I'm not sure you have interpreted the data correctly.

People who have owned the 16-50 tend to praise it more than people who haven't. Surely real experience is more important than hearsay.

G

It's clear that the people setting exams are getting stupider.

Some time ago, a friend showed me his daughter's report card. A* in every subject (of which there were many, and none were knitting, media studies or other rubbish). And, he admitted, she wasn't unusually bright or diligent.

When everybody gets top marks, how do you know who is really intelligent?

G

I read that. Your comment implied that because Northern Ireland is not part of GB (which is too obvious to mention), a person from NI should not be considered British.

So, it appeared that you didn't know what Great Britain means, and that you didn't know Northern Ireland was part of Britain.

Hence my desire to help you out!


G

Quite so.

G

Don doesn't need warranties.

G

Plus SMC. And are the others weather-sealed, and do they have silent in-lens focussing?

G

Hmm.

The problem with tests is that they tend to over-emphasise perceived failings which in reality are often not a problem.

The resolution of the 16-50 is very good in real-life situations, and when I had one I never once had cause to complain about image quality.

Back-focussing can now be adjusted easily in the camera, so that is not an issue.

Focussing is pretty fast, and super-quiet.

I replaced my 16-50 with a 17-70, partly because cash was tight, and partly because I wanted the extra reach. But I wouldn't dissuade anyone from buying a 16-50 if it meets their needs - it's a gorgeous lens which in real-world use gives superb results.

BTW, Ricehigh has a long-established grudge against Pentax. It is best to ignore everything written by him.

G

Happily, there is virtually no such thing as a bad macro lens.

For insects, the longer the lens the better. Short macros are best for things like documents.

Many people prefer to focus manually, so don't pay a large premium for AF.

Likewise for exposure.

An old SMC Pentax-M 1:4 100mm, coupled with extension tubes, will be a great low-cost way into macro photography. And don't ignore lenses by Chinon and Ricoh.

G

The sliders only affect JPEGs, not RAW files.

A photograph taken in good conditions and exposed correctly will often need very little adjustment in RAW. However, I find that levels and focus always benefit from some tweaking.

RAW comes into its own when you don't get it right in camera. But once you get a good process going, RAW doesn't take any longer to deal with than JPEG. This is definitely true in Silkypix, which has the ability to apply a set of corrections to a batch of pictures. I imagine most software does this nowadays.

Personally I use sRGB because that is best for Windows and for the Web. If you print a lot, you might do better with Adobe.

G

So, reading that, it seems that the motor just jams.

A brave owner could try applying a slightly higher voltage to get it turning again. We need a tame Pentax technician to tell us what contacts to short circuit.

G

PS: Glad it worked for you, John. A business opportunity perhaps?