Thanks Matt,

I'm glad I asked A lovely shot, indeed! Well done.
Did you do any CA correction in SPDS? On the left side there seems some CA left but I didn't identify any on the right.

I have the impression that whenever I do the CA correction the picture seems a tad sharper (I'm mostly using the 'natural' setting).

Do you have to do any distortion correction at 12 mm?

Thanks for sharing the shot,
Prieni

Where exactly can I find the Wakehurst Place shot? I do see 8 shots but none of them seems to be Wakehurst Place (nor do I see any gulls). Is it just me being thick (wouldn't be the first time) or does it require inside knowledge?

Cheers,
Prieni

Hava a look at
http://www.photosig.com/go/photos/browse?id=39301

Not too many shots there right now but it will grow, no doubt.

I'm sure you will be happy with the K10D and you will have no regrets choosing Pentax.

Cheers,
Prieni
P.S.: One word of advice: Your posts are easier to read when you seperate it in paragraphs.

Aktivo,

that´s far from normal. Too many 'hot pixels' (or should I say hot areas?). Definitely something wrong with the camera.
Have you sent a picture like this to Pentax? Propably the best people to judge what's wrong (although some of the folks here on the forum might have an idea as well if they are inclined to get to the hosted pic (with that dodgy-looking website that needs time to get to your download if you don't pay up)).

Hope this helps,
Prieni

Congrats! Seems Santa came a bit early to you...

Sorry, I didn't mention that it is for the *istD, so yes, we're talking digital.

Seems that the DA 50-200 mm is not a huge investment and looking around I saw some pretty decent shots with this lens (but some of them showed quite a bit CA). I'm pretty sure it will compare favourably to my Kiron 70-210 concerning image quality.
For the long term there are always the DA* lenses to look forward to (and save money towards, I suppose).

Now, at about the same price as the DA 50-200 one could get the Sigma 70-300/4.0-5.6 DG APO. Anyone here having a comparison (pointer) handy?

Certainly the low end of the Pentax is nicer, especially since it's closer to the long end of my 18-35. On the other hand the long end of the Sigma would be interesting as well although it's about twice as heavy as the DA 50-200.

Decisions, decisions...

I'm looking to replace my manual focus Kiron 70-210 mm/4.0-5.6 (from my old Ricoh SLR) by an autofocus lens. The Kiron is o.k. but not more. I used it a lot before I bought the Sigma 105/2.8 EX DG but now it looks so much worse against the Sigma.
So any suggestions? Looking at the Pentax range of lenses there is not much in this range and I would love to have something a bit brighter (2.8 over the range perhaps).

Cheers,
Prieni

It's decision time again, I have to buy (well, I feel the need, anyway) new glass. Here's what I have for my *istD:
Pentax FA-J 18-35 mm/4.5-5.6 (kit lens)
Kiron 70-210 mm/4.0-5.6 manual focus (from my old Ricoh SLR)
Sigma 105 mm/2.8 DG Macro

The Sigma I have for about a year now. I had a look at the pics I put up on fotocommunity.de
http://www.fotocommunity.de/pc/pc/mypics/419896
and looked at the proportion of the newest 100 pictures taken with the three lenses. This is going back about two years. The scores are:
18-35: 23%
70-210: 27%
105: 50%
You can see that I love the Sigma
The 70-210 is the only manual focus lens of the three and before scoring the last 100 pics I would have thought that the proportion would have been a bit higher for this lens compared to the 18-35.
Would it be worth to replace the 18-35 with, say, the DA 16-45/4.0?
I'm always a bit hesitant to put on the 70-210 but that maybe just because it is manual focus and it's my oldest lens (and the 105 is just brilliant). So maybe I should better invest in the longer department. Something like 70-300 would be nice giving me a bit more on the longer end.
And then, of course, there is a gap between 35 and 70 (but I have to admit that I haven't missed that on many occasions).

So gentlemen, any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Also I would like to know where best to find sample pictures and/or some "hard facts" about different lenses; it's quite tiresome to search for decent information, especially when you are not fixed on a special lens and/or focal length (range).
Budget is secondary, if needed I can save up a bit as the need for new glass is not that urgent.

Thanks for your help,
Prieni

P.S.: What a luxury problem to have in these troubled times...

I don't think that thinking and knowledge are dead, however, considering that nowadays you are continuously learning I would hope that schools would spend some more time on teaching how to learn. There are many ways how to learn and some are more suitable for one person than others (but these people would learn easier using another method).

I don't remember being taught any learning method (but then, I'm an old fart and schools might have changed although I haven't heard anything about teaching how to learn at school).

BTW: Even Google searches do work better with correct spelling...

Prieni

Guess that's how Spiderman came to life
With the lighting situation I was really lucky...

Prieni