Thankyou minerboy but as I said I opted for the lens that RobE17 had for sale at srs .. Much appreciated all the same

never heard of them lol

Hi DAngermouse I finally went with RobE17's lens from SRS and it is winging its wat towards me now.. I did look at Terence's site as I use it quite a lot I have had a few good deals from them .. I decided that a couple quid more for the lens was worth it as I do have an *ist DL with a 70-300mm lens as a spare and my old 18-55 without hood would be a nice addition to my second "spare" kit..
Thank you all the same mate

[quote:3496ace15f="johnriley"]Why not have an original:

]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300370530541&ssPageName=STR...

Sorry john I missed this on ... By the way my kit is not the kit that matches the lens that was left behind sorry to hear about that

I have to thank you all guys .. I have to go and check these links Un fortunately my PC died on me so I have a bit of catching up to do.. hopefully some of the gear is still there
Pete

hmm theres a thought thats a good idea.. but i foresee a problem ... its hard enough to wangle £30 quid out of the missus never mind £300+ lol but then you never know .. it is xmas

I dont think I would sell the lens though as I do have a spare *ist body which has a spare 70-300 lens on it so maybe a spare lens for that would be handy .. hmmmm think think

All I want to do after all is replace the lens hood on my K10d's 18-55mm lens. Looking around I find many cheap alternatives but they all appear to be screw in.. The Pentax replacement is around £30-£40 Why? All it is is a glorified drain pipe..

I would love it if someone could point me in the direction of a cheap one with the same fittings as the original..

PS ok ok it was my fault for losing the original in the first place lol

Thank you guys

I have now had this lens for about 3 weeks and just had to let you all know I am loving it In fact with some of my bird shots I am having to back way or zoom out to get the right composition ..

It took me a few sessions to get used to the feel of it and using it but I think I am almost there now.. I even slapped a 2x convertor on it and was still pretty impressed..

The only thing I have to get used to is that at the full zoom 500mm it can get a little soft if I am not careful but I have found that a little work in photoshop can make a difference..

Doh!!
Now you mention technophobic - how about a technophobic numpty

Dont ask me who put the raw file in the wrong folder cos I wouldnt admit it ... All I had to do ws put the camera raw plugin into the correct directory.

I really thank you all for helping and apologise for my stooopidity and time wasting ..
Thank you again
Peter

Well I must thank you all for your help and inspiration to carry on ..