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Jon

Might be possible to do something with a hotel showercap - taping the front to the lens hood. I have the WR lenses and agree with John that it is great to have the freedom they bring. But it sounds like dust and dirt may be just as much if not more of a problem for you, and I think I'd rather risk trashing an old lens in those circumstances.

It's a nice lens and quite compact too.

Tried one once and the main disadvantage I could find was that it does not focus terribly close (I'm thinking around 3 meters as the closest focus but would need to check). I was tempted but decided that I wouldn't end up using it terribly much.

I'm not convinced that at normal print and viewing sizes, the image quality would be much if any better than the 55-300 either, and I'd rather lose speed with the latter in order to gain a lot of convenience.

Finally, prices are sometimes mad. This one is a case in point - I wouldn't pay that for the A*, let alone an M*.

Hmmm - I wish I'd read John Riley's post above before buying a lens from this seller.

The 50mm SMCA he sent was described as being cosmetically and optically in mint condition. The rear lens element is scratched (but admittedly does not appear to affect image quality). When I sent an email (very polite one) to let the seller know and ask either to return it or negotiate a lower price, he simply repeated that he felt his original description that the lens was in mint condition was correct.

If anyone else is thinking of buying from Mark Ireland, and I don't know whether he might also trade in other places, you might want to tread carefully.

Hello Simon,

Great place for a holiday, and I think a landscaper like you will be able to bring back some stunning photographs!

I cannot comment on the Pentax 17-70, but can tell you that compared to my (decent copy of the) 18-55 DA AL II, the Tamron 18-250 performs at least as well, if not slightly better in terms of sharpness. It does have more barrel distortion though, and is prone to vignetting when used wide open at the wider lengths. If you use filters this could be a problem unless you have a set of expensive thin ones.

Up to around 100-150mm, the quality is good, but after that the 55-300 (which I also have) would show increasingly significant gains. The 18-250 is OK at 250mm in the centre - certainly for an A4 print - but the edges aren't great and the bokeh is a little harsh too. If you like the warmer colour pallete of Pentax lenses, then the slight coolness of the Tamron glass may not be to your liking.

I must admit that it depends what you think you will be photographing in China, but I'm sat here thinking the 17-70 is supposed to be a great lens, and may well cover the vast majority of your needs? By the time you go much beyond 70mm, you will also start to go outside the comfort zone of the 18-250.

I have the 18-250 and like it, but not sure I would take it on a trip of a lifetime. If I was in your shoes I'd either take the lenses you have, or possibly the 17-70 plus something like the 135 f3.5 SMCM, which performs brilliantly and is small enough to stuff in your pocket. Doesn't cost much either!

Can't answer your specific question as I prefer to leave the function switched off to speed up the camera operation, and then use the PTLens Plug In for Photoshop (Elements 7 in my case). This seems to do the job very well indeed. And then you don't need to use the Pentax software and can still do lens corrections very easily even from RAW files.

Might as well forget Jessops as they don't stock Pentax (which I think is also something to do with Pentax understandably not wanting to give them a load of stock upfront and with no payment until sold, especially when Jessops were operating on the verge of bankruptcy). If there is a Jacobs or LCE anywhere near you, they may have a K-7 or could certainly get one for you to try.

Same question about the Sigma 400 - is it APO or non APO, and is it one of the later HSM versions?

Also would be good to confirm that you've had no issues with it communicating to the camera so it can be used successfully in Av mode etc? Sigma did have some issues with firmware upgrades for some lenses when digital SLRs first came on the scene and I can't recall whether this was one of them.

Sorry for all the questions!

Jon

Hi Paul - I think Huw's advice to pick one up and give it a whirl is good (even Curry's now sell the K-7 - £849 when I popped in yesterday - so hopefully you'll be able to find one to play with).

I think the step up from K10D is quite big, and as long as you like the size and handling I think you may well be very happy.

The only thing I wonder is about using your big Sigma lens. I'm not sure the K-7 would really balance terribly well with something much bulkier than the 50-135 or possibly 60-250 (Huw could comment on the latter), at least unless you use it with a grip.