Not long after I got my K20D, I bought a Crumpler Muffin Top 4000 to go with it. Needless to say the claim of carrying SLR with small zoom attached, plus 2 additional lenses was less than truthful

/story

So anyway I've been looking at getting a bigger bag - an attempt to buy a Timbuk2 messenger failed - and I'm looking at Lowepro's D300/D400 Stealth range. My main concerns are waterproofing and carrying capacity - I'm quite often out in heavy rain (the reason I was going for a Timbuk2 hack - they're completely monsoonproof) so I'd need it to be able to withstand all of that (how substantial is the 'rain cover'?) and also carry a reasonable amount of gear (ie everything in my sig, [EDIT: With the exception of the tripod!] preferably with space for another lens or two in the future - the two M42 lenses combined are about the size of the 18-55, if that helps).

I'm not particularly bothered about external size - both are smaller than a Timbuk2 Medium Messenger which I happily cart back and forth to uni every day!

I should add that if anyone has alternative suggestions (in similar price/carrying capacity range) I'd be extremely grateful!

UV filters degrade image quality by putting an extraneous piece of plastic in front of your lens. The only situation in which I would consider this is in a very sandy/dusty environment - rainwater can be wiped off. If you are worried about damage to the lens (dropping it on the front element or whatever), then get photo insurance (you can get a discount through this site IIRC).

Just please please PLEASE Sigma, check these ones for front focusing BEFORE they leave the factory

It's a known problem with the DG version as well. Nice for lens makers to have tradition.

Since when have you needed a 'reason' to buy lenses Mike?

I was a Firefox fan for a long time, but lately it has been having the same problems that made me switch away from IE years ago: slow page loading, increasing bloat, instability, and the developers denying new web standards to users for ideological reasons (in Firefox's case, h264 HTML 5 video).

So the upshot is that I'm now using Chrome.

And never put any film, exposed or not, in hold luggage. The xray scanners they use on hold bags are much more powerful (presumably because a suitcase has more stuff in it to scan than a small briefcase) and therefore have a higher chance of screwing up film.

I have a K20D and love it. If you think you might have/save additional photogear money at some point in the future, spend it on a lens!

True, but UPS will pick it up for you for £22.

Or paint 'Takumar' on it with Humbrol paint and charge a grand

I'd imagine that in order to be WR, the front element must not extend during focusing. Just speculating though as I own the non-WR version of this lens (and don't own a ringflash).