I'm in the same situation - I've found the DFA100 to be too long for my needs, and I like the look of the DA*55 a lot but thought it would be a bit strange to get yet another 50mm-ish lens.

EDIT: Also, although I could afford the DA*55 it would be at the top end of what I'm willing to spend and would need to be astonishingly good to persuade me to go that far. I'm open to being persuaded by the legions of DA* owners on here

Having had no success with my enquiries about 12-24s (at the old price), I've decided that what I'll get instead is... a portait lens

Anyway, my first thought was of course a 50mm f1.4 (either Sigma or Pentax DA*) but I reckoned that a fifth lens to cover 50mm might not be the best use of funds right now. Is the 70mm Limited as good for portraits as it's reputed to be?

Oh yeah, I can just see him getting into a major public sporting event with a rifle stock

The solid stuff (mainly glass I think) in the cloud also knackered the engines to the extent that they all had to be scrapped.

This is the company that said "this internet thing won't catch on" (1995) and, worse, released Windows Me. Attempts to analyse the logical basis of their decisions are doomed to fail

As a student I can get the education or student versions (they are different, believe it or not!), and the context-sensitive thing is making my SBA (software buying addiction, a common affliction in geeks!) tingle. Catch being I doubt 2Gb of RAM is enough to run it on Vista.

Might well do that then - cheers for the tip! If he still has any that would be the best option.

At least we Brits have the advantage, not shared by all of our overseas cousins, that if we want to sit in the forest for three hours the only thing likely to come along and eat us is a band of local neds

EDIT: That picture is fabulous!

Unfortunately I have just missed out on the last of the reasonably-priced 12-24mm f4s from Walters, so I am now looking at alternatives in this category. I really liked the look of the 12-24, but can't justify spending the ludicrous amounts of money Pentax charge for it nowadays.

Anyway, enough moping, I've listed the various options (with the exception of the 15mm f4, since it isn't that much wider than the 16-45 which I could buy instead, and is over £600). I'm also open to alternate suggestions within the same sort of budget - the Pentax 17-70mm (though it is obviously a standard zoom rather than an ultrawide) has been catching my eye lately despite my strong anti-SDM prejudice, as has the Tamron 28-75 (as a portrait lens).

Really great photos, I'm torn as to which of the moon ones I like best.