I realise that Gwyn. The other day on an airshow forum I gave some advice to someone who wondered whether to buy a Pentax and I sang the praises of the K20D along with the DA*300mm which I own (currently in Germany being repaired ) but I had to admit that the AF is slower than Canon and the lenses don't have a specific panning mode.

So that might have convinced him to avoid Pentax who knows.

I realise that most of the manufacturers if not all have experienced difficulties in the last few months and that it's not down to customers defecting to other brands but the overall financial situation.

But wouldn't it be good if the loss was down to Canon/Sony/Nikon owners finally discovering some better quality in the form of Pentax?

I've just seen this post on another forum...

Canons last quarter net profit in 2008 was down 90% compared to 2007!

Over the year the net profit fell 37%, this includes sales of all Canon products.

Canon have put it down to the strength of the Yen...how about dropping the prices fellas?!!

I think a more obvious reason could be that people are defecting to Pentax!

What are the times? I finish work at 2pm so will try and come over from Forest Gate

I've got a DA*300 and was going to get the DA*60-250 (as and when it arrives) to complement it for the flying displays at airshows as I wanted a zoom lens with HSM or equivalent.
In the abscence of this lens any suggestions apart from the 55-300? Would the DA*50-135 be the ideal companion or the Sigma 50-150? I would use the lens for formation flying and take off/landing shots.
I'm not regretting the DA*300 at all but a zoom would give me that extra flexibility.
Any ideas welcome!
Regards
Rob

There are several cards around that can be used, Lexar Pro or Sandisk Extreme 3 are the ones that I use. There are also 16GB sizes around now but whether or not you want to use a card that size is up to you...I think that's too big size a card in case things go wrong.

Thanks for the advice. I have the Pentax 18-250 myself and agree that it is a cracking lens but even the reduced price at the moment is too much, having seen the image above I shall look around for the Tamron then. By the way what body do you use the lens on?

Rob

I'm looking to buy either of the above lens for my brother who has recently purchased one of the refurbished K100D Super's from Cameraworld. If I could stretch to the Pentax 18-250mm then I would no problem. Has anyone got either of these lenses and if so which one gives the better results?

Thanks

Rob

The JPEG's had more definition in the K20D even when I used her lenses and this would be due to the fact that the sensor is bigger I would say. We've done some prints at A4 from both cameras for comparison and the K20D has more detail and clarity.

I bought myself a K20D in August and have been thoroughly impressed with the quality of the images. So I gave my K10D and 18-55mm lens to my partner as she is starting to show an interest in digital photography now and the plan was to use the K10D as my second body at airshows next year. When we went to Iceleand in November we took both cameras and the difference was noticeable in favour of the K20D, of course.

So now I am trying to persuade myself that I don't have to upgrade her camera! She takes JPEG images anyway which is where the K20 excelled, and there is cashback as well... what a dilemma

I would use the 18-55mm lens and the K10D as exchange if it came to it, but I know that I only have until the end of January to decide. If I did upgrade I would get the body + grip + 16-45 lens as she hasn't got that one, it's a good lens from what I've seen and I could do with another grip next year- help!!