Come on everyone..... it looks like Ralf will be able to write his judgement in his sleep at this rate......

....or are you all feverishly working away on your computers as I write ?

Second only to this forum......aka the Pentax help-desk ....now have you tried re-booting your camera !!

If you are going to replace the sceen, get a split prism and re-take control of your focus. You wont regret it.

Don't be taken in Aiki, it is Ralf's secret lair where he is planning world domination.

Pretty good I would say. Did you do any noise reduction in PP ?

Thanks guys for all your help (and Prieni for the pictures). Still cant make up my mind though !

Now that is a nice toy !!

Issues I have read about here and elsewhere are FF/BB and decentring. CA is also reported, but that is a design issue and not a sign of poor manufacturing. I can still get CA with my FA31mm in the right circumstances !

I am still debating over this lens. I love using primes, and if I go to shoot a specific subject (on my own) I will always prefer a couple or three primes. But if I visit a National Trust property for example, with my partner, and there are lots of people around, it can be frustrating having to change lenses or not getting the framing I want. My recent trips have seen me use the DA 18-55 again and for convenience a zoom has huge advantages. But the 18-55 is slow and needs to be stopped down for the best results, which is why I am considering the 16-50

David

Haha, I think she was startled by the sudden influx of visitors and ran for cover !

I have never been to a small NT property like this one. Only open for a few hours twice a week, and about 15 people queuing up in the rain in the little lane outside waiting for the volunteers to arrive to open up. Delightful place though that I would recommend. Pick a sunnier day than we did though !

According to Photozone tests the 50mm at f2 is a bit sharper than the 43 at f1.9, but stopped down to f4 the 43 is the clear winner.

For portraits of your baby either would be great, remember pin-sharp is not neccesarily the best for portrait. I dont have the 50mm but the 43 stays on my camera as a normal lens all the time.

I am intrigued why you would ditch the DA* 16-50 ? Dont get me wrong I love using primes, but the specs of the DA* should make it a perfect general high quality zoom. Do you have issues with it as others have reported ?