16mm is the maximum according to the spec, and I was also using an omnibounce so I should have had enough coverage, I think

An odd thing happened on Saturday evening. I was taking a few shots at a friend's leaving party held in a community centre. I find the K5 still tends to over expose with flash, even with the latest firmware, so I was mostly using the K10d with AF540FGZ. I was attempting some overall shots of the crowd using 16-45 lens at 16mm when the camera refused to fire, neither flash nor shutter. I adjusted the focal length to 24mm and it worked fine.

Any ideas?

I bought my FA 50 1.4 from them for a good price about 18 months ago with no problem. The cheapest UK seller of DA15 I've spotted recently is ebay seller 'kerso' who has sold 2 at £449 BIN in the last couple of weeks. On both occasions the lens sold within hours of being listed. Worth keeping an eye open to see if he lists another.

Personally I would order your K5 with the 18-55 kit lens which will cost you next to nothing and is surprisingly good, you may end up keeping it for a long time. Use the money you have saved to buy a Pentax FA 50 1.4 which is another lens that is exceptional value and gives lovely results with shallow DOF and beautiful colours. Then at a later time you can upgrade your kit lens for something faster if you feel the need.

£649 at Mifsuds

You may be surprised by how good the kit lenses are. I bought one with my new camera because the cashback offer meant it was free. I intended to sell it on but having used it I'm going to keep it. It's weather resistant, compact and light weight yet gives decent results.

I can't speak for Trinidad but I do travel to the more remote areas of Jamaica from time to time and there are a couple of other factors you may want to consider if you are not part of an organised photo trip. The Pentax is a smaller more discreet looking lens whereas the big Sigmas are more obviously expensive looking kit that may attract the attention of undesirables. In any event it makes sense to carry your gear in a plain rather shabby bag. It only takes one dodgy character to ruin your trip. I imagine that for birding you will use your lens at the long end most of the time anyway and the relative smallness and light weight of the Pentax could be an advantage if you are hiking a lot.

As a matter of interest, has anyone with a dirty sensor tried using the 'dust alert' function (p. 341 in the manual)and did the marks show up on the screen?

Mine is not affected. Serial number starts 3865

I bought mine from SRS 23rd November. I've just checked it and I can't find any marks on mine.