Pentax Lenses - reliable Secondhand sellers?

Hi,
I am a girl who is very interested in photography (although not for professional or career sort of purpose..)
and just got permission from my mum that I can buy a DSLR camera ! Hooray !

Anyway, I have decided to buy Pentax K20D after looking at thousands of picture taken by different DSLRs.. (The colours it makes . . is gorgeous!)

I'm thinking .. if I should buy Body+18-55 Lens Bundle
or
Body + Sigma 30mm f/1.4
or
Body+18-55 Lens Bundle + Sigma 30mm f/1.4


In conclusion, I'm looking for a reliable and cheap secondhand seller of sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens !
(I want the body as new .. but for lens, i think secondhand goods are ok)

Could you recommend me any websites or online sellers?
However, I wouldn't like international sellers outside UK because of import duty and VAT and stuff... :S

Thank you !

Not sure you'll find a S/H 30mm f/1.4
Pentax gear gets snapped up pretty quickly these days

Personally I'd prefer the SMC-DA 16-45 (although the 18-55 is fine). If you need to work in really low light, then the SMC-FA 50/1.4 can't be faulted
Definitely get at least one Pentax lens - Pentax are running a cash back offer at the moment which is worth up to £100

Still, second hand dealers I've bought from include:
www.mxv.co.uk
www.ffordes.com
www.lcegroup.co.uk

But, it's always worth giving Chris at SRS a ring too! www.srsmicrosystems.co.uk
Start with SRS and work from there

All the best!
Matt

I would definitely go for the third option. However, I've been looking for a s/h Sigma for ages and I haven't seen one, just going to have to bite the bullet and buy new I think.

Thank you for your comments !
I gotta read some review about the lenses recommended now
yeah .. sigma 30mm f1.4 is so hard to find ..

If you don't need 30mm and f1.4 you could consider the Pentax 35mm f2 which is about £235 I think.

I too like wide aperture lenses but probably like you and gartmore feel that 50mm is a long lens, I find the 35 too long much of the time and I lust after the 21 ltd but it's not wide aperture.

Have you considered the weight of the 1.4 lens, I bet it's heavy and big too but I may be wrong. The 35mm is compact and light.

Mike

Mike,
SRS have the Pentax SMC-FA 35mm f/2.0 at £239.
It's a pretty tempting lens for digital as a "standard" fast-ish lens...

Pices91 - note that the K20D has excellent high ISO capability which may allow you greater lee-way in choosing lenses. Yes, super fast lenses can be helpful. But as Mike pointed out they are usually very heavy too! (With the exception of the Pentax 50mm f/1.4) And the depth of field is often stupidly shallow requiring super critical focussing!
(Check out this shot for a very, very low light image - ISO3200, f/2.2, 1/60s, 50mm and even then the depth of field was a bit too shallow!)
HTH!

Matt

Welcome to the forum pisces91
As Matt has said your first port of call to SRS any of the guy's there will help you to get started, good luck and the forum will help you where we can.
PS---Would you fill in your location details please .

Thanks..

I've updated my location details, ttk

I've found K20D + 16-45mm on SRS Microsystem . . at £695 . What do you think about the price? Is that ok or is it expensive?

So . . Basically, i know this is bit irrelevant to this topic, but can I ask about the basic set of equipment I need?

I'm thinking ..

- Body+16-45mm Lens (Probably this kit) - UV Filter and Hood if not included
- Extra Battery
- 4Gb or 8Gb SD/SDHC Memory Card (which one ? i dunno.. )
- (Possibly) Tripod for nights - any recommendations?
- Camera bag . . thinking about Lowepro Slingshot 100 AW
- (Maybe not) Flashgun

Apart from the flashgun, i've been searching the best price and so far, the total best price is aroudn £800 . . is that appropriate??

I think the Lowepro Slingsot 100, which I have, is an excellent bag but I suspect too small for the K20D and 16-45 therefore you might consider the 200. You get a hood with the zoom lens and the question of the filter has filled many threads here. I think they are only of use with long telephotos, for which they were intended, or if you are working in a hostile environment eg salt water spray. From personal experience I had one break and it damaged the front element and I believe that had it not been there the lens would have been fine. Two cards would be better than one, what if one fails or gets lost? Tripod - biggest, heaviest, sturdiest, rigidist you can afford. SRS pricest are keenest with excellent service. I think I can say that nobody around here would go elsewhere.

There is a pretty steep learning curve with DSLRs so dont over burden yourself with too much kit to begin with.

Ken

all i can say is you a very luck girl the k20d is an aswome bit of kit and not cheap so for your first dslr that you need permision fron your mum to buy its a great one to get and your mum must be top to let you spend that amount of money on a dslr

I have the Sigma 30 1.4 and it's a fine lens. Actually it was the first lens I bought after my K100D, and I used it for almost every shot for a long time afterwards. Great indoor lens, though the DOF is razor thin close up at 1.4. When you nail it though, it's very satisfying
If you look online at reviews and tests, you'll discover that the center is extremely sharp, but it's softer at the corners, especially wide open (but what isn't?). This might limit your composition choices a bit, though.
A bit wider than the kit, but shorter. Balances better on the K10D than it did on the K100D.
Not much else in this category. You've probably heard of the Pentax 31 Ltd, which is by all accounts a better lens, though slower (at 1. and far more expensive. It's noticeably sharper corner to corner. Pentax also has a DA* 30 on the roadmap, which unfortunately will probably also be far more expensive and no word yet as to max aperture.

Ha! Sorry, I took too long to write that post and see you're already over the Sigma

For card size though, I'd get the 8 Gig card and shoot RAW. On my K10D (with the smaller 10 MP sensor), I get 244 images on a 4 GB card shooting RAW. I'd look at a Sandisk Extreme III SDHC--very fast and constant transfer. You can get generic for cheaper, but their performance isn't quite as good.

Scott, your posts are interesting but without the courtesy of punctuation are almost impossible to read. It seems a shame that your contributions here might not be fully understood.

Ken

No it isn't, nor is the Fastpack 100 (which I prefer as it has two shoulder straps instead of one to spread the load more comfortably).

Well I suppose it all depends on what else you've got stuffed in there, mine certainly couldn't take a bigger body