why is pentax so noisy?

i finally purchased the pentax 16-50 2.8 and i am very disappointed. why are the other lenses so noisy? a friend has the nikon d300 and every lens he uses on it is as quiet as the 16-50 and the focussing is as quick and if not quicker. why is it that pentax charge a premium for something that nikon users more or less get for free?

i think pentax need to up their game quite considerably or other may follow jessops and stop selling their products. also, had a quick look at the k7 at srs and i don't think it compares to the nikon d300. it is closer but not there yet.

The new lenses with built in ultrasonic motors will be whisper-quiet compared to the ones driven by a motor in the camera body. They should also focus quicker. That's progress.

Pentax aren't charging a premium for something free with Nikon - the 16-50mm is a pro-spec top of the range lens and comparable Nikon lenses cost the same or more.

The 16-45mm is as good and considerably less expensive if you don't need the f2.8 aperture, SDM focusing and the bulk that goes with such a lens.

Well, if it doesn't compare to D300, maybe it is because there is a considerable price difference, at least in Norway.

1: Nikon users get nothing for free. In fact, they pay a very hefty premium for decent optics. It is not apparent from your post, but are you disappointed with the DA* 16-50mm lens, or the fact that other lenses make more noise when focussing?
2: Jessops did not 'stop selling' Pentax, rather, Pentax stopped supplying Jessops (so they couldn't sell Pentax).

I never gave much though to the noise my K10D makes while focusing, but I recently used a friends D40 and was amazed by how pleasantly quiet it was with the kit lens. Both the shutter and the AF (more interested in the latter).
I wish Pentax improved that.
BTW, the camera isn't as bad in your hand as I thought it would be, I'd say it might even feel better than the 400D from Canon (although I haven't handled one in a while). Neither holds a candle to the K200D though, or especially my K10D.

The K-7 is suppose to have a quieter shutter, coupled with SDM lenses, it should be good.

None of my SMC Takumars make any noise whatsoever and focus accurately in lightning fast time... your lenses make a little noise? What are you photographing that is upset by them?

That it most certainly is, by the bucketload!

Speaking to Chris @ SRS I think retail price will be about £1100 so about the same as the D300 right now. could be wrong here.

[quote="Mannesty"]1: Nikon users get nothing for free. In fact, they pay a very hefty premium for decent optics. It is not apparent from your post, but are you disappointed with the DA* 16-50mm lens, or the fact that other lenses make more noise when focussing?[/quote]Granted the Nikon equivalent to the 16-50 is the 17-55 and it costs twice as much.

I am not disappointed with the 16-50. I need to evaluate the quality but I am very happy with the motor. I am just a bit disappointed that my friend and I both with the Sigma 10-20, I with the Pentax version he with the Nikon version, manage to have such a different experience.

I can't here him focus at all.

[quote="gartmore"]None of my SMC Takumars make any noise whatsoever and focus accurately in lightning fast time... your lenses make a little noise? What are you photographing that is upset by them?[/quote]Have not tried the lenses you speak of but not sure why they would be quiet and Sigma and Tamron noisy. I don't use manual focussing.

Also, when I am trying to take candids at the dinner table with my Tamron 28-75 as soon as I start focussing the candid ends.

I can now do candids with the 16-50 but only the one I guess. I will be unoticed until the shutter kicks in then candid moment over.

The Nikon & Canon mount versions of the Sigma 10-20mm have inbuilt motors & will therefore be quieter than your 10-20 that is screw drive only.

The newer version of the 10-20 (constant f3.5) should have an inbuilt motor for all brands so start saving if that is really important to you.

The motor makes such a big difference. I can see why if I was is a store and tried a k10 with the Sigma 10-20 or even Tamron 17-50 say and then tried the D90 with the same lenses I would opt for the Nikon considering both cameras cost more or less the same an the lens prices are the same.

I cared more for features at the time and the K10 I felt was better than the D80 but most users don't care much for features like I did.

Why has it taken so long for Sigma and Tamron to start offering motors for Pentax lenses?

Shame on you bragging about having multiple taks...

Actually the rabbits in Arthur's Seat are kind off alert little buggers. When you do manage to get close to one without being spoted, its better not to make noise. I have used my 55-300mm in MF because of this.

Of course, no probs with the Tamron 500mm.

For those who are mystified by some comments above, SMC Takumars are manual focus lenses, and therefore the focusing is very quiet indeed.

Norwegian prices seem to be about 10000 NOK for the K-7, about 14000 NOK for the D300, body only.
To me that is a significant difference.

That's got to be a criticism of Sigma, not Pentax. Sigma reverse engineer Pentax technology to incorporate into their own thus avoiding the Pentax licence fees.

Are we really sure about this? Sigma do have the know-how to build an SDM (HSM in their parlance) lens for a Pentax. Why they did not incorporate it into all of their Pentax fit lenses is another matter.

The reverse engineering thing is often quoted as the reason that Photome used to report the wrong lens with some Sigmas. This was not the case.

It used to report my 150-500 as a 70-200 IIRC. A short while after K20d firmware 1.03 came out, I noticed that it was now reporting the lens correctly and assumed it was the firmware update that had sorted it. Then It struck me - it was now reporting the correct lens on old pictures I had taken before the 1.03 update.

It was an update to Photome which had sorted the problem.