I think that's a case of stock bought at a cheaper price a while ago vs new stock at a higher price due to change in exchange rate.

the sad thing is that over the past 2 years we've had a golden age for camera kit in the UK, seems like we're heading back to what it was like about 4yrs ago when the number in USD is now the number in GBP.

Could be cheaper to buy a discounted BA flight and get one in NYC soon

Exchange rate changes slowly filtering through the system.
Apr08 1GBP~200to240YEN, Apr09 1GBP~140YEN. The pound has weakened a lot this year.

A Japanese company will sell in yen probably and unless they want ot make a loss on stuff they have made then the price has to go up.

That said the yen seems artificially high to me - too many hedge funds unravelling and buying jap govt bonds pushed the exchange rate up, if I understand it right.

I reckon come apr next year things will be better wrt exchange rate but who knows how many retailers will cope with it.

some have tracker mortgages, hopefully enough will be loyal to keep their local knowledgable stores - usually the ones with a pentax pro designation - alive.

hope you enjoy yours

Hi folks, following on from an earlier post in this thread here's Part II

Now some pics using K10D of some more suitable targets for comparison, as these were from a w/e in London. All are handheld, although most are taken with elbows resting on a wall so reasonably well braced imho.

There's 70mm, 200mm, 250mm and 60mm here, generally a full scene pic first with a little usm followed by 100% crops at f4/4.5/5.6 then a sharpened 100pc f4. Ones at 100pc with sharpening have used silkypix exaggerate sharpening setting simply to see what level of detail might be extractable in principle. I have not attempted to balance noise reduction vs sharpening (you’ll see what I mean for the ISO560 shots)

I’m still getting to know “bigger bertha” which is my wife’s nickname for the lens – big bertha being the DA*200, goodness knows what she might call the sigma50-500 – probably bazooka or the like

Overall so far I’m quite pleased with my purchase, IQ is fairly even compared across f4, f4.5 and f5.6 and from what I’ve seen long and short ends don’t seem to be significantly different to the mid range which is good. I have the feeling the long end of the lens is a touch sharper than the short end, but that's an average subjective view.

I would welcome your comments, especially how my shots at 60&70mm compare to your copy of the lens. How is yours doing ?

I recently had a chance to do some comparison shots at 200mm vs the DA*200. Once I’ve double checked the focus adjustment for the 200mm lens I’ll post some up. Next on the list is DA60to20 vs F70to210.

Nearly 70mm focal length at f4/4.5/5.6 – all look pretty similar to me
full scene (with usm100_0p8_6):
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/70mm/IMGP2349_67mm_f40_1500th_ISO140_noI.jpg[/IMG]
67mm_f4.0_1500th_ISO140
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/70mm/IMGP2349_67mm_f40_1500th_ISO140_100.jpg[/IMG]
67mm_f4.5_1000th_ISO140
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/70mm/IMGP2350_67mm_f45_1000th_ISO140_100.jpg[/IMG]
67mm_f5.6_750th_ISO140
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/70mm/IMGP2351_67mm_f56_750th_ISO140_100p.jpg[/IMG]

now a sharpened example at f4
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/70mmsharpened/IMGP2349_67mm_f40_1500th_ISO140_100.jpg[/IMG]


200mm f4, f6.7 – f4 compares favourably to f6.7.
full scene (with usm150_0p8_6):
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/200mm/IMGP2336_200mm_f40_1000th_ISO100_no.jpg[/IMG]
200mm_f4.0_1000th_ISO100 100pc
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/200mm/IMGP2336_200mm_f40_1000th_ISO100_10.jpg[/IMG]
200mm_f67_750th_ISO140 100pc
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/200mm/IMGP2335_200mm_f67_750th_ISO140_100.jpg[/IMG]
f4 sharpened
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/200mmsharpened/IMGP2336_200mm_f40_1000th_ISO100_10.jpg[/IMG]

250mm f4/4.5/5.6 – all look similar to me, f5.6 would seem to have a fraction more detail, but remember all handheld
full scene with usm 150_0p8_6
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/250mm/IMGP2337_250mm_f40_1000th_ISO100_no.jpg[/IMG]
250mm_f40_1000th_ISO100
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/250mm/IMGP2337_250mm_f40_1000th_ISO100_ce.jpg[/IMG]
250mm_f45_750th_ISO100
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/250mm/IMGP2338_250mm_f45_750th_ISO100_cen.jpg[/IMG]
250mm_f56_750th_ISO140
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/250mm/IMGP2339_250mm_f56_750th_ISO140_cen.jpg[/IMG]
again f4 sharpened :
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/250mmsharpened/IMGP2337_250mm_f40_1000th_ISO100_ce.jpg[/IMG]

near sunset so these are taken using ISO 560
60mm at f4/4.5/5.6 – all look similar to me,
full scene (with usm150_0p8_6):
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/60mm/IMGP2422_60mm_f40_180th_ISO560_fcc7.jpg[/IMG]
f4_180th_ISO560 100pc
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/60mm/IMGP2422_60mm_f40_180th_ISO560_100p.jpg[/IMG]
60mm_f4.5_180th_ISO560 100pc
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/60mm/IMGP2423_60mm_f45_180th_ISO560_100p.jpg[/IMG]
60mm_f5.6_125th_ISO560 100pc
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/60mm/IMGP2424_60mm_f56_125th_ISO560_100p.jpg[/IMG]
f4 might be slightly softer at 60mm but can still be sharpened somewhat as shown below.
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/60mmsharpened/IMGP2422_60mm_f40_180th_ISO560_100p.jpg[/IMG]

oh, btw, I did some focus test charts to confirm whether the simple checks taking pics of the wine bottle was in the right ballpark

For 250mm See http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250focuscharts/250mm/

For 60mm see http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250focuscharts/60mm/

If empty have a look later , I’ll try and post them soon.

