"As this isn't an eBay auction, when the buyer pays by PayPal they will be given the option to pay the charges if they wish to"

John...just to say that is incorrect. I also thought it only applied to ebay sales, but I read the paypal t&c's very closely one night and if you use paypal, it applies to ALL sales via paypal, no matter where they are sold from. I believe ebay updated the paypal terms some time after they bought paypal.

I agree with the original post by G.

If you pick up a K20D & D300 side by side, which I did some time ago, there seems little, if any discernable difference in build quality. I did with the D300 peel off the rubber cover over the sockets and tried in vain for about 5 minutes to get it back on the body. There was NO WAY I was going to faff about like that with any camera..so the D300 lost straight away. This is an ergonomic issue though.

One point though about build quality, NON of use here and about 99% of users on the internet are not in any position to make any firm judgements about build quality. The only people who are qualified to do this are camera repair technicians. You need to strip down any camera to truly see how well (or not) it is made....

cheers Steve.

Pretty grumpy thread this is...

I knew a guy who shot street 'portraits' on a Canon F-1 with the FD 17mm lens...they were excellent. There are MANY ways to crack an egg.

G:

60mm's....Canon 60mm EF-S macro, Nikkor 60mm macro (two types), Leica R 60mm macro, Contax 60mm S macro & Contax 60mm C macro, there were also at least one or two 3rd party lenses in 60mm...I think Panagor was one.

There are also several 58mm lenses, which is very close to 60mm.

The 60mm macro's are utterly fantastic slightly long 'standard' lenses. Some of the above are better than the same brands 50mm lenses.

I use a Contax 60mm all the time with film and so the Pentax 40mm is fine for me....

cheers 'S'

Film: 25+35+60 macro (Contax; so some odd focal lengths), or just 28+60 macro

Digi: 21+(35 or 40)+55. Carrying a macro that doubles up as a 'standard' lens has been very often useful.

Angela Nicholson is incapable of being objective in my view. If I do buy AP, I totally ignore any reviews, especially if she has done them.

"As for Sigma and Tamron alternatives, I use them but prefer the better optics in Pentax lenses"

Thats a very broad generalisation. Some of the 3rd party optics are superb and better than most users ability to use them....tried the Sigma 50-150? or the Tamron 90 macro?...both fully the equal of Pentax and possible better..and that is just two that spring straight to mind.

cheers Steve.

With photography, everything has both pros & cons...you never get a free lunch. You just need to decide which balance of the pros & cons suits your photography...

cheers Steve.M.

"prices have been artificially low for a long time.

It looks like it's catch-up time"

...John, I think this is spot on. However, I also think it is a huge blunder by Pentax to do this with one huge rise. Pentax never cease to amaze me with their poor adverising/marketing and general poor business sense.

cheers Steve.M.

You MUST be careful buying from them. They have loads of poor condition and very well used items. I would only buy from them if I could handle the goods first, I would never buy from them again sight unseen.

cheers Steve.M.