I've just spent the last half hour going through your results - impressive work! I'm pretty sure though that my P-TTL experience is nowhere near as inconsistent with my K10D+AF360 combo, so if I get the time this week I may well copy your experiment and see if the same tale of woe plays out - I've got a sneaking suspicion that your camera and flash aren't talking to each other as they should and it'd be good to find out if that's because you have a faulty unit or whether this is a universal phenomenon.

I'll let you know my findings when I have some.

A very interesting read, if I didn't already own a K10D I'd probably buy a K20D now, as it is though the improvements are too small to warrant the change for me - I'll see what the K30D brings in 18 months time...

I hate to point it out, but 11-16 is a spread of only 5mm and if it is released as a "*" then I wouldn't mind betting it'll cost you a lot more than the 12-24 does!

Having said that, I have no overlaps in my camera bag; if I want wide then the 12-24 comes out, for normal it's the 43 (which pretty much lives on the camera) and for tele/macro the 100 takes to the stage. I compensate for the inbetween lengths by moving closer to/further from the subject and/or cropping the results in Photoshop. I like the simple life!

Funnily enough, I don't find I use the 12-24 at its widest angle very often (doesn't really suit my style of photography) but at its telephoto (24mm) end (where I use it a lot) I'd be willing to put it up against any other lens (zoom or prime) at the same focal length and be pretty confident it would win out in terms of IQ - it really is a stunner!

Very useful - thanks Matt

I too prefer the second of the landscape versions but I have to say I think the portrait crop works best of all - suits the shape of the lighthouse perfectly.

I love the sky - excellent capture!

If it were my photo I'd be tempted to crop it to a more panoramic format with the horizon falling about half way and the foreground from the bottom of the steps downwards removed.

I don't have a subsciption so I'll have to wait until Tuesday when it hits the shelves. Was there any indication of when the 55 will be released? I keep eyeing the Voigtlander Nokton 58 but I don't want to commit to anything really until I've had a chance to try the Pentax...

I always find PBase a useful resource for comparing lens outputs - it certainly helped make my decision easier!

Pentax 12-24 samples here: http://www.pbase.com/cameras/pentax/smc_da_12-24_4_ed_al_if

Sigma 10-20 samples here: http://www.pbase.com/cameras/sigma/10-20_4-56_ex_dc_hsm

and you can find further examples of the 12-24 at www.pentaxphotogallery.com (go to; Image Data -> Lens -> SMC DA 12-24MMF4 ED AL (IF) ).

I prefer seeing actual examples of photos to lab tests but if lab tests are your thing then photozone.de (as mentioned above) seem as competent in carrying them out as anybody - they've covered both of these lenses as well as the various zooms that reach down into the wide end (18-55, 16-45, 16-50, etc) and of course the Pentax DA 14mm F2.8 (which few people seem to own and is apparently being discontinued - there may be a few bargains around if vendors are clearing their stocks of this one).

Happy hunting!

Very nice capture indeed!

Actually, the Samsung does do DNG - it's PEF that Samsung doesn't do.