I think any one of them would be good, depending on what you value most - speed, size, weight, zoom ratio etc.

When I had to make the same decision I went with the Tamron 17-50, which I see is not on your list. I would recommend it & do not regret the decision.

PM sent regarding the 18-55 WR.

I stick to Sandisk only for cameras, the cost-saving of an inferior brand is not worth the risk of losing pics. I also stick to 4gb, so that if a card fails I don´t lose all my photos from a trip. 30MB/s write speed is good, but you need at least 20 with a high-res DSLR.

It´s nice to see people who actually know about photography & gear giving Pentax some respect for what they do well. Usually the only users of other gear I see commenting are on DPR, and many of them are rude, ignorant or both.

I´ve seen before also that Pentax gear is often what pro or semi-pro Canon & Nikon users have at home for when they want to enjoy their photography, rather than just get paid for it.

The K series do seem to be better regarded than the M, but I´m not sure how much of it is based on fact. The only K series I have is the 55mm 1.8, which is probably the most common. It´s M series equivalent would be the 50mm 1.7, which I also have. The K is slightly sharper wide open, but there´s little other difference apart from size & weight. It seems to me that the older the lens line the more mythical the qualities become, though this may be age or the classic build quality, which has decreased substantially through the years. Taks are highly regarded though many of them are not so good due to the poorer coatings, Ks a little less so even though many are essentially the same design as the Taks but with improved coatings. Ms are not so well regarded perhaps because they´re the most common.

For 67GBP you can get a new Yongnuo YN560 on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Electronic-Speedlight-Speedlite-flashgun-Olympus/dp/B003...=sr_1_9?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1295385033&sr=1-9

It´s a dumb flash, so everything´s manual, but the build quality is superior to any of the old Pentax flashes I´ve seen, it´s powerful, full tilt & swivel and power is very adjustable. I´d recommend it.

The problem is that this is a company that employs sales assistants who don´t know what an aperture is.

I would go to Jessops for a look, or for a bargain, but not for advice.

I´d say that´s a fair assessment of it´s place in UK photography retailers.

Hi there,

I´m a member on various Pentax forums on the web but have just joined here. I´m British (Edinburgh) but now live in Madrid. I´ve been a Pentax user for around a year & a half.

For anyone interested, my gear:

Camera: Pentax K200D, BG3, O-ME53
AF lenses: Tamron 17-50 F2.8, Pentax 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 II, Pentax 55-300mm F4-5.8
"M" series lenses: 28mm F2.8 (v1), 50mm F1.7, 85mm F2, 100mm F2.8, 135mm F3.5, 28mm F3.5 (won´t get hold of this one though til I´m next in the UK)
"K" series lenses: 55mm F1.8