Totally agree with Mike!

eheheheheheh

I have a shoot on sat, otherwise I'd come to visit!


Great to hear that you take a break every now and then. Good for you! (I'm a little envious... )

Sorry, I am european, and this comes with some package...

I didn't understand that your budget was under £100, in which case i wouldn't have written that post!

I think your best option is the £210 , 55-300mm.
Under £100 I am not sure.

Chris you missed my visit on saturday, where were you?

Taken time off work uh?

Watford.... watford... oh dear...

I like the idea, a lot.

But we should find a place that is interesting to photograph, and its not simple. Wood's and parks won't do

ANy ideas? probably central London would work better for the cause... but its far for most!

Very interesting article and forum thread.

All Pentax users have a feeling, in the back of their mind, that this is going to happen. Yet it hasn't for many decades. And my 32 year old 100mm Macro lens is the perfect example of the survival of Pentax in the market.

Very interesting article though.

I would suggest you call SRS and ask them to ship it to you. If you say you are a member of the forum, its free shipping, and it should take 2 days....

Unlocker, I am afraid I can't do Sundays, as I work every single one....

what to do?

ImpotentSpider,

I perfectly understand your point about the necessity of good quality for the price paid for the lens.
But lets try and look at it from another perspective;

Canon 17-55 f2.8 - £700 +/-
Canon 24-70 f2.8 - £850 +/-
Nikon 17-55 f2.8 - £830 +/-
Nikon 24/70 f2.8 - £1050 +/-
Sony 24-70 f2.8 - £1150 +/-
(Tamron and Sigma lenses are cheaper but the market share is also relative...)

Now, these are obviously the high end of the consumer market for the 3 major photographic brands in the world. When I got into photography I knew that it was an expensive hobby (or job) and I knew that in order to have high quality lenses I would have to spend a load of money.

The DA* 16-50 at £450 (?) is half the price of the least expensive lens I mentioned before, and it should (in theory) represent the Pentax equivalent to those.

2 points:

a, the DA* is NOT an expensive lens. It is not a beginner's lens either. It should be considered a high end professional lens, and therefore should (IMO) be expensive. (According to the reasoning that if every lens and camera were cheap, there would be no professional photographers... and photographic Communism wouldn't necessarily be good for people like me, or any other keen photographer..)

b, When a professional (or keen amateur) decides to invest in high end glass from his brand, he should be satisfied in his choice. THe hassle of sending a lens back to the retailer once or twice, is not comparable to the joy of using a high end lens which produces great results.
In an extended metaphor, when you buy a ferrari you know that it will go wrong at some point; it will be sent back for repair, and you will suffer from it. but once repaired, it will give you an experience that is beyond anything else you can drive in the world. (One could argue that the DA* is not 'that good' to be compared to a Ferrari, but I would argue that it actually is, if compared to 'normal' zoom lenses. Again IMO)


Whilst I perfectly understand your point, I want to look at it from the other side, and consider Pentax as a professional brand, that is currently producing professional lenses at a fraction of the cost of other brands. And I am thankful for it!

Rhayles,

I am sorry for this, but I just need to correct your writing...

ml, as you write in your post, stands for Millilitre -
"ml = millilitre (also spelled milliliter), a thousandth of a litre in the metric system. Abbreviation also spelled "mL" or "mℓ".

The abbreviation you are looking for is instead "mm", MILLIMETRES (Thanks George ) the unit of length equal to one thousandth of a metre, used to describe a lens' focal length.

(If I hadn't said it, someone else would have... this is a very grammatically aware forum... )



- The recent DA range has Auto Focus, and SDM. One of the other pentax lenses in that range with autofocus is the FA 75-300mm, which is rubbish, unfortunately.
I therefore stand by my suggestion to go for the DA* 300mm prime; and if not that, perhaps wait for the new DA* 60-250mm, which promises to be an excellent lens.
I have never tried it, but many around this forum have been very happy with the 80-320mm, but I can't comment on that.
I can otherwise look at Tamron or Sigma lenses. The new 70-200mm f2.8 seem to be very high standards.

Unless you wish to have a long manual focus lens, I think you shouldn't look at other brands, or older lenses.

Hope this helps,