I bought a Travor Grip from China (E-Bay) for my K20D. Apart from it just doesnt fit perfectly, but not that noticeable, works a treat, at a fraction of the price.

I like the 55-300, a good all round versatile lens. Have it on my camera jst about permanently. Sharp pictures and easy to use. Sure there are photos where the wide angle is necessary, so I have a 18-55 also.

I tried a teleconverter once, but it somehow reduced the light availability, like halving the ISO. Plus the sharp focus just seemed to be lacking a bit.

I thought "Catch in Focus" refers to the customisation of the setttings to actually automate the shutter firing when the subject comes into focus.

I was taking pictures at a horse showjumping event when I first got my K20D. As you can imagine when the horse starts to move, time is running out and the pressure is on. For the life of me, the camera started to freeze and the shutter just wouldnt fire for the first jump.

I still dont know why, but you would think something must have been in focus out there. I've played with the settings so much since that I cant replicate this, and dont know what was the cause.

Must have been default settings.

While probably highly irrelevant, I had a point and shoot kodak V1253 HD which got some sand into the front lens assembly and wouldnt pop out when started. Hardly worth sending into a repair shop. As you, I am an avid DIY person and have been for some time. Over the years I have accumulated quite a bit of expertise in electronics etc.

The problem I encountered was that many modern electronic devices are not built to be taken apart. In the case of the camera, it was not possible to get to the particular part, to clean out the sand without taking out quite a bit of the workings. It required desoldering connections, and I had to break a plastic part, which I thought I could superglue back together. Some of the machine solders were of such tolerances that it was impossible to resolder without "shorting" another solder point. The circuit board was sprayed, when new, with a insulating layer, which melted when heated. It just is not the same as changing ram in a computer where the old one pops out and the new one pops in.

I didnt think I would need a part, but I can imagine if I did, it would be either unavailable, or so expensive to obtain, that a repair would have been financially impractible.
Some times you have to follow the advice of Sir Paul McCartney, "Let It Be"

Generic Grips are cheap on E-Bay. Cant see that the Pentax Grips would be that much better.

If a small rechargeable, how do you replace it. Cant find a entry point.

Oops, I am more technical than artistic. Only know lines and shapes. I would like to become more artistic though. Thats why only perspective came to mind looking at the photo.

My Dad was a professional photographer all his life. He was very technically competent as well he was really artistic.

I regret I may have inherited only part of half of his abilities.

I wonder if it is possible to learn to be more artistic, or are you just born with it. i.e. you have it or you dont.

Pentax Website says that when new the charged battery, must be in for a day to charge the "Clock" power. After you remove the battery the clock will last for 1 day, before it runs out. Must be a capacitor in the K20D. I believe earlier models such as the *ist D have a button cell. Also earlier film SLR had the button cells I recall.

You will notice the chimmneys are splayed out a little bit as well, This can be corrected in photoshop using the lens correction filter or perspective correction in Free Transform.

If you were at the same level as the ball and took the photo you would not get the perspective change, caused by the lens being on an angle. A lot of building photos have this terrible look. I do a little work for some real estate agents just correcting some of this distortion when they take pictures of multi story buildings.

As mentioned above those shift lenses were used before photoshop. Stange looking things with a bellows with a sort of "S" Bend. but I have seen a Nikon shift lens for Digital, with no bellows but the front and back of the lens dont quite line up.

SD Cards are solid state, and the memory is retained when removed from the system. But they could not continue to "Clock" when removed from power or the system.

I had a Video camera that had a button battery that kept the clock going, was also recharging, computers also have a small button battery to keep the clock going. They only last about five years or so.

My point and shoot recharges with the battery in camera, but when I remove the battery for any reason I have to reset the clock.

The manual for the K20D states that if you take a battery out for a long time the clock will stop. It doesnt say how long.

Must be as suggested above some sort of capacitor, that keeps a trickle charge going for a while.