Here's a shot with the tamron with the tamron 2x tele attached

I got through all the sigma 400mm primes and didn't like any of them, also tried the tokina 400mm didn't like that.

Eventually I bought a tamron Adaptall 400mm f/4 it might be manual focus and bloody heavy but find one and you will never sell it :-

Loved both my DA* lenses and they where regularly used and both bought used and never suffered any focus issues.

I went from a tamron 17-50 to a DA* 16-50 and the difference in image quality was there to see, as was the WR and silent focussing. My Tamron also hunted for focus far more than the 16-50mm.

As I understand it the focussing issues affected the 'casual user' more than the regular user, at least that's the perception to me.

I wouldn't drop a 16-50 for tamron 17-50 such a backward step. Get it repaired with the new updated motor etc..

More added to the roadmap inc a 2.8 24-70mm due later this year along with a 2.8 16-30.

Exciting times ahead...

Going back to the marketing mentioned earlier. Ricoh don't need to spend a lot of money on marketing, in this social networking age getting the message out has never been simpler or cheaper. What the brand needs to do is push entry level colourful bodies I to the hands of people like one direction, Rita Ora, Elle Goulding, young actors, actresses etc. just give them away and ask them to tweet images with them. I've seen small local jewellers have remarkable success with this method.

As for shelf space in shops it's not shops charging for that space. It brands being prepared to pay to use that space. To be honest the local camera shop for purchasing cameras and lenses is a thing of the past. I have started buying lenses from very.co.uk same price as the high street, but I get to pay in 12 months time interest free. I sell my camera body at 11 months old and buy another, it's like renting but on credit. Nikon actually have a store through very.co.uk and sigma also sell lenses through them. This has to be the way to go. Pentax sell the k-3 through them but the prices are a little higher compared to the nikon gear which is all at high street price.

I think the current products are very exciting I just hope they aren't chasing an ever decreasing market...

Saw rankin last year and had a very quick chat with him.

I'm there Sunday for Martin parr

To give you an idea field of view of 50mm within an arena photo pit.

Rudimental. Leeds FD Arena
K-5 mkii
DA* 50-135mm

50mm
f/2.8
1/500
ISO 1600




This is 50mm Main Stage Leeds Arena which is a massive photo pit

So would have to be an SLR as many venues are not letting p & s and iPhones into the pits anymore.