I have resolved my problem with the vulnerability of the open camera body when fitted with the digiscope adaptor, by I modestly claim, a stroke of genius! The K-mount/T2 adaptor which you need to fix the digiscope adaptor onto the camera body can be dismantled into two parts, so into this I dropped a 49mm UV filter glass which is a perfect fit. Reassembled it is now like a thick filter which I can leave on the camera body ready for the digiscope adaptor. The trickiest part was getting the glass out of the filter frame without scratching it - it was held in with a sprung ring so some judicious work on the frame with a tinsnip was needed to remove it.

And here's a special thanks to the guy at London Camera Exchange in Leamington Spa to whom I explained what I was after. He rummaged around and gave me the filter from his 'spares' box at no charge to experiment with.

sorry, you are right. it is 16-85mm f3.5-5.6 HD ED DC WR DA.

This lens is priced at £499.00 but is bundled with the K3-II at £999.00, i.e. £250.00 plus body which sounds a real bargain. This compared to the 18-135 WR priced £379.00 but bundled with the K3-II for £1049.00. The latter is a smaller more versatile every-day lens but does anyone have any experience to compare?

The Hawke adaptor has finally arrived (no instructions), comprising two parts which fit together, one on the scope eyepiece and the other on the camera. The eyepiece needs to be unscrewed to fit the scope part but could be left on and still used conventionally. With the T2/K mount adaptor the other part fits on the camera body and presses it against the rubber eyepiece. This of course risks exposing the camera to dust which is why I tried it with a 50mm f1.8 len attached but the results weren't promising. The other thing I tried was a 2x teleconverter on the K-mount to protect the camera but the loss of light meant high noise; the best results were from the direct mount. One concern is that the T2/K-mount adaptor has printed lettering on the T2 face which is coming off in tiny particles when screwed into place so I have been rigorously cleaning that to avoid it contaminating the camera, hopefully by leaving it permanently attached to the digiscope adaptor this won't become an issue.

I had hoped for a system whereby I could use the scope conventionally and then quickly snap the camera into place and in truth it's not much more involved than changing a lens. Two issues however; the scope needs refocusing with the camera on, and the weight of the camera unbalances the scope mount so a sliding tripod mount will be needed (more cost, more weight). The scope has an 18-48x zoom but the loss of light at the high end becomes much more apparent with the camera attached. Also without a lens the anti-shake is off.

I am looking forward to trying it out properly.

Here's a link: http://thenewcamera.com/category/pentax-rumors/
According to this latest rumour it will cost around 2000 euro, which is about £1460. Sounds about right, around the same as the top Sony.

There is a rumour somewhere it will have the Sony 42 megapixel sensor. A Nikon rep at Birdfair told me that anything above 24 mp gives problems with buffering and gobbles up memory. The 50 mp Canon only achieves its stated frame-per-second rate with reduced size files, so it's not all about 'mine's bigger than yours' if there isn't the stamina to cope!

I am a bit disappointed, I thought it was due out next month. Do I want to wait another six months or maybe get the K-3II? Dunno.

Thanks all, I have decided to to buy a Pentax sensor cleaning kit for future use together with one of those puffer things. I also wonder whether I inadvertently caused the problem when I noticed dust specks on the mirror which I flicked off with a soft brush.

I agree, and would also add that the Pentax 50mm f1.8 which I bought new for £89 is also of great quality -see my latest offerings in the Gallery https://www.pentaxuser.com/photo/rust-88057, https://www.pentaxuser.com/photo/rust-88057, https://www.pentaxuser.com/photo/abandoned-workshop-88059. Admittedly there is an overlap of focal length but with the extra couple of stops you can use available light more, get a shallow depth of field, close focusing and nice bokeh.

You really counted those?!