Many thanks, Stefan. I can probably live with the shortcomings for the £99 price-tag. Most of my efforts are wider angle, so I would use it only occasionally. That's interesting about the lack of quick-shift. I just assumed it was broklen and was going to return the lens for that reason. After your comments, I'm off into the sunshine now (without a tripod) to see how it performs. I expect to get some great results rendered useless by camera shake. Many thanks again.

Alastair

Hi, chaps,

I moved into the wonderful world of DSLRs a few months ago with a Samsung GX-10 and just love the instant access you get to your pix compared with film. I'm delighted with the 16-45 I bought as a main lens, although the Samsung 18-55 is a far better performer than I thought it would be. On the long side, I thought a Pentax 50-200 would be just the thing during the credit crunch after looking at sample shots on the Pentax Photo Gallery and ordered a bargain-priced "unboxed" one. It arrived today and turned out to be the DAL version, a lighter design, I understand, designed to complement the KM. Does anyone know how its IQ compares with the standard DA version? I'm reluctant to take it out for a thorough test in case I decide to send it back and get a DA instead. Anyone tried the DAL 50-200? Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.