Erm... move along nothing to see here

The FA43 looks very nice, my only concern is whether it overlaps too much with my DFA50. I should point out that I'm very sentimental - I don't like replacing lenses I already have, as I love them all!

IIRC that lens doesn't have a very good reputation. Get the Pentax/Samsung 50-200mm instead - there is a used Samsung one (identical to the Pentax lens, just says Samsung on it) for £89 at SRS. Aside from being a better lens, it also comes with a six month warranty which the lens you are looking at doesn't (you can also get free delivery - just mention this forum and your username and ask for it in the 'additional notes' part of the checkout).

Well Pentax lenses are weather sealed, so give it wheels and it won't be bothered being towed behind a car

Hmm, could I perhaps throw SRS's used FA43s into the mix? They would cost about the same as a new DA35, and seem to have that elusive 'pixie dust' factor. Does anyone have wisdom to offer on this lens? My main concerns are the apparent lack of sharpness when it's used wide open (which, after all, is the main point of a fast lens) and the closeness to my DFA50 Macro (which I like).

Hmm, you could try making a resized version in-camera, or in another package (Paint.net or GIMP are both free), as the resizing in Elements seems to have done a pretty poor job of retaining detail. I am however comparing JPEG + Elements to RAW + Lightroom so perhaps it is my expectations that are unrealistic

You can't - you can only download the drivers, and _updates_ to the software (which require it to be already installed from the CD).

Start a petition for full sets of Limiteds to be available on the NHS

You looked at the s/h prices for old primes recently? SRS for example: £89 for an A series 50mm f1.7 (and SRS are fair in their prices), which is only slightly less than (used) AF ones were going for when I bought my K20D last year.

I did that for my graduation photographs (gave the K20D to my folks and forgot I'd been using it indoors the previous night) - the photos still turned out fine!

I think the main issue with the shots you've posted is that the b+w conversion is far too dark. I don't know whether it was done in-camera or in a RAW processing package, but if the latter there are probably other settings you could use to produce a much nicer end result (for Lightroom in particular there are lots of presets available free online).

Also in several of the shots a lot of detail seems to have been lost, for example this one which would otherwise be very nice:

[IMG]http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/ss344/ems82_photos/The%20Lakes/lakes22.jpg[/IMG]

How did you resize it down to the forum's size? I think that might be the culprit.

The point you made - that the comparison to AA was gratuitous and unjustified - was fair, but the tone was slight over the top IMHO.