Great set!
I like the way the rider in the last one appears to be throwing his bike away in disgust!

I suspect what you have is an ND8 & a ND2 which should give 3 stops & 1 stop respectively. (ND8 reduces the light 8 fold which is halfing it 3 times). Photographic big stopper type filters are typically ~£100 You could always try out welding glass...
V cheap, but you have to arrange your own mounting & it gives a colour cast.
Shades 8-13 are generally available, with the higher numbers blocking more. Even a shade 8 will give you a LOT more than you have here.

Exactly how I prefer to work. In P mode it just takes a quick flick of one of the wheels to control Aperture/exposure. Yet it's still available for grab shots.

IMO the optimal sharpness of a lens is only really of interest if you are doing focus stacking. Aperture has a massive effect on DOF, which in turn drastically changes the image. It can't always be used at the best setting for DOF due to it's effect on shutter speed - ISO has it's limits & unfortunately they're lower on my K7 than the K5...

I believe digital sensors reflect the light more than film which alegedly causes issues with TTL (which works by looking at the light reflected by the film during exposure). I strongly suspect that cost saving is also a factor though as it means the camera doesn't need the extra sensor

P-TTL works differently by produceing a preflash & monitoring the illumination produced by that with the camera's main sensor. In use it is generally as simple to use as TTL unless you are using optical slaves to set off other flash guns. (If you try the preflash sets of the slaves, which are then recharging during the main flash). The effect is not dissimilar to the anti-red eye pre-flash.

I have to admit I find P-TTL invaluable for macro, where I hold the flash in my left hand at various angles/distances from the subject. Manual would be totally impactical here as the flash-subject distance is too uncontrolable.

The 10-17 is designed for APS-C giving a maximum 180° diagonal FOV.
But it fills the frame & doesn't give the circular image. If thats what your after your only choices are the screw on adapters - most of which are appallingly bad.

I'm used to Colin driving a black Ginetta, seems a rather drastic way to revert to his old colours. Glad to see he got out OK.
Not much left of the body but perhaps the engine may have survived as the fire appears to be more at the back, in any event an expensive incident.

Great photos as always Simon!

Prompted by this thread I've checked up my the recent photographic spend (purchases within last 3 yrs).
Bundles complicate things somewhat but, Cameras average ~£130 & Lenses average ~£40.

So I don't see why my wife would be worried, unless it's fear of downing in all the accessories.

I don't tell my wife about everything, there are far too many minor bits & bobs and we both have things to do.
When things come delivery is usually made when I'm at work, so she get to sign for it. So Jess knows something's come even if not what it is.

We have a joint account, I earn the money that goes in & we both spend it. Some how we must try to get to the point where we each only spend half of it!

Mine are used similarly to yours, but I've further modified my adapters by drilling/filing a slight recess for the pin that locks PK lenses in place.
After making this recess, I use thread lock if the M42 thread is loose enough for the lens to turn.

No dream of mine - I won't be buying one, My dream is the K5II

Whilst Pentax doesn't MAKE a kit lens for full frame, it has designs from film days that could be produced again(& the skills for Digital optimisation which would probably be wanted). If they are planing on going FF why would they release the lens for it in advance?

There are probably even enough old kit lenses on e-bay to provide one for each FF DSLR that Pentax is likly to sell