Kimbo - I've owned both of those lenses (they were my first ever SLR lenses in fact) and at £20 for the pair I'd definitely have bought them and re-sold them on Ebay. I've got another 28-80 at the moment (it came with a FA 50mm F1.7 I wanted) and it's no better than the last one, however as an introduction to long lenses the FA 100-300 is worth a look. On a film camera it could be difficult to use handheld because it's slow (and it's a lot better stopped down), however at say ISO800 on a DSLR it'd be much easier.

SMC-A primes are making serious cash at the moment, even very common lenses like the 50mm F1.7 or 28mm F2.8.

I've had a brief play about with the Tokina and it seems a good lens. It appears to be sharp enough and not too bad to use hand-held given the DSLR's ability to bump the ISO up. There is a small nature reserve in the hills behind my house so I'm hoping to get a chance to take some bird photos using the Tokina up there over the weekend.

I was surprised how little the lens went for - perhaps the Tokina isn't as well known as the Tamron or Sigma mirror lenses although from the various reviews I found on the web it sounds like it's as least as good optically as them.

Regards
Steve

I'll be very interested to see some results and find out how it was to use as I'm also thinking about adding a mirror lens soon.

The Porst 55mm F1.2 was waiting for me when I got home so I've had to explain the sudden arrival of 4 lenses and a camera body to SWMBO tonight!

I'll keep an eye on the Tamron on Ebay though because if I decide to go with something other than the 16-45 Pentax I might have a little bit of headroom in my budget.

I am very tempted mate, however I'll already have some explaining to do when I get home tonight as I've had 3 new lenses and a camera body arrive today...!

I was just about to tip the folks here off about a Tamron 500mm F8 mirror lens in Pentax-K fit that's currently listed on Ebay with what looks a very reasonable a buy-it-now of £85 when I realised that it'll be the lens mentioned by the previous poster.

Can some one buy it quickly please as I've spent enough on lenses in the last few weeks and you'll be saving me from myself...

Another mirror lens which seems to get good reviews is the Sigma 600mm F8 one - I've tracked a couple of those on Ebay as well although I have been wondering if an effective 900mm on a digital body is perhaps a bit too long.

I'm not as convinced yet as it's not just the ultra-wides that are affected. If you look at the Canon lens range then their standard prime lens was the 50mm F1.8 which can be had for about £70 or so in the uk new. To get a similar type of lens for digital then they have a 35mm F2 but it's over £200.

Also in the Canon range the old standard wide angle prime would be the 28mm F2.8 which is about £130 new. With digital you're looking for 18mm or so to get the same coverage - the closest prime is the 20mm F2.8 but it's well over £300.

As (or if!) digital only versions of those lenses become available they might be cheaper than currently but perhaps it's just as likely that full-frame sensors will come down in price to the level that makes them affordable in entry level cameras. With longer lenses you've got the option of cropping to emulate longer focal lengths (especially with sensors with a higher pixel count) but that isn't of any use if wider is what you want!

I agree the future is digital, but with what sensor size?