Nice shots - downloading mine but can't post on here as they were taken on my other system

Still going for the goal of having owned every single Pentax lens Mike?? I am also tempted by the 560 at that price, but seriously if the rental cost came down proportionately that would be a more cost effective solution for me.

would get you 5 FA35 F2 Algi.....

If it's made anywhere other than Japan you should be fine.

Having used mine for the first time yesterday - I agree it is a worthy winner...

Were you photographing in a shopping centre (which are usually private) or on a street (public throroughfare)?

I'm planning on going to Dunsfold (Saturday) and to Goodwood Revival (Saturday and Sunday) to see them.

Might be worth spending a few quid extra on PU Plus membership to get the JPSS discount as well...

I hope there is nothing specific with your lens such that Alan needed to order parts specially from Ricoh/Pentax in Japan to fix your lens, but I thought the break on my D-FA Macro was extreme enough that a repair was uneconomical but I had no hesitation to go direct to JPSS.

Hope it works out for you ok.

JPSS gets my vote...

I broke my macro in half - repair cost £90

quality of each repair (2 x SDM and 1 broken FA50 mount) has been astounding, lens has come back better each time.

They might only seem well regarded because we on PU are more tuned to issues with the DA* series and SDM in particular...

My DA*16-50 is every bit as good optically as my Nikkor 24-120.

For you K-3 you have DA17-70, DA18-135, DA*16-50, DA*50-135 and even the DA18-55 and 55-300. I'd be happy with the DA* but nothing wrong with the other options....This business with Canon/Nikon users having more choice is a bit of a laugh - too much overlap and those that aren't available in Pentax are £4000 or more.