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The constricted pupil size is certainly an issue. I find a 15 mm and 10 mm plossl also very good. (Even the cheap EPs seem to do a decent job. I guess maybe because we are viewing only one wavelength of light. Though interestingly, I never found the included Kellner much use either.)
I've read other comments about the long eye relief, but I have no problem with the Pentax - maybe it is because I can screw my eye right into the eyecup just so.
I do use a Velbon camera tripod and have found it OK. Sometimes I piggyback it on the Megrez (with white light solar filter) on a TV Panoramic mount. The best thing I did was make a rectangular screen out of some stiff foam that sits over the tube. This provides shade for looking in the eyepiece (the purists cover everything but the front of the tube in a sheet, but I can't be bothered with that). It also acts as an easy solar finder (i.e. by minimizing the shadow of the OTA), though of course the PST has its own solar finder. Still, using the OTA shadow gets me close enough anyway.
I tried both a webcam and my Canon A70. Neither was particularly satisfactory. Maybe I should persevere with stacking. A pity, because the visual detail is quite impressive. You're right Narayan, there's almost always something to see in the way of prominences and flares, and now I seem to see significant detail on the disk as well. I'm really looking forward to the transit of Mercury come November.
Originally I bought the PST because winter observing in Hobart (for me at least) often comes to a standstill. I consider it a bit of a luxury item: for $900 I get far more use out of a dob. I've heard that "double stacking" with a 40mm second Colorado filter creates even more fantastic views. I would like to try that one day.
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