It might be an investment if prices keep going up

Can't be worse than burying it in a savings account at 2% - that's what I tell my wife anyway.

I suspect it will replace my 18-250mm as my keep on travel lens - difficult to take it off the camera once on.

Your strange shots are good. My strange shots included making my 8 stone son look like 18 stone with a beehive hairdo. I've threatened to put it on Facebook next time he annoys me

I expected to be underwhelmed by the place and overwhelmed by other tourists, but the reverse happened. I actually preferred Pompeii to Herculaneum in many respects and we got there early and managed to stay ahead of most of the other tourists.

I'd have loved to have been there at sunrise/sunset, but it opens too late and shuts too early at this time of year.

I seriously considered the 10-17mm, but felt it might be a step too far with my relative inexperience. The 10-20mm seems a bit more forgiving. I still have some strange shots, mind.....

Older, slower version, but I didn't find any problems with low light, especially with the K-r's high ISO abilities. The indoor statue shot was at ISO 500 and I have others at ISO 1000+ which are also fine. I have the K-r set in 'Reversal Film' mode, which apparently replicates old slide film. It seems to give particularly good colours.

Hi Bill

I leave the hood on all the time too and so far (1 week!) haven't had any near misses. I can see the sense of filters, but not at the expense of image quality. I know it's a perennial argument.

That makes sense. I couldn't work out why it would be. Considering some of the distortion correction might be turned off it's a heck of nice lens. I found it difficult to take it off the camera to be honest. I put the 18-250mm on a few times, but soon put the 10-20mm back

I sort of wondered about a filter to protect the front lens, but my experiences with them haven't been particularly great regarding image quality.

These were all at f8 or f9 except for one which was f11 and interior one which is f5.6

Some of the replies can come across as a bit short and intolerant and, having been on the receiving end of an admin e-mail early on, I can sympathise. They aren't exactly friendly and presumably standard replies which don't always work.

That said, it would be a shame to leave after one poor experience. The vast majority of members on here are friendly, knowledgeable and always willing to put themselves out. I have learnt so much that it's worth putting up with the odd negative experience.

I bought this lens from a fellow forum member and it arrived about an hour before I left for the airport so I had no chance to play with it before using it for real. It certainly presents you with new challenges and I ended up with some strange distortions and persepctives from time to time, but it's so much fun to use and so useful, especially on a trip like this with ruins, architecture and scenery.

The ability to stand in a room and pretty much take the whole area in from a few feet back was amazing. I thought I would end up using it from time to time, but it actually stayed on the camera for more or less the whole time - much more versatile than I thought. 18mm simply doesn't seem enough any more

Here are a few of my favourites from the trip. They aren't brilliant by any means as I have lots to learn so any C & C welcomed.

One thing I did notice was that each photo taken with the 10-20mm took less time to process than a similar one taken with the 18-250mm. No idea why this might be!

[IMG]http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp15/chriseast/pompeii2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp15/chriseast/pompeii1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp15/chriseast/forum.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp15/chriseast/statue.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp15/chriseast/oll6.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp15/chriseast/oll11.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp15/chriseast/window-1.jpg[/IMG]

Thanks again Gwyn

I tried SRS too with the same result, so I've gone for the Eclipse ones. Fingers crossed!