Welcome to the forum! You're unlikely to find anyone who has both lenses and can therefore do a back-to-back comparison. I have the Tamron and I'm happy enough with it, it's not perfect but it's pretty good for the money. If I had the Sigma I'm sure I'd be happy with that as well.

I think the final choice will come down to what your local camera shop has in stock and/or which you can get the best deal on.

Good luck!

I've never used Contribute but I have come across trial versions of several products in the past which are "crippled" in one way or another. Is it possible that your (30 day limited) version may be missing the thumbnail creation part?

You can download the 360's manual here: http://www.pentaximaging.com/files/manual/Web_AF360FGZ_REV2_120903.pdf - that should tell you pretty much all you need to know about its capabilities.

As for using a 4P connector, I'd imagine that'd be fine for TTL as the 5th pin carries the "P" (as in P-TTL) information. If you're using it on a camera that doesn't support P-TTL anyway then you won't be losing anything; it'd be no good on a K10D though as they have no TTL support and need the P bit. Hope that makes sense!

If I was in your shoes and thinking of doing wedding photography I'd probably skip any new lenses and spend the money on Pocket Wizards (for more reliable off-camera flash), one of those angle bracket things (I'm sure someone will know the proper name) that allows you to take photos in portrait mode whilst leaving the flash above the lens, a nice big reflector, and budget for a reasonable print run on some glossy brochures to leave at venues - the best website in the world won't bring business in like a printed brochure in that game.

If you've any money left after that I'd look at a macro lens (shots of the rings, etc). The Limiteds are very nice (well, my 43 is and all those who own the 31 & 77 seem to love theirs too), but I don't think they'd be right at the top of my priority list.

That's my opinion anyway.

SRS Microsystems have them in stock at the moment: http://www.srsmicrosystems.co.uk/index3.asp?id=65&Page=3# (Second one down, listed as PENTAX SMC 50mm F1.4 FA)

Chris from SRS is a forum member here and will often do free postage for other forum members if you ask him. Happy shopping!

Hello and welcome to the forum - that's a nice collection of pics on that thread!

Like Mac says, recommending lenses is only possible when we know what it is you want them for (and what your budget is of course ) but I would probably suggest that as a starter you should look to buy the Pentax FA50 1.4 - this is a "standard" lens that acts like a mild telephoto on a digital camera. It will have a distinct advantage over your two kit lenses in that it is lightening fast in comparison (excellent for low-light work such as the show in your pictures) and it's also pretty cheap (usually around the £150 mark). Picture quality is fantastic and it's one of those lenses that will always find a home in most photographers' kit bags.

Once we go past this lens we'll really need to know a bit more about what you want to achieve before anyone can advise you on what you'll need.

Sorry to hear it Gwyn but thanks for judging anyway; and congratulations to promhandicam - looking forward to seeing what this week's topic brings.

K10D / FA43 / f8 / 1-60sec / ISO800

When I look at images at "fit to screen" on my copy of the Pentax browser software the magnification is automatically set to 22.92% and yes, it does show jagged lines. These will disappear at magnifications that are straight divisions of 100%, ie; 50%, 25%, 12.5%, etc.

I find a good compromise for browsing to be 25%, I get nice smooth images and just lose a tiny bit of each picture top and bottom. This is in no way unique to the Pentax software, all image editing/viewing programmes will have difficulty displaying images at sizes that are shrunk to an "odd" percentage.

Excerpt from Amateur Photographer, 27 October 2007, pages 38-39 (lens test for Pentax SMC DA12-24mm f4 ED AL (IF) / Samsung D-Xenon 12-24mm f4 and Pentax SMC DA 50-200mm f4-5.6 ED / Samsung D-Xenon 50-200mm f4-5.6):

"...There is a difference in the colour reflected by the anti-reflection coatings, the Schneider having a strong bluish/green tinge and the Pentax a little paler..."

"...It is understood that the Samsung lens has Schneider coatings and the Pentax the firm's well known SMC (super multi coating) treatment. This may account for the Samsung having the marginally higher light transmission. Though technically an advantage, it is at a level unlikely to be of importance in everyday photography..."

Nobody is suggesting that the lenses are not optically and mechanically identical, nor that they're not built in the same factory from the same components, probably on the same production lines by the same people. But why do people find it such a stretch of the imagination to think they use different coatings, especially when the evidence of this is there for anyone who wishes to compare them side-by-side to see? After all, they're smart enough to stick different badges on them and change the rubber grips - I think the Vietnamese are cleverer than some people give them credit for...