While I won't admit that I am in the SRS fan club, I have been very satisfied with the products and service I have bought - needless to say I have had equally excellent service from a number of photo outlets including the two from Leicester....

For both Nikon and Pentax I am always on the lookout for glassware, longer than 300mm, Nikkor or Pentax branded, and not at the exhorbitant prices they achieve...my eye caught an elderly 400 mm f3.5 Nikkor but wanted AF, then....

Looked at Siggie 150-500 at the weekend from my neck of the woods, thought it would answer my questions about reach for birding, while also being usable on the film cameras... Asked the price - £799..

Ok SRS do the same lens for £599 will you match?:

Got the answer back.

No.

Reason?

1) retailer has old model - we have the APO version.

Mobile internet is a bloody wonderful thing isn't it? - Simga website checked - SRS version is the same....

second one

2) SRS have grey imports, their Sigma lens won't have the 3-year guarentee, you'll have no warranty, that's why they sell it so cheap.

Again.. mobile internet SRS website 3-year guarantee banner on the item description. MY k-5, 60-250f4, 50 f1.4 came from there - all correct. So I told the retailer that I doubted their reasoning and considered SRS to be reputable and left the store.

Now, there were new labels on the counter where they say they won't answer questions where the customer would appear to then spend their money via the internet - but we've spent a fortune there in the past year - but if they start to give what I consider to be slanderous and misleading information then they will lost future custom.

I guess this is not uncommon?

My superb Nikon D3 is a tool, it is brilliant but I don't have an emotional attachment to it at all. My equally brilliant and superb K-5 and K20D feel like an extension to me...However if my house in on fire the first things I will gather will be the FA* 85 and the Limiteds...then the GF

I think Heather Mills would be expensive

And it's not something that you could sneak into the country either...

SRS have given prices for rental, although it's not in stock yet. Given the price of the lens and availability - rental of a Nikkor 500mm f4 VR from Fixations is a fraction of the price.

Who knows - if the price of the lens eventually comes down to a reasonable level it might be affordable to buy or rent.

There is a warning that should come up with that statement....get to know your gear before the event, last thing you want to do is spend ages going through the manual on the day.

tempted....

the SDM failure, especially on the 50-135, has been long known - when my 16-50 died I knew it was an inevitable failure and paid the £180 to have it repaired. It is now like a new lens...

I have not tried the 6-years Sale of Goods Act argument but you might struggle to get a result as it is a known problem - but then again ALL DA* lenses will be less than 6 years old.

Incidentally my 60-250 was the one of the first failures on that particular lens, fixed under warranty but the lens packed up after being laid up for a few months...the jeweller's screwdriver in the screw drive worked a treat.

I honestly think that Pentax should continue with APS-C cameras, plus 645D. There will be a miniscule market for FF Pentax, most of those who've clamoured for FF now have Nikon, Canon or Sony( ) - I've actually got the D3 which I am happy with - but I have a closer emotional attachment to my Pentax gear.

Hope to be using my 36x24mm Pentax cameras soon, need to justify purchase of Delta 100 and 3200 last weekend

I've hung onto my Z-1s and M645 as they are built to withstand a lifetime of abuse - more staying power than the current crop of DSLRs - however sourcing film is getting harder and harder - Kodak's demise has left me looking forlornly at my 4 5-packs of EliteChrome EC in my fridge - it's a super film but I know that once that is all used up, I can't get any more, the only options remaining are Provia or Velvia 100 in that range....

Meanwhile, My K-5, K20D and D3 are serving me well, all in different ways but all I now wish for is an affordably lens longer than 300mm.....

Ahh Sigma DL - the 70-300 came in two versions - DL and APO, DL being the budget variant - most probably AF. APO has better 'glass' and the APO macro variant of the mid90s was a good lens, not brilliant but good.

Depending which body you intend to attach it to makes a difference - but I would say this - DA-L is much, much better - unless of course you intend to use it on a film camera.