Try black and white. This is a picture that depends on shapes.

G

Just press on. Most court cases are settled on the steps outside, once the guilty party realises you are serious.

And good luck.

G

Welcome back, Kimbo. Sightings of you have been rare recently on this forum.

G

Amazing though it might seem, my resolution has held. But of course, it only related to lenses, and the K10D is not a lens. And it expires before the very tasty 2.8 zooms appear next year! (If I have any money left.)

G

Mac,

Now that you have graduated to the K mount, I presume you are aware of the following sites, which are invaluable resources:

http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/

http://stans-photography.info/

Generally speaking, whilst obviously less wide, the Pentax 30mm, 31mm and 35mm lenses (pretty much all of them) tend to be more highly regarded than any of the 28s except for the FA version.

I have found as I have gone on that I have first bought inexpensive, and therefore usually less good, lenses, but eventually gone on to save up and buy the best. It would have been better to have left out the first step, and had I done so I wouldn't now have twenty or thirty lenses sitting on the shelf that seldom or never get used. At least they didn't cost very much.

Inexpensive doesn't always mean bad, though. The M 135 and 75-150 lenses, for example, were extremely popular in their day, and therefore commonplace and cheap now. They are pretty good lenses though, despite their low prices (as are all the MF 50s).

Happy hunting.

G

PS: Never buy a Sigma without trying it out first on every body you own, and test the exposures you get very thoroughly.

If you are on a budget, and new to photography, buy the kit lens.

But also try to get an SMC Pentax-A 1:1.7 50mm. On Ebay they go for less than £30.00. If you can spend a bit more, buy the -F or -FA version to give you auto-focus.

This lens is great for portraits on DSLRs. If you find it too sharp, smear a little Vaseline round the edges of a skylight filter.

You will never get better optical quality at any price (except for the 77 Ltd), and it will give you a yardstick by which to judge other lenses, and to decide whether you think the additional quality of very good lenses is worth paying for. It may not be in your learning phase.

If you are really short of cash, the SMC Pentax-M 1:2 50mm can be had for peanuts, but is also very good optically. However, you will have to use it in manual mode.

Good luck

G

PS: If you think you will one day aspire to having the best lenses, forget Nikon and Canon, and buy Pentax Limited lenses. The most important piece of equipment is the photographer, and the second is the lens. The camera body is just there to facilitate the picture-taking process.

Canon don't make good, affordable, lenses. They do make very good, very expensive, lenses. The same is largely true of Nikon.

And don't rely to much on magazine reviews. These chaps get kick-backs and discounts and expenses-paid trips and gorgeous pouting lovelies..... In fact, I think I'll become one myself.

If you don't know about them, here are two useful sites:

http://stans-photography.info/

http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/

If you want full frame, buy Canon. Or better still, the 645D. The K mount will never be full frame in digital.

G

Are your eyes deceiving you, or has Chris corrected the error in seconds flat? The site says FA, not DA, and there is no DA 50mm.

G

Brian,

This is only to be expected. I bought my first *ist D from Canada through Ebay, and saved 30% off the UK price at the time, despite paying VAT, duty, shipping, etc.

Pentax haven't yet worked out that the world is now a global market, and when they charge too much, people will either buy from abroad or decamp to the opposition.

Sadly, there are sufficient people who will pay through the nose regardless of price to mean that this policy, whilst it results in fewer sales, is nonetheless very profitable on a per unit basis.

George

It is apparently going to be available in North America in late November. Goodness knows when or if it will make Europe.

From the excitement generated by this camera, I suspect sales will be massive, and Pentax are probably delaying availability until they have built up large stocks.

Personally, I shall probably ship one in from the States, given the usual price disparity between there and the UK, which is much more than the VAT element.

G