the K200 uses AA batteries. I was told by a man from Pentax at the SRS open day that you shouldn't use Lithium batteries with the K200 because it is weather sealed.

Lithiums are the only single use batteries which give acceptable life in DSLRs so that leaves re-chargables.

With my *ist DL2 the best battery life I have obtained is from 7dayshop own brand 2700mAh NiMH batteries. A lot of people seem to be having good experiences with the new Hybrid NiMH cells such as the Uniross Hybrio and Sanyo Eneloop. These are supposed to have better self discharge charateristics than standard NiMH (you can charge them and forget about them, they'll still be charged in 6 months). I have not had much luck with these, none of my sets will hold a decent charge, but I suspect they just don't like my 7dayshop v7000 1hour charger.


I would go for Eneloops or Hybrios with a dedicated charger, or 7dayshop 2700s with whatever NiMH charger you fancy. Not sure how long they'll last in the K200, but in my DL2 I get 500-700 shots per charge on 2700mAh batteries.

the Pentax guy at Chris' open day said the K200D wasn't compatible with CR-V3s because of the weather sealing. Something about lithium cells needing to vent gas.

certainly don't open it up unless you know exactly what you are doing. Most lenses are extremely complicated in construction and only a select few (mostly old and Soviet) designs can be easily repared by the uninitiated.

It sounds like the iris is stuck. The easy way to tell is to take the lens off the camera with the aperture ring set on A. The lens should stop all the way down. If it does not, then the iris is stuck and you'll either need to have it repaired, put up with it being stuck wide open or get rid of it

I second that, my Dad and I were shooting a Spitfire at a display over the weekend, he with the DA 55-300 and I with my FA80-320. There is just no contest between these two lenses at 300mm, the DA wins hands down. I only keep my FA because it has sentimental value as an 18th birthday present, it will be retired as soon as I have the spare cash for a 55-300.

Thanks for the input everyone.

I think that about decides it, 16-45 and FA50 it is, probably with my trusty Tamron 90mm SP in my bag just in case (it's not that I don't trust the lens you understand, it's that I don't trust myself not to miss the focus!).

You've all been a tremendous help.

thanks all who have answered so far, this is why I asked in here, I knew you wouldn't be afraid to tell me if I was looking at the wrong lenses.

It has come to my attention that for the same price as the 70mm ltd I can get a 50mm F1.4 AND a DA 16-45 F4.

Given that I will have two bodies with me (A *ist DL2 and a K10D), how does a 16-45 on one (probably with a Sigma 530 flash on top) and a 50 F1.4 on the other sound?

I have the Adaptall 90mm SP macro, 300mm SP and 2x SP converter. All work very nicely on my K10D with the PK/A adaptor, although they do need a bit of exposure compensation.

With the older and more plentiful PK adaptor, you have to use stop down metering. This comes with the usual fun and games, but is very usable, particularly on subjects which don't move too fast.

I stand corrected John, very interesting

It seems that a number of weddings are in my future, and I shall be official photographer (I didn't step back fast enough when volunteers were called for!) at one of them.

Using this as an excuse (), I am contemplating a new lens.

I'm pretty sure the lenses I have available will cover standard set up portraits, but I also want to be able to snap candids at the reception where people will be more relaxed and natural.

Lenses under consideration at the moment are:

Pentax DFA 100mm Macro

Pentax DA 70mm Ltd

By reputation I know both of these are superb lenses, and SRS currently has both for the same price of £349. Here are my thoughts to date:

DA 70 Ltd:
Pros:
It's TINY!!! When combined with my venerable *ist DL2 it's practically pocketable. This should help people not to be self concious when I point it at them.

It's slightly faster

Cons:
It's only obvious use is portraits, which up to now have not been a forte of mine. However it might come in handy at fencing competitions.

DFA 100 Macro:

Pros:
I've used the DFA 50mm macro before, and fell instantly in love with the finish and handling. As far as I know the 100 is the same quality.

Full frame compatible and has an aperture ring, so compatible with my collection of film SLRs.

I do quite a lot of macro, so will have uses other than portraits.

Will probably render my Tamron 90mm SP obsolete, which can then be exchanged for a number of those pretty pictures of the queen which people seem to value so highly.

Cons:

Bigger than the 70 limited.

?100 is a bit long for portraits on digital?

100 is shorter than I'm used to for macro since I generally use my Tamron 90mm with a 2x converter.


Any suggestions, thoughts, outright disagreements with the above will no doubt help my deliberations! Feel free to suggest other lenses, but nothing more expensive than these since they are already on the limit of what I can afford.

I've seen the film counter on an otherwise mint ME Super jam up if wound on past the ~38th exposure. I don't know if this is a common fault, but I've seen it happen on a couple of cameras. It doesn't stop the camera from working but it is a pain.

Tweeking the ASA is the only way to get partial stops of compensation, but the ME-Super only has full stops on its shutter anyway so unless you are working fully manual there is little point.

It's a lovely camera and in my opinion has the nicest sounding shutter of any SLR ever made. Sometimes I get mine out and fire the shutter just to hear the sound.