*istD, SMC-A 50mm

No, it does make sense - you were after the best deal and you found it in the US. Often things aren't in stock in the UK too.

I think we'd all like to buy things as close to home as possible, but it doesn't always work out. At the end of the day you got what you wanted and within budget, that makes perfect sense.

Dan

Where I work we actually have an account with Intro2020, the distributers of Pentax in the UK. I contemplated getting the K10D through work, but the trade price to us was actually around the same that most retailers charge. If you're a smaller business, as many camera shops are (i.e. not a chain shifting thousands of units a week), it must be incredibly hard to make it pay, whilst being competitive.

I don't think it's down to the retailers to lower prices, but to the manufacturers/distributers.

European retailers are sometimes cheaper too, I got my K10D's grip from Germany for about £100, when they were still around £125 - £150 in the UK, and I would expect the warranty situation to be better.

Dan

Whilst I agree that the US prices are generally a lot less than the UK ones, I think what this list shows is the benefit of shopping around in the UK. There's a sticky thread on the General Chat sub-forum called 'Recommended Suppliers', and to take one of those suppliers at random ( ), let's say SRS Microsystems, the above list would be:

Tamron 18-250 was £299
Pentax 50 1.4 was £165 and
Pentax D-LI50 battery was £45

£509 total

(These are the only prices I've ever seen these items listed on the SRS website, and I got my 50mm back in June at this price).

So the saving by buying in the US is now only £59. It's not a small sum, but it's not the £150 implied above. I would be tempted to pay that extra for the peace of mind of using a local, trusted supplier.

Dan

That's it! I'm guessing there's one there. If there wasn't (for instance on the majority of the 'Digital' lenses by Pentax), then the lens would be stuck on the smallest aperture all the time, which wouldn't be very helpful.

Dan

It's probably that you need to set the custom setting 'Allow use of aperture ring' or something like that. Set that to yes and the convertor should work.

You will run into problems if the lens you wish to use it with hasn't got an aperture ring though.

Dan

You don't need it Galoot - spend your money elsewhere.

Dan

As there have been several threads lately about the merits of 50mm primes, and the differences between the 1.4 and 1.7 flavours, I tried a little experiment today whilst photographing marmite on toast (which was delicious, by the way ).

Very simply, on a tripod mounted K10D I used my FA50mm 1.4 and A50mm 1.7 to take a set composition, where the emphasis was more on the blurred background (bokeh) than the subject in focus itself. I was using natural light from a netted window, and I have slightly broken cloud today so there was a slight variance in exposure, but it was the effect of the aperture that I was more intersted in. The photos have been cropped slightly to concentrate on the background.

First two shot at f/1.7.



FA50mm 1.4



A50mm 1.7


These two shot at f/2.4.



FA50mm 1.4



A50mm 1.7


You can see that the background is much smoother with the FA50mm 1.4, at the same aperture settings as the 1.7. The differences reduced as the aperture decreased. Detail in focused areas looked similar, although as I was using manual focus the point of focus varied between the two lenses, so absolute comparison is impossible with my test.

Hope that helps show why the 1.4 is, for many, a preferable lens to the 1.7 for general use.

Dan

Just because you can, doesn't mean you have to. 'Pure' photography depends on the photographer, not the medium.

Dan

Some would probably disagree.

When you say 'adjusted', what do you mean? And do you mean for photography to be 'pure', you need to take as few photos of a subject as possible?

Dan