The Samsung GX10 was basically a rebadged K10 and a GX20 a rebadged K20. There were subtle differences notably in the software; the menus and jpeg compression routines were not the same.
This tie up also extended to lenses and flashguns where the same items were sold under both badges.

John

It should focus just the same as it always did, manually! Do you mean you cannot get the full focussing range from it, or perhaps you mean get a correct exposure reading using it. Just to confirm, is it an m42 screw mount fitting? Would you elaborate a bit further.

John

Wondered why I'd never seen one come up for sale! Sorry for duff info.

Some of the recent replies are overlooking the OP's concern about lens changing in tricky conditions such as when hill walking when it isn't really a good idea to swap lenses if in a downpour. So for those conditions it is worth adding an 18-250. One has to remember though that these aren't weather resistant lenses, the nearest for that would be Pentax's newer SMC DA 18-135 WR. Having one doesn't stop you taking the 16-45 and 55-300 on another occasion when conditions are better!

John

Wouldn't it have been better to return the camera to the supplier and request a new one as it is the seller, not the manufacturer, who is responsible if goods do not conform to contract? They would hopefully have just replaced the camera.

The focussing screen can be swapped in the K-5 so a bit of judicious cleaning should be possible. There's a video on You Tube showing how to change one on a K10D so I presume the method would be much the same on a K-5. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqZCjT-jr1s

John

I wonder if the high demand for the K-5 caused the quality control to drop off more than usual. Perhaps quality checkers were put on the production line to help meet production demands and consequently some issues were missed? It resulted in a frustrating problem that the OP had to cope with on holiday - isn't it always the way.

John

There's several lenses that cover 18 to 250 which isn't far off your range. There's one made by Tamron which is also licensed to Pentax / Samsung (plus of course Tamron's own brand version.) For a wide zoom range it isn't at all bad considering. That's discontinued now so you'd have to scour the second hand market for one of those. Sigma also do one.

However Tamron extended the range from 18 to 270mm (no licensed versions of this). I doubt the extra 20mm makes much of a difference though! I believe this is still in production so it should be possible to obtain one of these new.

I have the Pentax 18-250mm myself and am very pleased with it for much the same reasons as you thought it would be useful for. I have noted that when close focussing its focal length seems to drop to nearer 200mm which is odd but not really a show stopper. Picture quality holds up pretty well across its full range considering it is quite a range, in fact much better than found in some of the popular cheaper zooms from the so called market leaders. The Samsung and Tamron versions would perform much the same. I have no experience of the Sigma.

Just bear in mind that with all these lenses the maximum aperture is somewhat limited, but that's what keeps their weight and size down making the lenses convenient to travel or hike with. The lenses you have already would perform better when you're not walking the hills but the all in one solution is certainly convenient and worth adding for when you are and they are comparatively good value.

John

How do you set that up please? I thought the telescope's own eyepiece lens would be sufficient. Do you put the telescope on the front like a super adapter?

John

Thanks for pointing that out. I'd always thought the INFO screen was just that, for info only and I hadn't even considered trying to change any parameters from there! One lives and learns.

John

I would reckon a genuine reason for asking may be to ascertain where, when or who made the item. Also perhaps identify a grey import.

A suspicious reason may be to put in an insurance claim for a supposedly lost or stolen item then claim it is for sale on eBay!

John

The cluttered background does detract so to me the edited version does look better (unless the photograph is intended to show where it was.) Obviously too late now, but perhaps by taking the shot from a low view point it may have been possible to hide the clutter?

Whoever made the sandcastle did a great job.

John