Yup, only paypal for me. I only purchased one item on this forum using bank transfer and waited 8 days without hearing anything from the seller despite sending P.M.s and text messages. The lens turned up eventually but I wont repeat the experience unless I already know and trust the seller.

That's an interesting clip....that certainly is a lot slicker than the way it works on my p.c.

I have the eye-fi own brand pro card. Yes it works with the K5. I do not have an iPad but the card comes with downloadable apps for both apple and android so it should be o.k.

Not so sure about your expectation of 'direct mode' though. When I take a shot it appears as a thumbnail on my p.c. after 15 seconds or so. I then have to click on the thumbnail to enlarge it to a less than overwhelming 6.5 x 4.5 inch image on my 21 inch monitor. I have to import it into windows viewer or similar if I want to see it full size, so not exactly a seamless process. I have not had the card for long so there may be some work-around that I'm not aware of.

When I want true instant replay I just link my K5 via HDMI to an el-cheapo lightweight 16 inch LED TV and you see on the screen what you have on the camera LCD instantly, full screen. Of course this is only any good if you don't mind the cable connection and have a source of power for the TV. Has the big advantage that you can use the TV as a TV at other times of course

My experience with SDM lenses has not been all positive, in fact they are the least reliable of all my lenses (which are mainly Pentax, with a couple of Sigmas, a Tamron and a Samyang). I have not experienced SDM failure but both my SDM lenses (17-70 and 16-50) sometimes fail to lock focus even in very average conditions. Frustrating as the IQ of both is excellent. Because of this I went for the Sigma 50-150 rather than the Pentax 50-135 when I wanted something longer.

They say lenses have a personality - the personality of my SDM's is that they fire when they feel so inclined - a wild exaggeration but you get the idea. They are good 95% of the time but the critical shot could be missed. I find switching from AF-S to AF-C helps.

Prompted by the posts above I have just given the contacts on both camera and lenses a good clean (again) to see if it will make any difference.

If it is just a matter of something to hold the battery door shut then the base piece of a cheap flash bracket would hold it in place. Or if you are handy with metal then a strip of steel drilled and bolted to the tripod socket would do it.

I am considering buying a Hadlet Pro bag. It is available in either canvas or FibreNyte for the same price. The FibeNyte is claimed to be more waterproof. Anyone have an opinion as to which one I should go for?

If they bring out a version with an articulated screen I will buy one. It will then offer me something that my K5 does not and would become an ideal backup camera for high/low/awkward shooting positions. At the moment I use a Canon G12 for these situations.

Because ring flash units are not cheap I decided to try out an LED ring light (continuous light, does not flash - a glorified torch really). I got one of these a few days ago

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/180609551233?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1...

Yes it is very plasticky but it does give you light where you want it and can be powered from the mains for indoor work. [IMG]http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff505/Philip_Brockbank/IMGP3452.jpg[/IMG]
I tested it by taking a few shots of some eggs. In this pic I powered only I side of the ringlight to give a more directional light.

The other thing that is very handy for precise work is a focus rail - need a tripod for this of course.

Dunno about the focussing problem but I like that shot very much. Hard to get something that striking from a subject that has been much photographed.

I bought a slide scanner from Maplins. Not too expensive, about £30 I think. Very easy to use. The results are fine for the old slides I was scanning from 1970's holidays. Whether the quality would be good enough for anything more critical I don't know.