Thanks, John & Diatribe too.

Wouldn't it be nice if money just grew on trees?!

Alan.

Thanks, Pete & davex.

Ultimately, I guess my choice may well be the less expensive 16-45 lens, although I will look at the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 reviews too.

As for the macro specification of the 16-45, which you both probably quite rightly say it doesn't have, would you believe that I got my information from the official Pentax website. Here I downloaded and printed a pdf of the 16-45's specifications! Presumably, it's their mistake? Ooops.

Again, many thanks.

Alan.

Many thanks, davex.

It's good to know that they're geniune.

Much appreciated.

Alan.

Hi jon.dc

Thanks for offering this lens, and to be honest, it will be a good start for me where the 50mm lens is concerned. So, yes please, can we arrange for the sale.

Is there a protocol which we follow in the forum for transactions, or do we simply plough ahead and exchange details?

Many thanks.

Alan Lowe-Jones.

My thanks, John, Pete & Graham.

That info has been a help, especially the business of the 'A' for auto exposure.

Also good to read that there's not a great deal between the 1.4 & 1.7 lens. I've probably just opened a can of worms with a statement as controvertial as that!

I guess I have to make up my mind and pay my money!

John, one quick question: I recently met a chap called Paul Jones at work here in Golborne (East Lancs road). He's a member of the Atherton Photographic Society. He mentioned the club had its own great Pentax advocate called John. I'm guessing this is your own good self?

Many thanks to all.

Alan Lowe-Jones.

Hello all.

Sorry about the 'crude' Topic Title, but I suppose it accurately sums up the dilemma in my little head.

My local Jessops contact (and Pentax owner/advocate) recommended the 16-45 lens some while back. However, we also have the 16-50 lens with its f2.8 aperture and pretty gold ring to consider too. The specifications for the 16-50 lens look very impressive, but there is a huge price difference between the two: £199 v £475.

Also, I notice that the 16-45 has macro capability, and I have no macro lens as yet, so perhaps this might be the humble and prudent choice.

What does the panel recommend?

Kind regards.

Alan Lowe-Jones.

Hello all.

Firstly, thanks to all for the wonderful advice I've received from this forum. As a relative newbie with K20D & 18-250 lens (Xmas), I have a lot of learning ahead of me yet!

I've been watching the auction of Pentax lenses (old & new) on Ebay over the past few days, and I'm interested in buying a 50mm f1.4 lens.

A company trading as Ameliaarts is selling a heck of a lot of old Pentax gear.

1st question: should I buy an old 50mm f1.4 lens, or pay the extra for a new lens from SRS?

2nd question: presumably the old lens would fit (K lens) the K20D, albeit I'd not have the Autofocus available to me...is this assumption correct?

3rd question: these old 50mm lenses do look as though they were well built. How does the quality compare to contemporary smc FA 50mm f1.4 lens?

4th question: there actually seems to be a glut of 50mm f1.7 (as opposed to f1.4) lenses for sale on Ebay from Ameliaarts. Were these lenses really so popular, or simply does nobody want them?

5th question: in terms of performance, is there a great diffence between the f1.4 & F1.7 lenses?

I can think of many more questions, but I'd best stop here for the moment!

I've not posted to the forum for about a month (very busy at work), so it's nice to the back...been reading the wonderful entries in the forum recently about flash photography...still try to understand that too, but for the moment my praises and thanks to MatMatic for the tremendoes work you've done here.

Regards to all.

Alan Lowe-Jones.
Cheshire.

I turned 50 in August last year, and for that birthday, my wife bought me my first ever 'proper' camera. It happened to be a Sony A200!

This was a great introduction to photography, albeit now I'm proud to say that today I own a wonderful Pentax K20D (with Pentax 18-250 lens).

Also, I got lucky yesterday: visited my local Jessops (Sunday shopping) to pick the brains of one of their assistants who uses the Samsung GX-10 and is a great advocate for the Pentax. Whilst there, I bought a grip for my K20D for just £50. Bargain price of course because Jessops are running down their Pentax stock.

As for the Sony, could anyone offer advice on how best to sell it?
With the 18-70 kit lens, sky filter, circular polariser, compact flash memory - I think £150 would be the correct price to aim for.

Alan Lowe-Jones.

Hi, all.
Many thanks to you all for what has been an astonishing amount of helpful information and a great tutorial. I've actually copied and pasted the salient bits (which is most of this thread!) into a word document in my new windows explorer folder called 'Learn how to use your camera, Alan'. Ok, I jest, it's just called 'K20D'!

Fantastic information though, guys. I just need some nice weather now to allow me to get out and experiment.

Best wishes and a merry Christmas to all.

Alan.

[quote:3496ace15f="Mannesty]
If you set the focus point to centre spot only (using the big dial to the right of the screen), like most of us here, you won't have that problem again.[/quote]Thanks, Peter.
The same thing happened last night to me. It took me ages to get it back to the centre, and I wasn't sure how I'd done it! However, so simple when you know how to resolve of course, but until then you suspect all sorts of possible problems!

I actually thought it was a free in-built puzzle game at first!

Alan.