They do! Well, the seller of this one does. He's gone out of his way (against my advice) and paid more money for the Schneider-badged versions of the 12-24, 18-55, 50-200, 35/2, 50/1.4 and 100 Macro - just to avoid having a green band on his precious Samsung!

That's what the price is loosely based on: £400 estimated final value less £50 to cover fees and hassle of selling on eBay. No skin off my nose as I won't be involved in the eBay-ing and I don't get a commission either way (boo!).

I wish I'd known he was selling it! He only decided this weekend when he went and bought a Bigma. What's doubly gutting is that he lives less than 200 yards from your shop!

Oh well, if there's anyone out there who doesn't mind having a Schneider badge and saving some cash in the process...

Something wooden eh? Well there's plenty of scope in that one!

I've wondered that as well (future collectors' value that is). They'll certainly be rare compared to the Pentax badged versions, but will the Schneider name on the front be enough to make them collectable in the same way say Zeiss or Leica would? Probably not IMO...

He will get more on eBay, and that's probably the way this will go. Shame though; this really is as-new, it's a known good copy and could be a complete bargain for someone.

If nobody's bitten by next week you'll be able to bid on it over there instead - I'd expect it to reach £400 there though...

Actually, the Samsung versions normally sell for quite a bit more (new) than the Pentax ones but I know where you're coming from

Anyway, we had this very discussion earlier this evening and he's agreed to drop the asking price to £350 + p&p. I also got some (not very good) snapshots of it.

I'll leave it here until next week but there won't be any more reductions 'cos it'll just go on eBay if it hasn't sold at £350 - that's a giveaway!

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/schneider12-24/IMGP4575.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/schneider12-24/IMGP4576.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/schneider12-24/IMGP4577.jpg[/IMG]

Excellent judging Rob; my kettle was steaming slightly but the wide aperture just meant it got lost in the background - oh well...

Good choice of winner - the lighting really made it for me too so congratulations Mike, look forward to the next competition.

And yes, I wondered what our choice of lunches said about us as a forum too! Personally, I think Mhuni has the most appetising looking...

Mike Johnston and Carl Weese wrote an excellent article over at photo.net in which the DA 35 Macro shines. Other examples can be found at the Pentax Photo Gallery (navigate to Image Data > By Lens) and over on PBase there are some more random shots.

Each time I re-read the Johnstone/Weese article I have to keep a tight grip on my wallet - it looks a fantastic lens.

I think Kim C had one of these for his Leica but I've not seen him on this forum for ages...

I'd imagine one of the main draws would be the focal length; Leitz are quite conservative and stick to the 21 / 24 / 28 / 35 / 50 / etc range. The max aperture is also a little outside the Leica norm, at f1.9 it falls between Summicrons (f2) and Summiluxs (f1.4). The biggest advantage of the Pentax though would certainly be price, although it's actually a bit dearer than a lot of the Voigtlander M-mount lenses.

I doubt the Pentax gives much (if anything) away quality wise though.

Hi CJ, welcome to the forum. Good choice of camera and lens

Well it may lack in quantity but it certainly has it's fair share of quality this fortnight - I like all the pictures so far