Brute force sharpness - 16-45 just pips the 24-90.
Bokeh and rendition - 24-90 wins.

It will be interesting to see how the new Pentax 17-70 performs in comparison to them both... but that could be a while.

The 24-90 is very sharp and well controlled. It's shorter than the 16-45 which is helpful. It's a tough choice between the two, but lately I've been using the 24-90 more and more
(Especially since I compare the 31 Limited against the 24-90... and the 24-90 stood up extremely well indeed at f/8-ish Don't knock the 24-90 - it really is a gem, even if the mechanical construction could've been better.)

Matt

As I said...
New price was around £350 when I got mine.
There's one on ebay in the US at the moment without hood... but check out MXV, Ffordes, LCEgroup, Park Cameras, and even BH Photo Video in the US.

They don't come up often - and for good reason

Matt

Donut - I use the Pentax SMC-FA 24-90 which is just lovely beyond belief
A truly great lens and superb at 90mm for portraits with a lovely soft bokeh.

You might just get hold of one at around £250 second hand.

There may be other lenses around in that range, but I don't think by Pentax. Tamron do a 24-135 which is around £320 new, while Sigma do an 18-200 at around £220. I did have a Tokina 24-200 which was excellent on film, but didn't do too fantastically on digital (Think it wasn't well collimated). That was around £300 new but it went on ebay for around £60

Having tried quite a few lenses, I still wouldn't get rid of the Pentax 24-90
Matt

An interesting link about the origins of the Tokina engineers:
http://www.nikonians.org/html/resources/non-nikon_articles/tokina/Tokina_AT-X_M1...

In Hong Kong, as well as USA, Tokina/Hoya/Kenko are distributed together.
http://www.hktimaging.com/

But, as you say George, looking at the company profile for Hoya:
http://www.hoya.co.jp/HOYA_DYNAMIC/index.cfm?fuseaction=company.about_e
I can see no evidence that Tokina is owned by Hoya.
Rather, it looks like a close working relationship - perhaps a bit like Samsumg and Pentax.

Matt

No problem Just feel that old sometimes
Matt

Ha ha! I'm not that old
A friend gave me the nickname because I love maths and we both liked Anderson's stuff Hence the Matt "Matic" avatar.
Matt

Cool tip
Thanks!
Matt

ROFL!

Looking good
A few comments:
* Use manual everything - manual mode, manual flash, manual WB.
* You won't get high speed sync ever, so forget it (HS is actually a high speed burst of small flashes - it's complicated and has been covered on other threads)
* Set your AF540 to M and set the power level down to 1/32 - enough to trigger but not to add to the shot
* Start with one strobe until you get the hang of things.
* Move the soft-box really, really, really close - only just out of shot. It's no good having it 5 feet away (but make sure the power is right down so you don't fry eyeballs :lol
* Wind the power right down on the strobe, pick f/5.6, ISO100, 1/180s and see what you get. If it's too light, then pick a smaller aperture or move the light further away from the subject. If it's too dark, increase the power, or increase the ISO rating, or move the light closer.
* For WB, use the manual setting - point at the white background and take a reading. The exposure will have to be around mid-grey to work (not burnt out white).

There are loads of good lighting guides around once you've got the hang of one light. There's a few on www.ephotozine.com that are well worth looking at, as well as the videos on www.ephotozine.tv

Enjoy and have fun!!
Matt