In store testing of new lens

The PM was in the Sent Items folder but I don't know when it was read, I didn't expect an instant answer but before the lens sold out would have been good and any response at all would have been nice.

I work odd hours so phoning in business hours is not always possible but I made the effort to phone second time around unfortunately as I wrote above the price/offer seemed to have been very volatile.

Don't forget, all you'll be achieving is a lens that works well with your current camera, ie the lens and camera tolerances 'match' so to speak.

Change your camera in the future, who knows how the lens will perform?

You could use the so-called 'hack' software on your K10D to enable AF tuning.

There aren't any pro dealers close to Staines other than SRS in Watford or Chesham Cameras in Cheshire, without going into London. London Camera Exchange is in Reading so you could get there by train easily enough from Staines.

Non Pro dealers in the area include on Staines Road West Sunbury, so a bus route from Staines, MF Photographic, and in Kingston there is a branch of Cecil Jacobs. Their London store is a pro dealer but apparently the Kingston branch isn't.

I found Chiswick Camera Centre very helpful when I bought my K-x by mail order from them back in January. They are a Pentax Pro dealer but I don't know if they stock Sigma and Tamron. I would have thought Chiswick fairly easy to get to from Staines by public transport.

Chesham is in Bucks Gwyn..you have to get past Bucks, Oxon, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Shrophsire to get to Cheshire

Jacobs is right next door to Jessops in Kingston...they have a nominal amount of Pentax gear, really better to go into that London to get a better choice. My experience of Staines is being held up in traffic when the M3 and M4 turn into car parks and Chiswick I try to avoid....

Trains from Staines to Watford, go to Richmond, Overground to Willesden Junction and then onto Watford High Street. Maybe 2 changes but you are talking about making a major purchase......

About the trade-in price, it was a bit unfair to raise expectations about what you are likely to get and get only 2/3 when you've spent some money to get there, and going to a shop involves expense already, but I'd be wary about getting the cost when they haven't seen the item, other places have declined to give me a price... SRS did make an offer for my lighting kit (plus commission sale) but I was relieved to have made a private sale....

It was a typo on my part as I am sure you realised.

Reading is a direct train ride from Staines. 45 minutes or thereabouts.

Staines itself is pretty awful - I can quite understand Mike not having a car there.
Last time I went, for an Uncle's funeral it was an absolute traffic horror story, even knowing most of the routes through and around the place. The service was in Staines, the burial in Englefield Green. We got to the cemetery just in time to see the coffin lowered .

I haven't been shopping there for years and years though - not since my father moved from Sunbury some 12 years ago.

I use the train often, if drink is involved, from Richmond to Bracknell..

Then it's a 20 minute bus ride to work...

I prefer the comfort of a 2.3 litre automatic turbocharged luxobarge which takes me 40 minutes if the M3 is clear....listening to Radio 2.

Staines may be trying to change its image from Ali G, but Bracknell is far worse... Imagine Leiderdorp or Zeist, awful places, but Bracknell just sucks the life out of you....

Just tried googling Chiswick Camera Centre - website not found...was looking for an excuse to go wandering around Turnham Green and that area......

So now Chris has to monitor the private messaging systems of all the forums he subscribes to in order to check that some lunatic hasn't tried to place an order?

That's ridiculous, and to blame Chris is just plain stooopid.

Well, they hadn't seen your item on the phone, and P/E values tend to come from a bible that all stores use, and which is updated from time to time. I very much doubt that they were trying to mislead you.

Sorry, but you score 0/100 for your report.

G

That sounds like my sort of man!


Well, if you wander down to the river in Chiswick you'll find my not-so-luxo barge, where you are assured of a drink - if I'm home.

It's a long way from the Vale of Clwyd, though.

G

Not planning on changing my body in the near future so I'll be happy with a good match on my current body.

Correct me if I'm wrong but the firmware hack adjustment on the K10d is a global adjustment so it would potentially throw my other lens out.

I think you're correct (although there are others here who perhaps know more about the 'hack' software). What I've read elsewhere are comments from people who use the 'hack' software each time they change lenses; it's supposedly very quick and easy, and once you know what adjustment to make per lens it's a matter of a few moments to set the camera up for it.

Whichever route you take, hope it works for you.

It is a global adjustment on the K10D. The K20D and later provide the option to adjust for up to 20 lenses via the regular menu system.

There's no 'hack software' to use, and it's not even a 'hack'.

It's just a method enabling the debug mode ( no changes to firmware ) which enables the AF adjustment parameter in the custom menu.

But yes once you have the global AF adjustment parameter enabled it does only take a matter of seconds to adjust it for each lens.

When I had my K10D I used to switch the AF adjustment between two settings, which accommodated the lens I used at the time. IIRC there was 80 micro-metres between settings, so it was a case of dialling in -80 or +80 or 0 depending on what lens I changed to.

Sadly, although the staff are good and very knowledgeable, LCE Reading have very little Pentax in stock in my experience.

Park Camera had nearly nothing Pentax (one body, two lenses) last time I visited about three months ago.

SRS always seem to have the best stock.