Mike,
The Pentax grip can be had every now and then... it include a 4 pin connector.
I hacked mine to allow the AF540 to work properly... so if you can find a grip minus cable then I can supply the cable for a nominal cost (But you'll often find these grips with cables included!)
HTH!
Matt

Clarky:
*ist-D and *ist-DS work 100% with TTL (older) flash guns.
My hunking great Metz 50MZ5 works perfectly on both... on the K20D/K10D I have to resort to "A" mode (but it works better than the AF360/540 in "A" mode as the ISO and Av are linked automatically).

Matt

Thanks
Definitely check out www.ephotozine.com - tons of good images, advice and techniques there (It's run by the same folk as this one - so you're in good hands there).

Why don't you phone up Chris and have a chat with them at SRS?
They're decent enough to tell you if there's any suspected drop in price... but given how quickly the K20D's sell at the moment I would be surprised if they got any cheaper!! Especially with the current cash back offer from Pentax

Let us know how you get on
Matt

I've bought my Sandisk Extreme III 4Gb SDHC cards from www.picstop.co.uk - excellent service and stupidly low price. Have three of them, plus three of the 2Gb Haven't run out yet
Matt

Glad to help Prieni

Mike,
SRS have the Pentax SMC-FA 35mm f/2.0 at £239.
It's a pretty tempting lens for digital as a "standard" fast-ish lens...

Pices91 - note that the K20D has excellent high ISO capability which may allow you greater lee-way in choosing lenses. Yes, super fast lenses can be helpful. But as Mike pointed out they are usually very heavy too! (With the exception of the Pentax 50mm f/1.4) And the depth of field is often stupidly shallow requiring super critical focussing!
(Check out this shot for a very, very low light image - ISO3200, f/2.2, 1/60s, 50mm and even then the depth of field was a bit too shallow!)
HTH!

Matt

Not sure you'll find a S/H 30mm f/1.4
Pentax gear gets snapped up pretty quickly these days

Personally I'd prefer the SMC-DA 16-45 (although the 18-55 is fine). If you need to work in really low light, then the SMC-FA 50/1.4 can't be faulted
Definitely get at least one Pentax lens - Pentax are running a cash back offer at the moment which is worth up to £100

Still, second hand dealers I've bought from include:
www.mxv.co.uk
www.ffordes.com
www.lcegroup.co.uk

But, it's always worth giving Chris at SRS a ring too! www.srsmicrosystems.co.uk
Start with SRS and work from there

All the best!
Matt

Having a plugin is an extra.
The printer should be able to produce correct results from any colour managed application (and PSE is colour managed... albeit with reduced options).
If I had access to the HP printer you mentioned I could probably work out the settings... but alas, I only have Epson printers.
Matt

I have a LaCie 120 which is very nice - and calibrates very well indeed.
What is interesting is the backlight is not as powerful as a "general" monitor. For colour critical work you should have very low ambient lighting (read: almost dark!). Normal office and home lighting is usual far too bright!

Samsung make a large proportion of the LCD panels used in "named" brand monitors. For photographic work the main thing is accuracy of colour rendition. As Terry points out, a wide angle of view is essential (my Toshiba Tablet PC has a terrible LCD from this point of view - colours change as you move your head... grrr).

Matt

Printer calibration issues have nothing to do with what version of Photoshop you are running... if you have problems in PSE then you'll have problems in CS2 and CS3. The only difference is you'll have more options to mess around with, get frustrated with, and still fail

The printer drivers often make assumptions about the software you are using to print. A great deal of the drivers will assume "dumb" printing software, so the driver will try to correct the images itself

You have to work out which settings let the data "straight" through to the printer, with out the driver getting its hands on the image! Most drivers will have an "sRGB" setting - and this generally will work.

You may find it helpful to check out my thread on colour management

PS. It's also true that prints will look duller than display. Displays are transmissive, whereas prints are reflective. Normally, though, if you look at the print in diffused sunlight (difficult in the UK!!) it should match the display that is viewed in subdued conditions. (But that's a generalisation!)

Matt