Lens arrived today, nice condition. Thanks Graham!

Personally, I think for an amateur, a second digital body is a bit of a luxury, and look upon these people with multiple DSLRs with a sense of wonder. I mean, that's taking things really seriously! I'd rather cash them in and have a trip abroad or a new lens. If I was to have a second body it would be something with a different 'niche', such as a compact camera.

I might take a film body away with me as well if going on a trip, but I would only shoot with one camera at a time, the other remaining in my suitcase.

Yes, we can now add Pentaxforums to the list of review sites 'biased against Pentax'.

Personally I would skip the 50-200 and go for the alternative suggested by John, or one of the fine older lenses like the F 70-210mm. The 18-55mm is bundled for next to nothing, and if you get a good one, is pretty good. Unlike a lot of people I haven't been especially happy with my copies when scrutinising my shots (I sent my first one back), but neither were so bad as to be unusable, far from it.

I think leaving the forum was an over-reaction, but I do not know what else went on previously. I hope Jeff comes back, with slightly thicker skin, which you do need sometimes on this forum - and in life in general (especially if you pride yourself on 'straight-talking').

Cassowary attack! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jB2QFmXUCo&feature=player_embedded

Like most of these things, their dangerousness is probably a bit overexaggerated. They are said to be able to disembowel you with a flick of their claw... but there no record of this ever having happened. It's the aussie version of 'a swan can break a man's arm!' albeit they have to go one better

The Tamron 17-50mm is a good choice if sharpness is your thing.

If the differences are minute there isn't much to argue about. On the other hand, the lens in question is a lot more expensive than the others, so we might expect it to perform the best too And should not let Pentax off the hook.

Colour and contrast are harder to quantify than sharpness and distortion, and are probably pretty subjective, which explains why so many people remain attached to this lens while others find the alternatives much better.

Definitely agree! The degree to which people sharpen images after resizing will have vastly more impact than lens softness at this size. An unsharpened shot from a FA43mm will look much softer than a sharpened shot from a FA35-80mm, I bet.

It would probably cost more to produce a separate non-video model, and would be pointless too since the video function is not something that needs much other than a bit of software. Rather than 'not adding video' they would have to 'cripple' the video capabilities of the CMOS sensors they use.

Lovely black and white processing. That little Optio ain't too bad is it! Bit grainy on the clouds on some of the cityscapes, but that's actually not a bad thing here.