the ones which amuse me are the A series lenses, which don't have a lens ID so are just reported as "a lens"

yes, I know, it's reporting that it's an A series lens, but it cracks me up every time.

probably a case of "don't ask a question to which you don't want to know the answer". I doubt anyone in that place actually believes that rule is a good idea.

I havn't seen one at all let alone in PK mount I'm afraid

A few places have the Sigma equivalent, but I'm guessing you know that.

result!

I once bought an SFX with 35-70 and 70-210 SMC-F lenses for £70, then sold the two lenses for a combined total of £80. My SFX cost me -£10, which I thought was pretty good, I used it for 8 months and then sold it for £20 after picking up a Z50p so my total cost of ownership for the SFX was -£30.

Up until the release of the K10D, Pentax have been playing the small and light card pretty heavily. Each successive *ist model was the smallest lightest DSLR on the market at its release and the Pancake lenses are designed to compliment those bodys.

Now with the K10D moving into the semi-pro market the roadmap is showing more fast * lenses. I'm sure given time there will be fast short primes too.

And Harrow Technical will be overrun with people begging them to patch their aging K10D's back together one more time because they can't bear the thought of having to buy the new model

viewfinder, if half of that comes to pass I will agree with you that the K20D is needlessly complex and full of gimmicks.

Also, I wont buy one, and I have my doubts that anyone else here will either.

so do I, I can't see them dropping the Pentax brand name. Particularly since Hoya haven't seen fit to dump the brand names of any of the other companies they own.

It is possible that where the labels on the bottom of old Pentax cameras used to say "Asahi Optical company" they will in future say "Hoya Pentax" or something similar, but I will be very surprised if the name on the Pentaprism housing changes.

I would like to see the megapixel race level out for a bit at about 12MP and some real work on eradicating noise. ISO 3200 usable straight from the camera without sacrificing detail would tempt me to upgrade. Other than that I honestly can't imagine an improvement a future K10D replacement could offer me.

I assume you meant to say SMC-A? SMC-F is early autofocus.

My recommendation would be the A series 50mm F1.7 for MF or F/FA (doesn't matter which) F1.7 for AF. I say this for several reasons

F1.7 is cheaper than F1.4 and more or less equal optical quality (some even say better but I don't think thats true after the M series)

F1.7 is more versitile because as John mentioned it has a flatter field and therefore responds better to being reversed or used with extension tubes for macro


Of course if you feel you really need the extra half stop then F1.4 is great, but IMHO it isn't usually worth the asking price. Deppends on what you want to do with it of course.


The F1.2 is rare, expencive and certainly no sharper than the 1.4 and 1.7 (many people say it's not as good, I don't know, I've never used one). Not to say I wouldn't snap up an A series F1.2 if it came my way at a good price, but it's not something I'd go out looking for.

noooooo the standard lenses are out of control!! we're doomed!