I would hope that someone within Pentax is engaged in an ongoing market research project, which is being used to drive lens development. I have registered all my lenses via the Pentax UK website, but I cannot recall one questionairre sent by them asking for opinion. I also cannot recall seeing many if any forum posts for a 12-35mm, so it would be interesting to know what drove that decision. That said I am sure it will appeal to some.

Photography for most is a hobby and it carries with it an aspirational element. As with all hobbies we set aside a percentage of our disposable income on feeding it. I agree with George that not many need a 500 or 600mm lens, but that does mean that they would not sell if they were available at a reasonable price. LBA leads to irrational behaviour and we have to feed the hobby right?

It would be interesting to know how many 500mm lenses Pentax would need to sell at £600 to cover development,manufacture and distribution costs, plus profit.

Perhaps a new/old distribution model is called for, whereby orders/deposits are taken for the more exotic lenses and only when the economic number has been ordered would they be manufactured on a batch basis and distributed direct by Pentax.

Risk to Pentax is reduced and should not be that high if they have done their market research. Reputation is enhanced as they can be seen to be offering a more complete system.

Obvious advantage to users is access to more exotic lenses at affordable prices.

Regards - Steve

A Black FA 77 Ltd for me, as close to new and mint as possible,it has been on my wish list for quite sometime, but I would need to sell or trade something else to fund it.

Regards - Steve

Peter, I have just tried this on a couple of JPGs and there are profiles available for manual selection. I know that some people have specifically created profiles from jpg files, so I would be surprised if these were not available.

I have assembled a collection of profiles from sources on the net and I am guessing that some of these are either JPG specific or JPG/RAW.

Regards - Steve

Peter, Pentax appears as a make on my computer. I have just checked out a number of shots, taken with a variety of lenses and all were recognised. I also have the option to manually select a profile.

What does the directory structure look like, where the profiles are stored? Is there a Pentax folder alongside those for Canon, Nikon ect? I seem to recall that there wasn't in an earlier version.

Regards - Steve

Pentax K5 and Kr are now supported in the updated versions of Lightroom, Photoshop CS5 and Camera Raw and DNG Converter.

Regards - Steve

The fact that the camera seems to be cycling between MF and Af would indicarte a contact problem or possible problem with the convertor.

I experienced a problem a while back, the convertor worked fine on the Z1 but behaved erratically on the K10. In my case I slightly loosened the mounting screwws on both sides of the convertor, which allowed the contacters to reseat. Since then all has been fine.

I do find that the older film cameras are more tolerant in this regard.

On the K10 only centre point AF is available with 'A' series lenses

Regards - Steve

Hi I have both the A28 and A24, metering is fine on both. Both are a little soft at F2.8, but sharpen up when stopped down. Of the two the A 24 is my favourite. I often use it as a general purpose lens when travelling light.

Regards - Steve

I have all three and the advantage the AF200T has over the other two is the adjustable power output in manual. The lack of swivel and tilt is not an issue, when using off camera as I do.

The AF280T is my go to gun, when I am in an hurry. I find that one of the two auto settings gets the job done 9 times out of ten. I also like to use it in manual mode as an onboard trigger to fire a remote AF 360.



Regards - Steve

For concert work I would agree with the DA* 50 -135 as a good choice. For studio work , you are in control of the environment and the flexibility of a zoom is less of a factor.

It then comes down to your preferred working distance and budget as to whether you go for a FA501.4 DA*55 1.4 or the FA77 Ltd. Personally I don't think it gets any better than the FA77 Ltd for portrait work

Regards - Steve

PKA fit 24mm F2.8 from 3rd party manufacturers are quite readily available at a reasonable cost. I had a Vivitar that was not too bad IQ wise, I only sold it because I bought a Pentax 24mm from a forum member. I like 24mm on a APS digital and use the 24mm as my go lens when travelling light.

20mm Pentax A and M lenses come up a few times a month on eBay on eBay but they usually go for at least £250 - £300.

I think there are some 19mm third party lenses, possibly Vivitar and Cosina, but I have no experience of them

Regards - Steve