Interesting Chris, if that's the case it's more upmarket lens offering. If it's a typo then we'll find out sometime soon.

If you look around the forum, there are threads on the subject.

I used them once and they were fine, but not mega-quick. Not disgraceful either, but maybe two weeks for a K10D repair IIRC. I think the quote arriving was the slowest bit.

There are 12 MP on that small sensor to make up the image.

If you crop an APS-C image there will be far fewer pixels to make up the image. On the K-30 it might be 2.2MP and on the K-5 3MP, give or take a few.

Mount the lens on a small sensor and you use the whole sensor.

I know what I like, and make no apologies for it.

However, you can be forgiven for the comment as when I don't like something I don't feel particularly motivated to write about it. It seems negative to do so, and I'm a person of enthusiasm, not negativity.

So I can see how that could be interpretaed as rose tinted glasses.

Without digresssing too far, the point is made.

The basic design of the K-7-K-5-K-5 II seems to have endured very well, so it's clearly been a winner for Pentax. The Sony sensor is one thing, but the processing of the information is Pentax and even with the same sensor in the Nikon D7000, the K-5 inches ahead in many ways.

I wouldn't dream of using a high powered telephoto lens hand held.

Two things about the camera shake. First, I use a tripod, but I leave the head untightened. Thus I have a support for the camera but can pan and tilt at will. That seems to work quite well.

The blur induced by the electronic shutter is tackled with the Pentax Q Aadapter, which has a built in mechanicalo shutter.

Given that some birders get success with a digiscope and compact camera I can't see how the Q combination can be any more difficult than that?

I have been thinking about this as well. Pentax camera lenses should make better images than digiscopes, so it looks like a promising angle to pursue.

Current digiscope/compact camera combinations can deliver excellent quality, so the Q should be ahead of the game.

Carl's point is actually a good one. I guess Pentax K20Ds sell for higher prices than Samsung GX20s as well?

I'm sure the price will settle.

Thye addition of the 18-270mm is long overdue. It's an excellent lens and with SMC coatings it should perform better than the 18-250mm, which is already well worth owning.

The motor will no doubt be a DC one, similar to the one in the 18-135mm. This works extremely well, so I don't see a problem there.

I think we need to simply see this as a useful addition toi the range. No use lamenting the lack of a tamron version, because there isn't one.

It's a similar situation to the joint efforts with Tokina. In that case, eventually the prices have evened out and sometimes the Pentax version actually costs less.

That's a lot of criticism about something unseen and untried, and it also ignores that it just might be a spectacular performer. There's the new coating, a dersign built on different principles and a modest aperture to keep weight down, presumably.

An RRP of £5999 means nothing, it will settle, but it's what we might well expect a professional lens of such a length to be.

It will be interesting to see if it becomes the wildlife photographer's must-have optic, and if it does then sales of Pentax DSLRs will start to move into professional circles in a bigger way.

Yes, Sigma lenses are cheaper, and they are available in Pentax K fit as well.