Very true Charlotte, at last I will have some distance between camera and subject, well a bit more than 2-4 inches anyway.

Stuey , as a first go I am stoked, I still can't believe no-one snapped it up, and mightily pleased they didn't.

+ 1 for the 55-300, great lens if only Pentax would produce it WR

About 4 hours if completely flat, but if they are in the charger it will automatically turn itself off once charging is complete. If the light is off the battery is not receiving charge. I have two, one is left in the charger all the time until the one I'm using is flat then I swap.

Caught this snail traversing the grand canyon, OK the gap between two bricks. Took the shots with the 180 macro and boy is this going to be a fun lens. I should have increased the F stop a little to get more in focus but I wanted to see what it would be like wide open. One of the shots (or maybe two is at f4) the other(s) f2.8, natural light and hand held.

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good point Barrie, I didn't think of that

You need the Camera Raw 6.3 (or later) plugin available from Adobe's site

Sorry Mike, I missed your comment from earlier, you are correct it is 1:2 which is supposed to signify it's not true macro but I've been reading articles about getting longer macro lenses and getting a better working distance and when I saw this I thought all my Christmas's had come at once. But was wary about buying it as it is old then when no-one bought I felt justified in not jumping in at £299. It was on eBay for months when I noticed the make an offer option appear so I offered £210, and he took it. I suppose I am asking for reassurance that I have not spent too much.

I'm confused now but in answer to the IF question, it is and as I normally use a Pentax A f1.7 50mm on tubes I am mostly right on top of my subjects and most of them get scared off. However I have developed a very stealthy approach as a consequence.
Interesting point about the 2x TC, I have a Kenko with the contacts (but they don't work) but it does give some very good results with a quality fast lens attached.

Apparently it is 1:2 not 1:1 but that's not going to make much difference, is it?

Nice set Mat, worth the wait.