I have one, which has always performed well. In sunshine it absolutely sings.

My 55-300 has something to live up to!

Are you content to lose the 55-70mm range then Cliff?

Let's have a look at this shopping list:

SMC Pentax-FA 31mmm f1.8 Limited £1069
SMC Pentax-FA 43mm f1.9 Limited £689
SMC Pentax-FA 77mm f1.8 Limited £779
SMC Pentax-DA* 60-250mm f4 £1095
SMC Pentax-DA* 300mm f4 £925

Total (SRS New 02/07/11) £4557

S/H price for well looked after kit 50% of original, though higher I suspect.

I am very pleased for you John, that you have a couple of thousand spare to lavish upon your hobby in one go.

You posed the question, "Are you not at all curious about these things?” Well if your readers do not have a spare several hundred pounds sloshing around their bank account, I suspect not.

Please remember that there are members here who function photographically at different levels.

There are uber-enthusiasts who enjoy the fine nuances and exceptional IQ of exotic primes and top range zooms, who might even make some level of income from their hobby and can justify to themselves spending large amounts.

Then there are others who will enjoy picture taking for their own consumption and whose kit bag might be more affordable, centred around maybe a couple of zooms to give versatility and decent image quality.

You seem to fit into the former and would do well not to alienate the latter.

To avoid this alienation, I would start by avoiding replies like your last one.

For me, the K5 door is much better than the K10D with its recessed key release.

The first SD card I tried in my K5 was a Kingston SD which was quite tricky to retrieve, but a Sandisk Extreme seems much easier.

Both are slightly more difficult than the pop-up effect of either in the K10D.

You are not a very good typoist are you.

More similarities to Les Dawson than we thought as you keep hitting the wrong keys.

Does anyone agree that 'he' is to photography what Les Dawson was to the piano?

John,

Sorry if I came on a bit strong with my initial comment.

Your reply gives some context to the photo, which I did not appreciate before.

Some of the comments received above were a little risque and less about the joie-de-vivre you sought to capture.

Perhaps I should lighten up a little, especially as I got my mended 55-300 back on Friday after 7 weeks.

Regards

Pretty girl does gymnastic pose in a shed surrounded by junk-I don't get it.

Apart from the titillation, what is the point of this photo?

I am sure Pentax Expert will love it, as there are no plants or (feathered) birds in sight.

My manual focus Tamron lenses used with a PKA adaptor DO show indications of aperture or intermittently 'F--'.

A quick wiggle of the lens seems to restore the f-stop info display or as suggested above a proper wipe of the contacts.

Quest que ce?

"Firmware K-5 v1.10 pour Windows"

That's what it says on the download list from Smeggy's link to the Pentax website.

I think I will wait till it appears on the Japan or Canada websites too, in case of a malevolent French hacker!

It's a pity they are not so demanding of themselves. Let's not talk about quality control in the same thread as the K5!

I need little persuausion from the sceptics to avoid cheap alternatives due to my own natural caution, despite many posters being quite satisfied with them.

I think the Pentax battery price is to do with selling a Pentax branded product at a higher margin to subsidise the camera ranges (like in 2004 when I bought my Fuji compact in-store at an internet matched price but was persuaded to buy memory card & camera bag at the same time so the dealer could claw a bit back).

I would guess that the battery manufacturer puts the products through stringent QC and the best go off to be sold with a higher mark-up (OEM) then others to mid-range outlets.