A guy in another forum recently put up shots from this lens and claims it is sharper than his Sigma 50-500, so not a bad reference at all !

Ditto. What's the point of having good lenses and then leaving them behind when you are in a new place and where you will almost certainly be taking more shots, not fewer, than you would at home, only to regret you don't have the lense you need for that shot ?

I can easily fit 4 or 5 lenses & the K5 into a small Lowepro Slingshot 200 and still have room for blowers, extra batteries, diffuser and Black Rapid copy - even a flash too if I really wanted (I rarely do). I wouldn't take less than that on ANY trip !

Que ?! Big ?!!

I tried out the 60-250 against the *300 .... and I must say it's not far off the sharpness of the DA*300 - and that is cut-your-throat sharp.

Nice job ! I have one of these and think it is a great piece of kit for the few pounds they cost. The Tamron is probably the highest rated 500 mirror. Easily the cheapest way to get to 500mm.

If the comment can not be attributed as being directed to anyone in particular then it's not personal is it. I was addressing all concerns raised in one post.

I suggest if anyone disagrees that those first 20-30 lenses are amongst the most used by people who replied to the survey (since they are all on photographic forums that in itself suggests they are not your average user and therefore would have in their possession better quality lenses - nowhere does it intimate that this survey was representative of ALL Pentax users) then just look through the threads from the last week and the suggestions / advice / comments made based on lenses people own.

Both of the kit lenses are in there (and highly placed on the list) too. It also makes sense that if someone buys an expensive lense then they use it a lot - hence those lenses would score highly whereas kit lenses less so because for most people on these forums they are not their most used lenses - or so it would seem.

It would be interesting to see what other lenses anyone could suggest should be there that aren't on the list somewhere. But as others have said ... it was just a bit of fun that seems to have been taken far too seriously !

And to those reminding me that lens does not have an E on the end .... I know !

The error is in fact one of omission .... I forgot the S on the end (I'm afraid after 16 years in China this is becoming more and more frequent because nouns have no plural in Chinese, when a noun is intended to be plural it is obvious from the use of pronouns or adjectives in the sentence construction.

Oh ye of little faith ! Strange you didn't have this opinion when you gave your lists !

In any survey there is always an element of conjecture on the accuracy but it is a little childish to suggest that many people may have lied about their most used lenses. Most likely the vast majority gave us a true indication of their most used lenses (especially since for many posters the list of their lenses is right there in their signatures).

Does it represents a true overview of what Pentax users use ? I don't really see how you could find it difficult to believe, look at those top 20 - 30 lenses, are they not the ones most traded on here and elsewhere ? Are they not Pentaxes best sellers ? Are they not the ones most often recommended on here when posters ask which lense they should buy ? Right, then it's rather strange to now suggest you find it difficult to believe they are not the most used.

Quite right Smeggy - I have no ulterior motive in compiling these lists from the survey and am drawing no conclusion from it other than the obvious - that these are what the people on the forums I queried use most. I was just interested to see what people were actually using ..... I decided to compile the lists after opening the original thread asking people which lenses they used most.

As I said in the first post .... this survey is what it is, and each person can take anything, or nothing, from it. Does it mean anything ? Well I'm sure to some it will and to others it won't.

I thought Ikelite had actually replied to a few enquiries recently (plus the 2009 post below) and said that they had no plans to build one since they had no free time on their production for testing - business is good it seems.

I put the post below up on another forum :

You have options :

Customized housings designed by SPL Waterhousings in collaboration with Pentax Imaging USA. SPL is the only custom housing maker that makes specialty products for the Pentax line of SLRs.
SPL Water Housings - Custom crafting splash housings since 1996 - SPLwaterhousings.com

SPL Underwater Housing for K7

____________

This from Ned Bunnell - President of Pentax in N.A. :-

Ned Bunnell , Sep 30, 2009; 09:19 p.m.
David,
Mark's housing is made by SPL Waterhousing in San Diego (SPL Water Housings - Custom crafting splash housings since 1996 - SPLwaterhousings.com). I had a chance to visit their facility, as we provided SPL originally with a K10D body so they could build the first housing which Mark started to work with. SPL builds quality housings ideal for surfing and on water photography. I have not talked to the folks at SPL in several years, but depending how many controls (buttons) you want access to and the number of lens domes you'll need, I believe their housings start at around $1200-1400. Hope this helps.
Regards,
Ned Bunnell

Glad to find out who the other person using this housing is. I am a photographer based in Tofino on Vancouver Island and just ordered the housing for the K-7. I was packing my camera up for the long trip down to San Diego when he told me that he was fortunate enough to already have a body for molding purposes, Thanks Mark. For the housing with the 10-17 port it came to $1699.00. Not bad for a custom made housing.

___________________

June 29th, 2009 10:44 AM #2
Ikelite Staff
Equipment Manufacturer

In the past we haven't seen enough customer demand for the support Pentax dSLR cameras for us to invest in the development of a new housing. We do keep an eye on new models from all manufacturers however.

So the best answer is that I don't expect us to offer a housing for it. However that could change if there seems to be a significant increase in demand over previous models.

Regards,
Jean / Ikelite
IKELITE Underwater Systems

____________________________

Opteka Housing (similar to EWA) :-

Opteka Underwater Case/Housing for Pentax K7 KX K1000 | Underwater Camera Deals

And Diveross make housings for the K5, K7 (both DRP100) K20, K10 (both DRP 200).

DRP100 DIVEROSS - PHOTO- Diveross underwater tecnology, photo and video housing | Plastmeccanica s.r.l

Prices for the Diveross DRP100:
Housing with standard port: € 799
Housing with spherical port: € 899
Standard port separately: € 119
Delivery within three weeks after placing the order.

That is probably right Don - I hadn't thought of that when compiling the tables.

Of course to find out what the results on just PU look like here is the thread : link

..... where the 31 Ltd was 16th and the 43 Ltd 19th

Some of you may remember the survey I conducted on here a little while ago - well I also ran the same survey on the PF forum and thought it would add to the viability of the survey if I aggregated the results from the two forums. So here they are. Sometimes there was a surprising difference between this predominantly UK user forum and that predominantly American user forum.

Firstly let me say a big thank you to everyone who previously responded to the thread on 'Your Most Used Lenses' (as opposed to your favourites).

Secondly let me say that I take no responsibility for any mathematical or systemic errors. The survey is what it is, just a bit of fun borne out of an interest as to which lenses we get the most use out of. Also note that the lenses listed in each table are those I think are the best fit to the title (e.g. DFA*100 macro has not been included in the table of Top Telephoto lenses as to me it's primary function is not as a telephoto even though it may sometimes be used for that function) sorry if your viewpoint is different

Thirdly - The way I calculated the scoring was 5 points for a lens in your lists in top place, down to 1 point for a lense in 5th place. Averaged points, for those who didn't give them positions, and only the top 5 of lenses used on digital cameras, were used where people gave more than one list. In some cases I just had to make an educated guess. More than 200 lenses were listed.

Finally there are two results for each table, the first is an aggregate of the results from two forums (184 respondents lists were aggregated, from the PF and PU forums) and the second is the results of the PF forum only.

Hope you enjoy these tables and that it encourages debate, discussion or comment as much as I enjoyed reading the lists of lenses you posted.










Thank you !
Kevin