Dobsonians are great for ease of use and you often get a bigger scope for your money, the mount is limited in terms of photography though because you can't have a motor.

I have a Celestron Firstscope 4.5" Newtonian, which I've had good success with looking around. It has a German Equatorial mount with a single axis motor and cost about 120 pounds a few years ago. I have also mounted my Slr with a big lens on the same mount. Mounting the DSLR on the telescope itself is unlikely to get good results with a scope this small, you want 6 or 8 inches for that.

I've had that too. The bride was worried I'd be offended, actually I was delighted, still took the camera and got some shots I liked without all the stress. I never agree to do a wedding if the couple can afford a pro, I only do it if it's me or no-one, that way whatever I do is better than the alternative.

When we planned our wedding for 100 people we didn't consider anyone who couldn't provide two photographers, I dread to think what would be the outcome with 230!

My dad shoots Pentax so when I wanted an SLR for my 18th birthday the MZ7 was an obvious choice. I built up my own lens collection around the K mount and later my sister, uncles and father in law joined the Pentax fold. With so many compatible accessories and lenses around to borrow, no other brand makes sense. Lucky Pentax cameras suit my style really!

It's worth talking to Chris@SRS re trade in, I recently traded in several items against my new K5 ii and the prices he offered on most things I considered very fair, in some cases generous. Certainly after taking fees into account I ended up getting more than I would have on eBay.

Good first step but I've managed that one on my own

Thanks for the tips Malross, and the inspiration.

Wow thanks for some great tips and ideas everyone.

in terms of kit I'm reasonably well set up I think

bodies: k5 ii and *ist dl2
flash: sigma pttl bounce swivel flash with omni-bounce
lenses: da 35 f/2.4 and fa 50 1.4, tamron 90mm macro
da 16-45, f 35-70, fa 80-320 and da 50-200

Obviously if money were no object theres things I'd change but I used up most of my brownie points on the k5 body so no major purchases are likely in the near future.

My current thoughts are that for posed shots the three primes will come in handy, and the 35-70 will probably be useful for candids, although perhaps the 16-45...

congratulations! lovely shots, I particularly like the angle in the first one. I'm looking forward to my own chance for the same sort of shots in the near future, any tips? I'm thinking my 35-70 might be the best choice of lens since I already know the K5-II has excellent high-ISO capabilities.

I have one of the older ones in AD2, sadly it has become infested with the dreaded fungus but before this happened it was pretty good for a "macro" zoom, much better than most zooms which claim the "macro" moniker.

£40 is probably fair for a good example of the 105A

Excitingly, Mrs Mongoose and I are expecting a mini-Mongoose in the near future.

Among other non-photography related things (which believe me I am busily looking into elsewhere!) this is a whole new branch of our hobby for me. Obviously I intend to document his early life and the various firsts, I'm also hoping to try some more posed photos and that's where this will be entirely new to me.

Historically, aside from 2 weddings (which I got roped into and managed to pull off more by luck than judgement), people photography has never been my thing, I'm more of a landscapes, birds and aeroplanes kind of guy. When I do do people, it tends to be candids, so any tips from those who have done this sort of thing will be greatly appreciated.

Specifically, I'm looking for tips along the lines of what focal lengths you find most useful, what do you use for a background, is flash totally out or is bounced/defused flash ok (obviously I'm thinking about the welfare of my son as well as the photos here!).

thanks in advance everyone!

that's a pretty shiny deal, I'm absolutely loving my DA35 on my new K5-II (thanks Chris!).

The two plastic fantastic primes are both excellent for the price, my Dad has the 50 and our less than 100% scientific tests show it to be every bit as good as my FA 50 1.4 at all available apertures.