[séamuis]

i'm not convinced WR is a huge issue here - when it rains the sky chucks down water so fiercely that there's no way you would be shooting in the rain. You just need a plastic bag or something to protect your gear while you dash for shelter ... When it stops it really stops - not much north European-style drizzle in Singapore

this is pretty good knowledge, and I very much agree. I spend a lot of time in the philippines and its the same thing. when it rains, it rains and wen it isn't, it isn’t. WR really won’t get you very far in general, so don’t fuss over it too much. another thing that I very much agree with is bring a good quality P&S. the k-5 is a great camera for traveling, no argument but you will need a P&S, trust me. you will need it. I mostly shoot film, so my main SLR is a spotmatic, but I always have a film P&S (usually a ricoh GR) and when I look back at all of my SE Asia photos, a good 70+% are with a P&S. a good one, that give good results will be a much better companion than you might think.

[savoche]

I'm not sure a teleconverter is a good idea for the 18-135, though. Sounds slow, and doesn't do much good to the image quality, I would think.

[Deimos]

I would go small pancake type lenses myself you can even use a stepdown ring as a hood and tape the pentax logo and you have a very small stealth almost large P&S looking camera which wont be as noticeable.

if you stand around in an area with your camera ppl sometimes stare, if you stay there and pretend to shoot other things for awhile they tend to eventually look away and ignore you.

for gear protection in your room, on a train etc. check out products from pacsafe.

I used one of their "safes" for a two year trip through Asia. A ballistic nylon bag with metal mesh wiring through it and a metal locking cable. It can be attached to anything sturdy for piece of mind. You'd need wirecutters and a big knife to get in there, great for your moneybelt too.

they have a bunch of products. also never put your gear down on a seat in a tuk tuk, or really anywhere without having it wrapped around your arm. You likely will have no issues, but they tend to come when you drop your guard for that one second.

Have fun its amazing.

check out travelfish.org great online seasian guide

[JenniferLeigh]

I'd like to go light. One of the big upsides to Pentax seems to be the compact system,

Nothing too conspicuous.

Something fast with some reach for portraits.

Something wide enough for landscapes.

I'm going to Thailand in December for a month. I'm planning on taking my 16-45, 55-300 and 40xs. My kit will weight about 3.5lbs.

The xs is rapidly becoming my favourite lens because it is tiny and sharp. I imagine it will spend the most time on my K5 in Thailand because of it's size.

[sb in ak]

The 40mms look great too....extremely small as well, which is good and bad. My DA21 is almost too small. I find myself straining to grab hold of something, only to find that I'm often on the autofocus ring. Kind of annoying. The DA35 Macro or FA31 really look like they'd be a little easier to grasp.

Deimos, thanks for the heads up on the pacsafes. Sounds like a good idea.

The DA series just got a little more golden with the price drops (or rather, movement back to normal?) today. I wonder how long that will last.

Decisions, decisions.

[dmort]

Hey, I I have an 18-135mm and find that it is a great travel companion. I tend to prefer to shoot zooms with the battery grip for a little extra stability granted by the weight and the improved handling for verticals. I also have a tamron 2x teleconverter that l don't have much luck with paired with the 18-135mm. Maybe someone on the forum has experience with a 1.4?
However, I sometimes I prefer to take my 21mm, 43mm, and 55-300mm. I find that those sort of prime focal lengths are nice additions to the 55-300mm. You could go for either the da 40 or the fa 43. However, I macro is a nice option when the mood strikes so maybe the da 35 Ltd?