Cheers Prieni, I am quite pleased with it!

And yes, in retrospect I should have brightened the first one but these were all as they came out of the camera - no cropping or adjustments, just re-sized and converted to JPEGs. I'm trying to avoid PP at the moment to see if I can get things right in-camera; not always a success but it's all good practice...

My turn. Numbers 2 & 3 were taken with my new (to me) Sonnar 135 and these are the first results I've posted from it.

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/IMGP3212.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/IMGP4700.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/IMGP4709.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/IMGP4796.jpg[/IMG]

I agree with George, there's nothing wrong from a technical point of view but the composition doesn't do it for me I'm afraid.

Now if you'd caught them the other side of the windmills it might have looked like they were blowing the boats along, and that would have made for a better picture IMO.

Still, there's always the next time and I'm sure you'll get good practice with your new lens. I've just ordered one from Jessops at a ridiculously low price so I'm quite looking forward to trying it out too

Congratulations - sounds like you got it just in time with some spectacular weather on the horizon

A good choice! The K10D was my first (and so far only) DSLR and the transition from film wasn't too painful. The 16-45 is very well thought of around here too.

As it's a lens I didn't especially want or need I think I can wait until it comes into stock...

Yes it is the same, no there's no difference in the glass.

The only differences relate to the cosmetics (green band instead of blue band, different profile rubber on the zoom/focus rings, Pentax rather than Samsung/Schneider badging).

For 30 quid I've finally relented and bought one - I can't go wrong at that price surely..?

I've never used a 16-45 so can't really say, but the 43 does open up to f1.9 so it has 2-and-a-bit-stops advantage over the 16-45 there.

In truth, if I set my 18-55 to 43mm and shut it down to f8, then took a pic with the 43 also at f8, I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference. But I think the 43 is at it's best around f2.4-f2.8 where the images it provides are just sublime - almost like they've been sprinkled with some sort of magic dust to make the most ordinary snapshots look beautiful. It's difficult to explain but the 43 just has a certain something that makes me want to use it again and again...

Can't help you on that one, but I do like Lilly's xmas balls!