Or some sort of suplimentary diopter in front of the lens (Raynox/stacked prime etc...) or a teleconverter (as per Peter Bargh's recent article).

[Is a teleconverter considered to be a diopter?]

Shame you missed it Paul, it was just too tempting for me! The DA55-300 was £135 & the DA35 AL was £67, both half the current Amazon 'offer' price.

Mine both arrived today (with Free postage) Shame it was dark by the time I got home to them, but hopefully I'll have the chance to play with them tomorrow

Did you get there in time? The price has now doubled!

If not there could well be a load of second hand long zooms being sold soon (My F100-300 & DA50-200 perhaps amoung them) as people who grabed the deal to upgrade pass on their previous lenses...

With the Sigma 400 could the 'dust' be fungus? If so it is treatable provided it hasn't etched too deep into the glass.
Good luck with it either way!

I've often had problems with parcelforce (RM), as they nearly always wait till no-ones home before calling (I think they must have spy cameras on our street from the number of times we've had to pop out for 1/2hr and they have tried to deliver whilst we're out changing the time we pop out doesn't help...) but at least their depot is now only 3 miles from us so we can collect it the following day.
For some reason most other delivery services manage to deliver whilst my wifes in, on the first attempt.
On one occation a friends neighbour saw a parcelforce driver fill in the 'missed you' card before getting out of his van. The friend was at home at the time having taken a day off work specifically for the delivery!

I have to admit I've generally found the free postage from China to be very quick, delivery in ~3 days not being uncommon, with smaller items. Several of the bulkier items have never arrived at all though. So for more expensive items (such as lenses) I think I'd pay the extra for a courier - I generally keep chinese orders below £30 to avoid customs duty, most couriers add a significant handling fee if duties are payable (I've been stung with £3 duty + £8 fee once) .

My filters are just cheap Chinese E-bay models (they actually say Green-L on them).
I've got a 760nm in 49mm size (for the F50) & 720nm & 860nm? in 52mm (for the kit zooms).
IIRC they were under £15 each delivered, so it's not to expensive to try one out.

Whilst the K7 is not a good choice for IR (it has a strong hot mirror, which will almost certainly also apply to the K5) it can still do IR.
I've not yet done a relative IR sensitivity check between my K100 & my K7 but I plan too sometime.
I've only done a small number of IR shots with the K7 - even with a f1.7 lens a tripod is definitely required, but it does work - nothing with any great photographic merit, but I'll try to upload an example in the next few days.

I'd expect the higher sensitivity of the K5 to make it a better choice than the K7 for IR, but I doubt it will be as good as the K100 - unless you get the hot mirror replaced...

I know it's an old thread but I found another filter that's difficult (if not impossible) to replicate in software.
The Didyminium (AKA Redhanser, red enhanser etc.) which is a fairly neutral filter that removes specific orange wavelengths (basicly 560-610nm)
It's often sold for increasing the red look of autumn leaves - but trying my new one at lunchtime I found it had more effect on the the yellower greens...
The place it truely comes into its own is with night photograhy, as it dramatically reduces the orange glow from (low pressure) sodium lights - something thats spoilt many star shots. there are also dedicated light polution filters sold for astronomy, that will do the same & include mercury lights - but they cost mega bucks & don't come in convenient sizes (1¼" or 2" only)

I've ever tried star trails but I've read several blogs recommending they are done as a series of separate exposures that are combined in software. I think Peter Bargh's recent Star trail photography article even has a link to suitable software.
Personally I prefer star shots that avoid the trails...

Not quite, although random sampling is he norm, in some cases the cost of failure is considered too high.
With of the motorsport we've done fuel for, every keg of race fuel has been tested before it leaves the refinery. Any that do not meet the FIA regulations don't leave. Despite this any kegs being used on raceday were apparently tested again...

I suspect it's similar to the rumor that Pentax was about go bust, that has repeatedly come out in the last 10 years. This sort of thing often starts with a salesman hoping to angle a potential client towards a system that give more commission.

I can see no reason why the management of Pentax would shoot themselves in the head like this. The K-r will probably continue to be sold alongside it's successor for at least a few months, as has been standard practice with other changes in the line-up.