Thanks, although IIRC K-series lenses tend to be huge (in comparison to M-series for example) which lessens the advantage of a prime. I might just get a Helios (yeah I know they're 58mm!) on evilbay as a means of getting into this M42 business, then see where I go from there.

Still looking!

Plus (because of the difference in crop factor) it is only slightly less wide than the Tokina 11-16 on Canon (11 x 1.6 crop = 17.6mm, 12 x 1.5 crop = 18mm)

It's supposed to be less than stellar wide open, but very sharp stopped down. Its main weakness is apparently contrast, which doesn't quite reach the level of Pentax's other lenses. However contrast is something you can add in post-processing, and bear in mind that (since I do not own the lens myself) this is just my own inexpert summary of the Lens Reviews section of The Other Forum.

PM sent

I know I've posted earlier, but I've just thought of a better 'want': for Tokina and Pentax to end their 'special relationship'. Then we could buy Tokina's lenses at Tokina prices rather than Pentax prices

I'm looking for a prime which will come out normal-ish with the K20D's crop factor (ie 28-35mm or thereabouts). My only requirements are that it be clean (as opposed to 'ebay clean' - the reason I'm not just going on there), and preferably better IQ than the 18-55mm (ie I'm not looking to spend Flektogon money! ) In particular if anyone has a Vivitar I'd be interested for sentimental reasons, but I'm really not that hung up on brand.

I'd always assumed that AF teleconverters worked by (the user) setting the lens to infinity, then the TC doing all the work itself. Interesting to know - not that I'm ever likely to find a Pentax AFTC for sale!

Well in relation to the concerns about sharpness here are some shots of everyone's photographic subject: a wall. Please ignore the horrific WB issues - I wanted to get these up sooner rather than later. The first one is a Lightroom resized JPEG (same size as the ones above), the second is from the camera's RAW -> JPEG menu function. There are also full-size versions (about 6.4Mb each, hence why I didn't embed them!) for closer inspection. Because of the way this forum software works, clicking on the image itself will merely get you the shrunk version displayed on its own - the text link below each image points at the full-size version.

EDIT: Aargh, Photobucket resizes the damned things. The miniatures will have to do for now, unless I can coax the gallery here into taking full size ones.

Lightroom:
[IMG]http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb159/Carzor_Stelatis/Private%20Photos/wall1-small.jpg[/IMG]


In-camera:
[IMG]http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb159/Carzor_Stelatis/Private%20Photos/wall-2-1.jpg[/IMG]

Haven't used them before, but in their 'Pentax lenses' department only has two listed: the DA* 16-50 and the DA* 50-135. That suggests that they're planning to stop selling Pentax, which might explain the reasonable price on the 16-50.