Thankyou John. I have looked in Classified Ads (Lenses) but cannot see it. However having taken your advice re cost I think £300.00 plus £20.00 Royal Mail Delivery, insured and signed for is reasonable. Or collect from Winchester area would be acceptable.

Don't know if this is the right forum. I am considering selling the above lens to replace funds used for purchasing a new DA*300 f4. No idea of secondhand value apart from what I see on the well known auction site. The lens is in excellent/mint condition but is now too heavy for me to handhold. Complete with padded case, lens hood and both caps and tripod foot. No fungi or damage and lens clean and unscratched. If anyone is seriously interested please pm me and we can discuss.

Just as a follow-up on the SD card issue. I have just replaced two of my cards (SanDisk Ultra 80mb/s 32gb) with two new identical new ones, from Amazon, the only difference being the old ones were marked "Made in Taiwan", the new ones are marked "Made in China". Watch this space.

The village idiot finally did it. All on my own. OK with assistance from my new found friend Chrism8. To be honest I am still not sure what I was doing wrong but I am in front of my desk with SD Cards everywhere (that may have had something to do with it). Anyway it is now loaded so I can relax until my next calamity. Thanks to all. Regards John.

Thanks again Chrism8 for the link.That is the one I already have been trying to load (Fwdc230b.bin). You refer to the root directory in your original reply, the only thing showing on my card when I open it is DCIM. I have moved the file out of there onto the card but still no go. I will have to contact my neighbour who is a progrtammer. Perhaps he can help. I really appreciate your help and thank you for it. Regards John

HI all. Have tried again and according to Pentax the file is self extracting so should not need to be expanded. Have followed Chrism8's advice but can find only DCIM on the card with the bin.file inside it. Have moved the file out of the DCIM folder but still cannot get the next part to appear on the screen. I know I am getting older but have followed the instructions to the letter and still cannot get the update to work. I expect forum members will get fed up with this shortly so will have another try then call it a day. Regards for patience. John

Chrism8 and all thankyou for assistance to an old chap. When I calm down I will try the update again. Regards John

Following my recent problem I thouight to update firmware. Stupid, stupid man (Leave well alone) Followed the instructions to the absolute letter, get as far as insert card, turn on power while holding down menu button. NOTHING APPEARS ON THE SCREEN so I cannot load the firmware. Gin moment coming!

Well. Great joy in the household. Grumpy John has gone to be replaced by smiley John. Trial and error answer. Used slot one and 2 and despite have selected "use slot 1 and then 2" in menu Memory Card options the Memory Card options refuses to acknowledge that 2 cards are in place. However if I place a card in slot 2 the camera says OK there is a slot and there is a card there, if I use slot 1 on its own all is well and it works. But at least I am not now getting the "no card in the camera" message. I shall persevere with this and if there are any developments will re-post. Just as an extra I am at present using SanDisks in this camera 1x Ultra 80mb/s 32gb and 1xExtreme 45mb/s 32gb in case that is any interest to someone. Sorry about the long disjointed post I think I have explained it as best as I can. Regards John.

Thanks JohnX. Tried reset to factory defaults. Blown through slots. Tried the cards (and I have many of various sizes) no go. Tried them all in K5, they work as they should. Even tried re-formatting the card in the K5, again no go in the K3ii.