more than happy with any of the above .

Well if it's as good as their telescopes, that will be a very nice piece of glass. Lets hope they don't dumb it down too much.
There is still a chance it could be a DA*. Otherwise it should be * quality but no sealing to keep costs down.

Yep, all black for me too.

Better start saving then....... DA 550 yea baby!

That up to 25 mins may just be a card size limitation. Could be coincidence but 25mins at full HD will pretty much fill a 16G card.
Now that affordable 32GB cards are out there it may be worth a test for whoever gets the review models.....