Darned Flash site (boy, do I hate them! :evil, no full size examples available, so it's worthless IMO.

SRS have some s/h (nearly as new ) Samsung and Pentax 12-24's. The Samsungs are identical optically, but don't have the same lens ID code so the auto lens correction of the K-x and K-7 (JPEG only) doesn't work, but then, none of the alternatives you list will either, none of which are as good optically as the 12-24 design.

Those are already available!

Personally I would recommend the DA 16-45, it's better than any you have shortlisted, unless you want to use it on film, where it does work above 20mm, so it becomes a 20-45 f4.0. I used mine on my MZ-S as a wide angle and I also had the Tokina 20-35 which wasn't as good.

You can still find them at realistic prices, The Tokina 20-25/2.8 would be my 2nd choice followed by the FA 20-35 f4.0

Pricing at Ffordes is currently £299 and at Mifsud £349, they both sell at highish prices, soo I guess that Kris's estimate of £225-£250 is about right. I sold mine (on ebay) I think for about £330 a year ago, prices seem to be dropping on film bodies, including the best ones.

They still don't give quite the same rendering I get with SP, but they are better than the ACR profile.

I'm hoping that John Nevill (Silkypix UK) will be able to get ISL to improve their NR system, he's over in Japan at the moment with a whole bunch of user improvement requests up his sleeve!

Better than any others I've tested including Adobe's own current version of ACR.

As you know I'm a Silkypix user and although I prefer the rendering and colour from SP, the high ISO NR from LR3 b2 is very much better. In fact I cannot match the high ISO output, noise wise, using SP and Noiseware Pro, which was my previous "best" solution.

I think all the competing RC software designers are rushing back to the drawing board at the moment!

Supposed to be an April Fool done by DPR themselves, including a web page!

Thanks for that, I've also looked up the 28mm lenses on Stans Pentax Photography website and the consensus is that the A28 is not the most stellar performer, in fact below the FA 28 which I had and my FA 28-105 zoom was actually better, even on my *istD! The rating on Stans website is as follows:

K28/3.5, K28/2 > M28/3.5 > FA28/2.8AL >>> M28/2.8 (old) > M28/2.8 (later), A28/2.8, F28/2.8

So I guess I'll pass, pity though, I quite fancied a very sharp and reasonably fast 28mm. The K28/3.5 doesn't really light my fire as it's pretty old, plus I'm not a fan of stop down metering nor f3.5 even though it may be quite sharp. I suspect that at 28mm my DA 17-70 would not give up much to it.

Ideally I'd like a top notch 28mm f2.0, like the A 28/2.0, but there's not many of them around!

I don't think I've ever seen one for sale.

Mind you I could always get a Zeiss Distagon 28mm f2.0 for a mere £980 when I win the lottery!

Actually there was a rumour that Pentax are going to bring out some new DA* fast primes at 20mm & 28mm, here is a pic from a magazine that was put up on the dchome.net website, maybe I'll wait a while to see if the rumours are true! At least it could (?) be less expensive than the Distagon!

I would be interested in any users opinions of this lens as it appears to be quite easily available s/h.

I once had the FA 28mm f2.8 and although a nice lens it wasn't spectacular, however I've heard/read that the SMC-A 28mm and the F 28mm f2.8 designs were considerably better (both the A and F are supposed to be the same optically and confirmed in B Dimitrov's website).

Cheers