Advice re return or repair?

I bought a K20D - 16-50DA* + 50-135DA* last November from Amazon. The 16-50 will only open up to 19mm now. Pentax will repair under warranty but suggested getting in touch with Amazon for replacement. As it was part of a kit, which they no longer have in stock they want me to return the whole kit. They do not have any of these kits left in stock. The dilema is I bought that kit for a shade under £1700. Obviously I would not be able to replace each individual item for that amount. I am a little nervous about getting repair but frustrated that I will probably have to downgrade my kit from a refund. Also if I get refund what kit should I reinvest money in. Advice appreciated.

It's a trade off between what your rights are, what is realistically available and what you actually want.

Amazon seem to take the stance that you took an item, one item, and they are prepared to refund you what you paid. This is because they don't have any more stock. Is this reasonable? As far as it goes maybe it is. If you sued for a replacement would they have to get you a new 16-50mm lens? Maybe, maybe not, but it would cost and the outcome would not be quick.

I would, personally, go for the repair from Pentax and in the meantime invest in either a 16-45mm (£200-ish) or 18-55mm to tide me over whilst I waited for the warranty repair. If the former, you should be able to resell later at little loss. If the latter it won't cost much anyway.

Doing this will cost less than what you would lose by returning the kit to Amazon, and be quicker restoring your photography as well.

I'd go for having Pentax repair it and buying an 18-55mm DA L to fill the gap for the time being - I've seen these lenses split from kits for £20 on ebay before now and they're very good performers. You will have to buy a lens hood but there are plenty of 3rd party copies on ebay for around £10 delivered which fit as well as the Pentax one.

Alternatively as the K20D has weather sealing you could do a lot worse than spending around £60 for the 18-55mm WR from SRS and hanging onto it for damp conditions. The optics are identical to the DA L version but you get quickshift and a lens hood included.

If you decide to buy a 18-55 lens, I have one (not the DAL version) and it has the box & hood. PM me if you are interested.

Regards

May not apply the same in your case, but have you taken a good look at the lens? I bought a used K20D + 18-55II from a (Canonikon) dealer with a warranty, and the lens would not zoom all the way to 18. When it stopped it stopped "hard" so I thought it must be serious.

Rather than take it back, I took a good look. Looking inside from the body end of the lens, it was a curved lever of some sort not pushed fully home, so that it caught on the moving part of the lens barrel. I was able to just reach inside and push it home a fraction. Worked a treat after that, and no re-occurrence.

Like you I feared I'd be between a rock and a hard place if I took it back, as it was advertised - and priced - and bought as a used 10MP K10D! (Despite what it said on the camera, the box, the instruction book and the DVD!)

If you do go for an interim 18-55 I can vouch for Weldingblues/Colin as I bought a 50-200 from him, and all was exactly as advertised, and he was great to do business with.

Thanks for replies guys. Was out all day yesterday at Hartlepool Tall ships. Going away today for few days. My gut feeling is to go for Pentax repair as I really like the lens. Will think about it!! Thanks again.

Greg