You want a racket for tennis, mate, not a lens.


Sorry, I'll get my coat...

Sorry Stu, missed it the first time around!

The pics are a bit small to make out much difference in IQ but the 17-70 and 18-135 do both look a bit better than the 18-250.

I can see the benefits of a longer range in one lens but I think I will stick with Tamron 17-50 and DA 55-300 combo for now and the foreseeable future. I'd rather add an ultra wide-angle and a macro before thinking about anything else.

Confirmed it's the overcast - for the first time in weeks it's been gone for the last two nights and we've had some lovely evening light. Most of the time this doesn't happen until later in spring/summer because of the blanket cloud cover.

I'm using a Crumpler Messenger Boy which looks a bit similar to the Tamrac Rally 7 in style. http://www.srsmicrosystems.co.uk/5665/Crumpler-Messenger-Boy-8000-Camera-Bag---N...

I don't think it screams camera bag. Crumpler make almost identical looking ones which aren't for cameras.

For several reasons I really love this bag and think I made the right choice from the start.

It has a great quick adjust strap which means you can carry it high on your back whilst not shooting (much more comfortable for walking than dangling around your waist or bum). Then when shooting you can lengthen the strap to waist height with extreme ease without having to take the bag off (it's just as easy to shorten it again), enabling quick access and easy lens changes.

I'm carrying the K-5 and all my lenses in it at the moment with the Tamron mounted on the camera (see below for lens list) and there is easily still room for 2 - 3 more lenses, or 1 - 2 more lenses and a flashgun perhaps. I knew I'd be expanding my kit as I went and didn't necessarily want to have to get a new bag later on.

It was in a plastic bag, quite possibly the original one and in the original box. Can't fault the packaging.

Now I'm not going to claim this thing is sucking up dust like a vacuum cleaner but it's definitely attracting more than I would expect. This evening I carried out a small experiment to see the extent of the problem (if you consider it a problem) compared to the Tamron 17-50 (which actually has a larger front element so in theory more surface area to attract dust).

I'll admit it's not exactly a scientific experiment but anyway, I held the DA 55-300 in one position with the lens cap removed for about three minutes and watched the front element closely (horizontally, so the front element is facing outwards, not upwards since if it were facing upwards you'd expect dust to settle on it anyway). I could see about four or five specks of dust appear on it per minute. I held the Tamron in the same position for the same amount of time and no dust appeared on it at all.

It's really only a minor thing and doesn't affect the fact that I'm still delighted with the purchase. It is most noticeable when trying to clean the front of the lens because the lens tends to pull the dust back off the cloth making it hard to clean it completely.

Nope, but in any case it has barely been in my flat as I only just received it.

Which is probably why there is a static charge in the first place. As stated by the person I just bought the lens from, it has been sitting unused for several months, no doubt in an air conditioned and/or centrally heated home. Like I said after thinking about it I'm sure the charge will dissipate naturally over time with use.

That's not my understanding. Static charge can be transferred between non-conductive objects by contact and the more the contact (i.e. rubbing with a cloth) the more can be tranferred. Obviously I have cleaned it a couple of times with a cloth already, but it may just take more repeated efforts.

Also earthing a non-conductive object wouldn't remove all of the charge unless you earth the entire surface... because it is non-conductive charge will not generally move accross the surface to the point that is earthed (i.e. it's going to take multiple fingerprints, not just one).

Knowing at least a little bit about static electricity I have come up with a theory that it is just because the lens has been (as stated by the seller) sitting around unused for several months, thus giving a static charge an opportunity to build up. Regularly cleaning a lens should disperse any small amounts of static but if it hasn't been used for quite a long time it's probably had a chance to build up a bit more than usual.

If that's the case the charge should disperse naturally with regular cleaning - so in other words once I've used it a few times it should return to normal anyway. I shall therefore wait and see if my theory is correct.

Lens pen still sounds like a good investment though.