While not my intention to enter any competitions it never hurts to have the option, I already have the 18-55WR and just have never liked it as much (IQ wise) as my Pentax-A 50mm but I would like WR and a more flexible focal length and as for cats and dogs sometimes it feels more like elephants and rhinos (small ones admittedly)!

I just got a tax rebate of £715 so am looking to get a new lens for my k5. The sharpness of the kit lens has never seemed too great when I have been taking photos in the past so I would like to get a decent one and then buy a couple of limited lenses in the future I was thinking about a 16-50mm DA* but all of the negative press about the SDM puts me off somewhat not to mention the talk about soft corners (at 16mm) and chromatic abberation.

I am looking for a weather sealed lens preferably so that I can still use it while hill walking when it rains. How big a difference is there between the weather resistance on the WR range compared to the DA* ? I know the build quality is better with DA* but is the weather sealing better as well?

I have also thought about the 18-135mm WR but some reviews say the results are not as sharp but then again it is half the price and more mm.

I see that srs are doing the 16-50 in the sale for £599 was thinking of getting it through them as I have had good service in the past there.

Any advice is welcome

Ah well bought it now so heres hoping

No suggestions then ?

Well here comes another which _____ should i buy thread which everyone has probably read a thousand times before but i was just wondering if anyone could give me a little advice.

I have been looking for a decent tripod to replace my cheap and nasty one i got as a present ages ago. I am a keen hill walker and have been working my way through the munros so would hope the tripod will be reasonably light and compact but still be sturdy enough for high winds (can get a bit blowy on top of a mountain!).

I got some tesco vouchers for Jessops so now have £120 to spend from the club card vouchers I have been looking on the site and was thinking about the Giottos Vitruvian 9255 (linked product description is for carbon fibre version which is the 8255) with a ball head. The weight limit seems fine as its just a K5 with 18-55mm lens for now.

I will be doing some winter hill walking so the twist action legs may be good when wearing thick gloves and I have seen it in a local store and it seems to fold up quite small and is reasonably light compared to some other aluminium tripods.

Does anyone have experience with this tripod? I mainly do landscape photography so the one i get should be decent for that If there are better tripods for around £275 or less then please can you point them out as the local shops around here dont seem to stock a large range sadly

Thanks for any advice

Got my K5 today very happy with it so far from what little chance i have had to play with it. Got the 50-200 mm lens as well simply to have the ability to use a telephoto lens in the rain if i need it Plus i have always felt that the photos taken with my sigma 70-300 always seem blurred but maybe thats just my bad camera skills lol

Did Ben Macdui and Cairngorm on Tuesday wouldnt have needed a WR lens as it was a lovely day and even got a bit burnt (opps) but sadly i only took my little compact camera with me! :/

When i was buying my K5 one thing has confused me with SRS is that it seems it would have been cheaper to buy the camera and lenses separate.

K5 Body: £899
18-55mm (unboxed): £59
50-200mm: £109
Total: £1,067

OR

Pentax K-5 Digital SLR Camera + 18-55mm & 50-200mm: £1,079

Whats the difference between the unboxed lens from SRS from the normal one i got with the package ... or am i just feeling a bit put out because i thought it would be cheaper to buy the package than get them separate?

Ta

Hi i'm a newbie from scotland I have has a Pentax K10D for years but am thinking about upgrading to the K-5 soon.

I love hill walking, and am working my way through some (hopefully all eventually!) munro's with my Fiance so I like the idea of 'weatherproofing' (my k10d is weatherproof aswell of course but I just dont have any WR lenses) was wondering though how 'Weatherproof' is a weather proof lens such as the Stock 18-55 and 50-200mm WR lens that come with this package? Seen the video of a pentax salesman pouring a bottle of water over a k-5 with a DA* lens but dont have the money for lenses like that right now lol.

Planning on taking my dslr out alot more when hillwalking if I can get some resistance from the frequent scottish rain

Currently i only have a poor selection of lenses ...

Pentax-DA SMC 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL
Sigma DG 70-300mm f4-5.6
Pentax-A SMC 50mm f1.7 (love this little lens!)

Happy to be here