Hi Saulo

Welcome to the Forum, I've never used a Nikon, but I can give you some reasons why Pentax might suit you:

- Build quality / weatherproofing second to none in the price range
- Great focussing ability in very low light (K-5II models and K-3)
- Great ergonomics and simple menus
- Fast max shutter speed
- Fast burst shooting - 6FPS on K-5 and faster on the K-3 (bigger buffer too)
- Not many people have one!!!!!!

Regards
David

Some lovely images there, the 'IV Mono' is probably my favourite.

Regards
David

Hello Mike, welcome from me too!

Cheers
David

Hi Sam

Thank you to you too, what a great transaction, I hope that you get some really great shots with the lens. Don't forget to try it for portraits - it is superb for this at wider apertures.

Best wishes
David

I would second the views posted by Matt on the 17-70. It really is a great lens, yes it can hunt a little at the longer end but this was only an issue for me on the K-5. It doesn't do this on the K-5iis or the K-3. For landscapes, the quality of image with the 17-70 is pretty darned good, probably better than the 16-45 and not far behind a decent prime. It does distort a bit, but this is easily corrected in post processing.

I'm think that I'll keep the 17-70 as a partner to the 50-135, I may go for a 16-50 one day, but after seeing what my 17-70 produced at a music festival last year, in near darkness conditions, I will be keeping it for some time yet.

Regards
David

I tend to agree with Alistair. The 150-500 is an excellent lens, very sharp when stopped down just a little. I also had a 50-500 and found it to be quite soft, but I wonder whether I am being a little unfair as it was the older variant of this lens and could have had a slight knock during transit to me, but I am guessing at this. The 50-500 operated OK, but I couldn't get an image from it that even got close to the sharpness my 150-500 is capable of.

Regards
David

I would just like to say a big 'thanks' to Duncan McNeill for the DA*50-135, which arrived today, packed better than any parcel I've ever received and in absolutely top notch condition.

Duncan, you have been an absolute pleasure to deal with, fantastic communication, very courteous throughout and highly recommended to all the PU members should you be thinking of buying any of Duncan's items.

Best wishes
David

I usually prefer some detail in shadows, but not for this image. I like your shot as it was in the first version posted, there's nothing I would do with it at all!

It's a great image, one to be proud of.

Regards
David

PM sent

Regards
David

I am also interested in how the 1.4 performs, particularly on a DA*300, which I have my eye on! Adrian's shot above with the DA*300 illustrates just how good this lens is (and how good Adrian is too). My initial thoughts are that we might struggle to better this with a 1.4 converter and a lesser crop, especially on cameras like the K-5iis and K-3, both of which are superb for cropping. Noise may also be a factor, less cropping means less noise, but only if the light is good and ISO is low in the first place, obviously with a 1.4 converter attached, the ISO has to be higher to maintain the same shutter speed. The jury is out for me at present, I think the DA*300 will be my next purchase, without a TC initially.

Regarding the DFA100 Macro, I find this lens to be extremely sharp. I had good results from a Sigma 105 macro and a 2x teleconverter (teleplus 7 element), the Pentax DFA 100 is marginally sharper from what I've seen and should work brilliantly with the new 1.4 converter. I don't feel I need it though, when I want to get closer I use extension tubes which don't compromise image quality.

Regards
David

PS: The 'fly' image is great, but I'm not convinced it could not have been achieved with just the DFA100, no converter and a heavier crop. Your thoughts Adrian?