I use an Epson 1290s to make my A3 exhibition prints and generally for monochrome use the black in cartidge only. This produces perfectly fine results and should be tried out before more complex solutions are sought.

I admit that my particular high contrast style suits this approach, although I did surprise myself recently when I produced a black and white prints with some (subtle) colour areas in it and the black and white was perfectly neutral. So it is possible.

My shame is that this black-only approach gives me prints that are better than most of my darkroom ones. Ouch...

Saved from what? Pentax seem to be doing very well at the moment and if left alone might make steady but maybe not spectaular progress. Unfortunately that is often not good enough and the Big Is Best mentality seems to take over.

In financial terms this can make sense, but in other ways it may not do.

I believe some people did make purchases, but when I tried it was way too late.

I didn't even need to buy another 50-200mm lens, but at that price....

As the menu systems are different, that could be very unwise...

All the more reason why it would be difficult to change the coatings for the Samsung lenses. I would have thought doing so would be making them different for the sake of it and would add to costs.

Also, if only the cosmetic finish at the end of the line is different then the lenses could be diverted to the Pentax or Samsung final stages very easily and quickly depending on the demand.

Studying the Physics of Optics by the way sounds like very interesting. Did you continue in a field to which it was directly relevant or some other unrelated field?

Nikon went firther than that and used to say that they altered the coating for various lenses to enhance their particular design requirements.

Ther's no saying that the SMC coating of modern Pentax lenses is the same as on a SMC Takumar. No doubt there has been progress.

I think the Pentax/Samsung question revolves around whether or not it would be cost effective to bother having two coating processes, although I'm sure that it is indeed possible.

I used to be indecisive, but I'm not so sure anymore...

But seriously, you've made the case, so what are you waiting for? Every day you delay is one less day to enjoy your purchase!

But when you do take the plunge, just forget about it and don't torment yourself any further...there's a nice learning curve awaiting you to take all your attention.

Good luck, hope you make your decision soon.

That the lenses are coated is beyond doubt - you can see that they are. The 50-200mm lenses that I examined side by side seemed to have identical coating relections, so I deduce from that that the coatings were probably the same.

I could only really repeat what I've already said on the AP forum.

I really do think the Pentax will hold its value better, so when upgrade time comes along then you might be better placed.

Otherwise, just buy what you're happiest with and expect superb results from both options.

I don't think you'll sell a Samsung 50-200mm for £100 though. Curry's were offering them recently for £29.95 and I got a Pentax one from Tecno for around £120. Don't forget also that it won't cover the 35mm format as it's a digital-only lens.

Obviously there is more work to be done yet, but so far so good. The design is simple and clear and the speed of access is fine.

A forum would be a really important addition that encourages communication between members even when meetings are not on.

Compare to our website which has been running for some time and is very active:

www.adaps.org.uk