Indeed - it's definitely out of order. McBrian's picture last week had me considering not entering and it's the same again this week!

Good job on the judging from McBrian and a very nice winner from Lilly. It's a type of shot I particularily like but am really not very good at seeing.

Pentax Z1p, Tokina ATX-Pro 80-200 F2.8, Fuji slide film

I've had a Manfrotto 479B for a number of years and been impressed by it.

The mount conversion I've read about was done by removing a K-mount from another lens (perhaps a broken one) or from a converter or extension tube.

No, mainly because the relevant register distances don't allow space for an adaptor to be fitted and infinity focus to be retained. Nikon and Contax/Yashica lenses have pretty much the same register distance as the K mount and I've read that Nikon AI mount lenses will fit and work on K-mount cameras (although the lens won't click into place) and also that it's easy to remove the mount from Contax/Yashica lenses and replace those with a mount taken of a K lens.

M42 lenses have the same register distance as K-mount, which is why the only adapters that allow infinity focus are those that fit completely inside the mount.

If it's a good convertor then the 50mm F1.7 should work well with it. You don't always need absolute sharpness with a portrait lens anyway so it'll be fine for that.

The problems really come when you stick a teleconverter, especially a cheap 4 element 2x, on a consumer spec zoom. AF will be slow (if it works at all), MF will be difficult as the viewfinder is too dark, and the results will be soft or the blurred from subject movement (as the resulting combination will be very slow). With fast primes you'll generally get away with it. The only lens I use a TC on regularily is an 80-200 F2.8 and the results from that combination are decent enough - although subject to a bit of CA.

The 7-element 2x TC's are usually quite good, but only if used with a good lens to start with.

There is a Bower ringflash widely available from Ebay US for about £50 including postage. It's not dedicated in any way though.

I've got the Tokina 500mm F8 and found it quite decent - it's also usually fairly cheap 2nd hand. There are some example shots in this gallery http://www.pbase.com/niblue/mirror