sadly yes.. £30.. oh well it happens.

I think the tamron will work out ok. less elements than the sigma design so hopefully less artifacts.
As said I have used a 135 f2.8 up until now without any issues.
I am using lenses for starfield shots though and not trying to capture a planet.. thats where the scope comes in.

speaking of which the new ZS66 turned up today and I cant believe its terrestial performance.. zero colour fringing.. cant wait to get it out there

Thanks for your input guys, it made me sit down and think what I really want from any lense I bought.

Three main criteria emerged
I wanted to be able to take better insect and flower images.
I wanted to be able to use it for piggy back mounted astro shots.
I wanted a fairly fast lens to make astro focusing easier (no you cant get away with just sticking a lens on infinity)


Finaly I ruled out all the choices I listed and went for a new Tamron SP90 macro lens.
I also picked up a mint sigma 18-50mm AF on ebay cheaply to cover the wide angle end of things.
I did seriously toy with the idea of the sigma 18-125 and a cosina 100mm macro but after reading several reviews and seeing test pics from both ruled them out.
An added bonus with the SP 90 is that it has an almost perfect flat field and little if any CA both of which are a real must have for astro photography.
The 90mm will convert to 144mm FOV on my camera which brings it close to the 135mm lens I had been using for astro work.
The 18-50 is an unknown quantity to me but hopefully will not have the same vignetting issues as the pentax 18-55mm.

Ok so Hi all I'm a newb here.. and I have a hard choice to make.

I'm stuck floundering over choice of budget standard zoom.
I say budget because its got to come in under £200.

So far I have for consideration:
Sigma 18-125 f3.5/5.6
Sigma 24-135 f2.8/f4
Sigma 28-135 f3.5/5.6 macro
Sigma 28-105 f2.8/f4
Tamron 28-200 f3.5/5.6
cosina 100mm macro

I already have:
28mm MF f2.8 macro
pentax 18-55 f3.5/f5.6
Sigma 70-300 f4/f5.6 macro
Sigma 400 f5.6


I want to cover the standard zoom with something a little better than the kit lens as its terrible for vignetting.
I prefer a wider range as I can then keep the lens on as a "grab and go" set up.
I would automaticly go for the 24-135, but I have heard it can be soft, especially at 85mm onwards.
The Tamron seems a good all round choice but its an unknown quantity to me.
Any idea's/experience with any of the above?

Thanks for the welcome..

I havent got out there in anger yet, mainly as I'm waiting for my pier to be fitted, but have done some lunar shots.
I really think the camera has potential for astro work and once the new mount is up and running hope to prove it.

Yes I often stack with registax, I also use photoshop for tidying things up..

Is anyone using the K10D for astro photography?

I'm a bit cheeky really as I have the GX10 and not the K10D but there are no worthwhile forums for the camera and lets face it its not that different, just menu's and badging.

I just wondered if anyone else had tried?
I did some with my previous GX-1L but its a whole new ball game with the GX10.

yke78uk check your inbox..details in there..

On re reading chris A's thread I note:


As such Chris A already has a buyer for his lens, all yke78uk has done is say look if it falls through Im interested.

So there is no commitment from him and no sale pending involving him, which leaves him clear to buy.
As for pricing, I priced before I came to the forum and it is advertised elsewhere for the same price, posted many hours prior to my post here.
There was no intention to undercut on my part at all.. just a fair price that I felt was right to ask for the lens.
I realise as they are getting rarer I could have pushed for more but Im not that kind of person.

If thats the case then sold to you sir.

Yes there are no scratches or fungus on the lens.

I thought from the post the sale had gone through, ie sale pending usually implies waiting for clearance of funds on my other forums.
As such I had no intention of undercutting anyone.
In the circumstances I dont feel it is fair to sell to the above buyer as he has already made a commitment elsewhere.

Sigma 400mm f5.6 prime lens pentax mount (PKA) Manual focus.

Works fine with any pentax or samsung DSLR's in aperture priority mode or manual mode.
SR system works with it as well.
Allows full metering
Allows autofocus confirmation with my camera (GX10/K10D)
Rotating collar and tripod mount on the lens.

Reason for sale: Just upgraded to the autofocus version for wildlife shots.


£100 ovno...

Postage will be via RMSD at cost.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58...man/ce2f_1.jpg