"Drawing" refers to the accuracy of reproduction of straight lines. A lens with good drawing means a lens with low distortion of either the barrel or pincushion variety. This can vary with focusing distance, so a lens superb for landscapes may be dreadful for copying documents. In fact macro work and copying is one area where good drawing becomes very important. Barrel distortion in a wide angle used for landscapes may not be so critical, because it is what we expect to see and it can be disguised by the subject matter.

Architecture is another area where this becomes an issue.

The 12-24mm is a good example of superb distortion correction, especially for such a wide zoom. At the centre point of its range the distortion is virtually zero.

The wider the zoom range the more difficult it is to maintain all the corrections needed and lens makers tend to allow distortion to creep in whilst maintainig sharpness and contrast, as that is what they think most users will want. They may well be right, especially with a superzoom that is intended as a consumer purchase.

The advayage of the superzoom will be convenience in not having to change lenses so often. No doubt it will be sharp and contrasty but it may suffer lower resolution wide open especially, higher distortion and will do nothing for camera shake because of its limited aperture range.

I would expect aperture for aperture the 50-200mm to be better, and a nice match for the 16-45mm or 18-55mm lenses. Personally I would not have any use for an 18-250mm, but there is no denying it could be a verstile and successful purchase for those who need it.

I don't think there's a case for rxpecting higher quality on grounds of price. Making an 18-250mm wide angle to telephoto zoom is a much more difficult and expensive process than making a 50-200mm telephoto zoom and much of the cost will be taken up with this.

The superzoom is almost certainly going to have inferior drawing than a less ambitious design (straight lines are the first things to go these days) and if there are many more elements then contrast will be slightly lower as well.

I would question the value of buying from China or anywhere else if you live in the UK. By the time you have added Import Duty, VAT and gandling charges your £266 will have grown quite a bit.

If you look in the latest edition of Amateur Photographer there are some very exciting Pentax offers, or maybe just give Chris at SRS a ring and see what he can do for you.

If you buy in the UK you will have somehwere to look to for help if anything is wrong with your new camera. I wouldn't like to have to return in the China.

It's a Pentax magnifier. It clips onto the eyepiece and hinges out of the way when not required. Good for critical focusing but you only see the centre of the field of view.

There is a version for Spotmatic/K series cameras and another one for M series and later. The clip-on sizes are slightly different between the two.

I would expect that the CCD is actually switched off when the dust removal is operating.

I think the simple answer is to buy well known branded cards from a reliable source so you know they aren't fakes.

The price is very low anyway, so there's little to lose and much to gain.

Yes, I thought that, but when the shutter is released the air movement chucks any debris in the mirror chamber all over the place, including on the sensor. Also, there might well be some slight amount of wear and tear debris from the shutter assembly itself.

"You mention a filter in front of the sensor. What is this made from? If it is glass why is sensor cleaning viewed with trepidation by some people"

I presume it is glass, but it is coated with a special dust-repellant surface in the K10D. using cleaning products that touch the surface could abrade the finish. Using inappropriate liquids could damage the coating.[/quote[/quote]

The static charge will attract dust which will land on the filter that covers the sensor. The charge is not stopped by the filter. Agreed that it can't land on the CCD itself, but the effect will be the same.

No derision, but what you are doing involves a risk and it is not "good practice". But you already know that.

In reply to "what does a format do?" it sets up the directory structure of the card afresh for the camera in use. This also helps to prevent any card issues and maximises the available space on the card.

All these things can be ignored and all sorts of things can be "got away with", but, with respect, it's sloppy working and it may have consequences.

Memory cards have a finite life, but it is a very long life. Eventually individual areas may fail and the whole card will eventually fail.

Personally I have not had one give up yet. I always use branded cards such as Fuji or Sandisk.