At 250mm +120um seems good to me, confirming the earlier test shots with the wine bottle. At 60mm focal length 120um seems to give slight BF and 140um is either OK or slight FF. Given that all the 60mm tests are v.close to min focusing distance for the lens I’m inclined to err towards the 250mm results and stay at 120um adjustment (thank goodness it’s not wildly different across the range !)

Hi folks, I've got mine at last, it was hard waiting all week b4 I could get to the shop but I just didn't fancy it being bounced around in a delivery van so I waited a little longer !

OK I can share a few shots from the 60-250 now, make of them what you will

Firstly I felt I should check the focus adjustment for this combination of lens and camera, most of my lenses seem to need about +100um on my K10.

All were tripod mounted with 2s mirror lock up (although note that my tripod isn’t the sturdiest in the world and I felt there may have been some residual oscillation from shutter press on occasion – would be nice to have a remote).

I looked at the two extremes of focal length :- 250mm at f4, 60mm at f4, procedure was to re-focus using AF button after change of um, shutter button set to not AF. I did this in 20um steps from 60 to 160um.

The 250mm shots were taken at about 8ft away, the 60mm shots closer to get approx same scene.

Shots here are processed at silkypix default settings, resized to 968*648 plus usm 100, 0.8, 6. http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250focuschecks/

Shots here are 100% crops, just processed at silkypix default settings, no usm. http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250100pccropfocuscheck...

I chose 120um as the adjustment to use.

maybe I'll use a test chart later, I was just keen to get going !

Next a few snaps from Sunday afternoon at a selection of focal lengths (all with the 120um adjustment).

Sorry the shots are not much good, for some reason I just wasn’t feeling inspired at the time, I think I was looking for a particular shot rather than going with the flow !

I wouldn’t usually shoot so many at f4ish, but I wanted to explore how the lens behaved. I think I’ll try and do a MLU f# series later.

Some have had tweaks to EV and highlight compensation applied but white balance, contrast, colour etc are unchanged (Bluebell ones really need some colour adjustment IMHO to remove green cast due to foliage), all are resized to 968*648 with usm 100, 0.8, 6 applied. Those annotated MLU in the album are tripod mounted and have 2sec mirror lock up. All taken with camera settings for contrast etc at 0 but bright mode selected (I can’t remember now if that affects silkypix in any way) All originals were PEF raw files, sRGB.

Album : http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/

2s mirror lockup 60mm_f4,0_125th_ISO400_968x648usm100_0p8_6
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/IMGP2160_EVp1_hfs_noICC_60mm_f40_12.jpg[/IMG]

2s mirror lockup 2164 97mm_f4,0_45th_ISO400_968x648_usm100_0p8_6
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/IMGP2164_hfs_noICC_97mm_f40_45th_IS.jpg[/IMG]

2s mirror lockup 2159 170mm_f4,5_90th_ISO400_968x648_usm100_0p8_6
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/IMGP2159_EV0p5_hfs_noICC_170mm_f45_.jpg[/IMG]

Handheld 152mm_f4,5_125th_ISO400_968x648_usm100_0.8_6
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/IMGP2158_EV0p5_hfs_noICC_152mm_f45_.jpg[/IMG]

Handheld 200mm_f6,7_500th_ISO200_968x648_usm100_0p8_6
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/IMGP2107_spxdef_noICC_200mm_f67_500.jpg[/IMG]

handheld 250mm_f5,6_750th_ISO140_968x648_usm100_0p8_6
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/IMGP2177_spxdef_noICC_250mm_f56_750.jpg[/IMG]

I’ll try to add a few later from an f.no series of what I suspect could now be the most photographed pub in Britain

Comments welcome, I haven't finished testing this lens yet so my jury is undecided at present.

PS Hats off to Mr Day for his definitive series in another forum.

ah, so it was your telescope I saw there yesterday !!! It did look to be in very good condition, exterior at least, didn't see the optics. I was tempted to try it out, but didn't have time. Maybe that's the model to re-make for the super-telephoto on the roadmap ???!!!

Hi folks, well I picked mine up this afternoon from you know where. I'll post some pics here for you to pick over in due time.

I have an F70-210 and a DA200 too so hopefully I'll find time to do some comparisons soon.

I'll try and post a few pics from the pre-production sample too, but probably in a seperate thread to avoid confusion.

hope everyone enjoys their new lens.

my mrs is suggesting I should be sentenced to some hard time helping round the house for buying this one, so I hope it's worth it

cheers

IIRC Apr08 1GBP~200YEN, now 1GBP~145YEN --> price rise!

FWIW I can't see the yen staying this high forever - it's not good for their export based economy.

a member in dpreview found this at dcwatch

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=ja&tl=en&u=http://dc.wat...

it's a bit clearer in babelfish I think
http://uk.babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-home&t...

I have had 4 x 2Gb Sandisk Extreme III cards for about 2yrs.

Zero failures, rapidly closing in on 12000 frames.

I consciously try to make sure the imgs have finished writing to the card b4 switching off the camera, usually putting the lens cap back on is more than long enough.

I use a fully charged battery at the start of each day, but that's more to do with not wanting to run out of juice during the day !

FWIW I prefer to use smaller cards so that in the unlikely event one fails then I wouldn't lose so much.