Nope, Chris was going to let me have the details as I was interested in buying a new K20D and thought the GPS may make a nice addition but have heard nothing.

As there seems to be some discussion about teleconverters on the forum atm and I still have this spare I will give a quick bump.

Taken with converter and Pentax F* 300mm f4.5




Taken with converter and Tamron adaptall 2 SP 19AH 70-210mm f3.8




Taken with converter and Tamron 28-300mm AF DG

I'm presuming you meant 50-500mm and 150-500mm are on a par with each other?

I would get my Paypal dispute in pretty quickly before others start doing the same.
Not a chance I would be waiting for delivery now.

£230 is too much for the lens and mount, infact I wouldnt be paying anywhere near that amout to be honest as you are in the realms of the newer AF lenses for that.

Mine cost me £75 with the mount 6 months ago, admittedly a very good price but personally I wouldnt be looking to pay more than about £140 for the combination with the PK/A mount being able to fetch £50+ on its own.

Time to start looking at Ebay or a new Tamron AF/Sigma 105mm I would say.

Taken this morning with the Pentax F* 300mm f4.5 prime and Tamron 1.4x teleconverter.
This is a fairly hefty crop of about 70% .. think the quality is pretty good considering the use of a teleconverter on such a small subject.

When I buy a used lens I usually aim for a minimum 30% reduction on the new price, if its any more then I wont bother.
I have had a lot of luck on the USA Pentax forum which is where I got my K10D body plus various other lenses.
Trouble is that they were cheap because of the $ to £ exchange rate but that is no longer the case.

Lately I have bought a SIgma 70-200mm f2.8 from Ebay and a Pentax F* 300mm f4.5 from here and couldn't be happier with them.

As for reliability, never had a problem on purchases made via forums (touch wood), have had some items totally mis described from Ebay but have always been lucky enough to get them sorted out.

I think owners of lenses seem on the whole to look after them well and not mistreat their equipment and like anything electrical if there is a fault it usually shows up pretty quickly when new.


If your local shop sells a lot of refurbished items then i'm sure you will get some kind of warranty plus you can inspect them there and then which is a definite bonus.

I haven't bought a new lens yet, infact everything I have bought has been from forums or Ebay .. even down to my K10D body and Lowenpro Slingshot 200 bag.

Actually, tell a lie .. my memory card was new.

From the pictures I have seen the Tamron is very good for what it costs but the Pentax 55-300mm is superb (for what it costs).
Also you are covering most of the gap between 45mm-70mm which admittedly isn't a lot but worthwhile I would have thought.

I made the mistake of buying the cheaper end when I first started and am now gradually having to start again as I become more familiar with the shortcomings of those I bought originally.
I am pretty sure I will get my original outlay back but it would have been nice to have done it properly the first time.

Naaa, 300mm for portrait work from a distance and ultra wide for when she puts on weight