I've owned and tried all of the methods above (!!). Best for me has been eclipse and wet pads. That actually gets off the stubborn stains that every other method wouldn't shift.

OP obviously has different version of this lens. Like me and your lens - I have a 150-500 without on lens stabilisation.

Also, if this is your first time doing BiF, maybe you're expecting a little bit too much of your own ability. A lot of photography is practice, and a professional bird photographer will have many hours under his belt which an inexperienced amateur cannot realistically expect to equal straight away. Sure, eq also makes a difference, but so does skill.

Unfortunately Ikelite didn't do a K3 housing otherwise I might have ordered one, and I havent been able to find a used K-5 one either sadyly. So I'm taking a WG-5 on a trip week after next, handy little thing (I've used its predecessor before).

I understand the 'general' law in the UK, but doesn't it also depend on where you are? As in, both at my son's rugby club and at my daughter's singing, photography is not permitted full stop... child privacy concerns. I was able to kick up a stink and take photos of my daughter, but the rugby was never allowed full stop.

Actually Horst, "attitudes" like this are perfectly normal. They don't reflect this country or this forum in the least. It's nothing to do with a dislike of Johnny foreigner. I moderate on a huge US forum where this is also perfectly normal and accepted, for the same reason. Nobody needs to 'wake up'.

But then you've slandering Brits as "Poms", told a person to wake up and thrown out supposed anti-foreigner prejudice. Pot calling kettle black.

There's also the possibility that these are just lossleaders. As in items at very low prices so people buy other items during their visit which makes amazon profit. Quite a common tactic.

I could tell it's fake but I don't think man on the street would be able to. The reason I can tell is because the blurring isn't as gradual as I'd expect it to be, it's almost a "wall" of OOF that seems to start at a specific plain and then remains the same everywhere beyond that plain. I agree with Jonathan-mac, just blur the rest and it'd be virtually undetectable.

I liked Peter's use of perspective because it would help explain in to a non photography geek. I think talking to non photographers in terms of magnification might actually confuse, because looking on the back LCD and image produced by APS-C you could easily conclude that APS-C has more magnification. Look, the bug is bigger on the screen, must be better magnification!!!

Regarding your test at 14 and 135mm... try it If you have the same effective depth of field you might be surprised at the result

That's a really good way of putting it Peter, to talk about perspective. makes it very clear.