Great to see these Brian I suspect the cat imagined it was lying under the warm sun

Hint: If you want more diffusion, you must increase the distance between the light source and the diffuser

Matt

Peter,
There's a list of suppliers here:
http://www.heise.de/preisvergleich/a143836.html
(But my German's not so good as to find out if they're in stock )
Matt

Peter:
When you get your lens, here are some tips:

* To get vertical lines correct the camera must be absolutely level. If you point up, then verticals in the lower frame will appear to converge to the centre.

* Rectilinear lenses keep straight lines straight, but therefore distort the appearance of geometric shapes. If you have a chess board in the foreground. with the corner pointing at you, the board will look like a kite shape - ie lines straight, but the perspective "messes" up the appearance of a square. (Fisheye, on the other hand bend the straight lines but retain relative distances. It's horses for courses!)

* The package PTLens does a great job of correcting any distortions that are left - I've been using the setting for the Tokina 12-24 (It'll also help with CA as well)

Have fun!!
Matt

Peter - I think you may have missed my small comment above... allow me to explain.

If you set the 16-45 and 12-24 to 16mm then there's not a great deal of difference between them. From my initial tests the 16-45 is fractionally sharper, but it's marginal and I don't think you'd notice unless you scrutinise with PS.

The 10-17mm is a fisheye and the angle of view calculation is completely different. For a rectilinear lens, at 16mm the angle of view is 83 degrees. For a fisheye at 16mm, it is 105 degrees.

As I hinted, the 10-17mm and 12-24mm actually do not overlap in terms of angle of view! That's why you probably need them both

Check out my ramblings on the related post: http://www.ephotozine.com/equipment/tests/testdetail.cfm?test_id=426 (there's the equations there too!)

Hope that helps! (And doesn't get you in any more trouble!)
Matt

Peter,
An import from the EU is not a "grey import". I bought mine from Technikdirekt.de and it's shipped with a "Pentax European Warranty" - which, although it does mention Pentax Gmbh, it does say or it's authorised centres etc.
The only thing - and this applies to most/all internet purchases - is that the warranty says it's valid "only when stamped by the dealer". Now out of all the gear I've ever bought, none of them have even been stamped and I've not had problems getting repairs.

I'm sure a quick call to Pentax UK would clear up the matter, but I don't think there's a problem inside the EU.

Buying from the US is another matter - you have to add import costs including VAT. Which still makes £450+£16 p&p from Germany one of the best deals.

Don - now you say that the 10-17 has a 58mm filter (as opposed to 77mm of the 12-24) - that's very interesting That'll get me into a whole lot more trouble!!

Matt

LOL! I'm already in enough trouble as it is

There are some images on the Pentax Germany site of the 10-17mm. Looks interesting, but as I mentinoed, being able to use ND grads was a major factor for me in choosing the 12-24.

Matt

Yes, and I found the 12-24 plus the 24-90 make a superb pair
The fisheye is non-rectilinear, and it really boils down to whether you like the curvacious nature of fisheyes (which cannot be compared at all with rectilinear lenses).

I'd say you probably need both the 10-17 and 12-24
...but maybe that's being a little outrageous!

Peter: yes it was the Louvre one I was mentioning. I really have nothing to complain about with the 12-24... except that I really need to buy some Cokin Z-Pro or X-Pro filters

Matt

There is a HUGE difference between a 12mm and a fisheye 10mm. The fisheye at 17mm has a similar angle of view to the 12mm rectilinear.

As much as I like the odd whacky curvy view, I plumped for the 12-24mm. The benefits to me are:
* It's rectilinear
* You can fit filters (though P-size Cokins vignette)

There's a sample image at 12mm on my PBase site.

Matt

I'm not sure about the S55, but I would suggest buying an SD-card reader. You can buy them for around £5 and they will solve all your issues (the card reader becomes an extra drive on the PC).
Apart from always working, the card reader saves your camera batteries

Matt

Brian - email me a PEF file and I'll check it out. I've never had too many probs with reds...
Matt