if all goes according to plan I'll be busy that weekend, so in the event I do show up for the love of God no-one mention houses.

I totally agree John. There is a tendancy to assume that when a manufacturer says "use only *insert Manufacturer name here* approved batteries and accessories" they are just grabbing money for old rope and in some cases they are, but equally sometimes there's a good reason.

flash "power" is regulated by pulse time, the flash stays on until whatever meter system is in use (Auto, TTL, P-TTL) tells it that enough light has been received at which point it cuts out.

Calling this a power adjustment is technically inacurate, since power is energy over time. The Power is never changed, but the same power is delivered for longer or shorter time to alter the total energy delivered.

HSS is something quite different and requires impressive levels of computer control to strobe the flash in such a way that the whole frame gets illuminated.

couldn't agree more, I occasionally run a film through my ME-F just for the shear enjoyment of working the camera.

you do have to be careful with RCRV-3's, there is a good reason they are not recommended.

That reason is voltage. Some R-CRV-3's are properly designed and regulated to produce 3V like the single use ones, and these should (In theory) be fine. Some however are just straight unregulated Li-Ion batteries which are CRV-3 shaped. These produce 3.7V (the standard cell voltage of Li-Ion) so a pair of them kick out 7.4V instead of the 6V the camera is designed for.

I don't think anyone on here has ever fried a camera this way, but if it were to take exception to the over-voltage and die then it would not be covered under the warrenty on account of having been used with a battery which had been specifically recommended against.

I have a K10D, my Dad has a K200D.

the K200D has HDR mode, which is a nice advantage, also the AA battery compatibility is nice in a tight spot although you do loose a little bit on single charge battery life.

the K10D has twin control wheels and (it seems to me) faster and more sensitive auto focus. It also has a larger buffer if continuous drive/bracketing is your thing.

If I had to make the choice, I'd take the K10D, but both are superb cameras and you wont be disapointed with either.

yeah, I could really do with a nice crusty loaf of bread right now.....with butter on mmmmmm tasty......

I'm sorry were you thinking about something else?

exchanging loaves of bread just sounds like a good way to transmit swine flu to me!!

My K10D runs 50% of the time on one of these, can't tell the slightest difference in performance or fit between it and the original Pentax one.

My Dad shot Pentax, so I went down the same route initially purely so I could borrow his lenses. Now I have a comparable lens collection to his, and in fact he has just borrowed my FA 50mm F1.4 to go on holiday so what goes around comes around.