Thanks Chris- I was the seller in question- it was bought as part of a bundle by myself, and it seemed absolutely fine in the testing that I'd performed (that being simply using it on a couple of outings).

I decided to let it go in favor of a Sigma 30mm f1.4 prime (ultimately purchased from another member, Arno, which I am very happy with).

As Chris is happy with the lens in all other regards, we've agreed to split the cost of a calibration.

For what it's worth Chris, I personally would be inclined to give Asahi Photo a try, as given their proximity I'd expect you to have a quicker turnaround, but I have no experience of either in this context. SRS have behaved impeccably in all my dealings with them, so I would have no concerns going through them either.

The only risk is the temptations of the open day if you do go to visit!

If you give me a week or two I might be qualified to comment on this. I've had a K-R since about June/July sort of time, and last weekend picked up a K-5.

The K-R is an excellent camera, and if prices were still where they were back then, I might well have picked up another K-R. As it stands however, the K-R has come down by about £20 since then, whereas the K-5 has come down something like £150 with the cashback.

Bottom line, right now I think the K-5 offers better value for money than the K-R, and fortunately I'm in the position where I could afford to have both. If I were instead looking at selling the K-R, and buying a new K-5, I just don't think it'd be worth it.

Anyhow, taking them both out this Saturday, so I might be able to give you a better idea on Sunday.

Heh, to be honest that teleconverter was a £10 ebay special, with no expectation of quality. I think I got one or two half decent moon shots, and a couple of foggy looking small birds from distance, but I thought it might be nice to have just in case.
It is undeniably very small, sitting there in my camera bag, never to see light of day...

Well, the seven I'd keep:

Sigma 30mm f1.4
Sigma 70-200 f2.8 HSM
Pentax FA 50mm F1.4
Zenitar 16mm Fisheye
Tamron 18-250mm
Sigma 24-135mm F2.8-4.5
Pentax 18-55mm WR

Also have:
Pentax A 50mm F1.7
Promaster Spectrum 7 70-300mm
Pentax FA 70-200 f4-5.6 powerzoom
Pentax DAL 18-55
Pentax FA 28-70 F4
Crappy 2x pka Teleconverter


I also have a Sigma 400mm F5.6 AF non-APO on it's way from Ebay.. no idea if it'd make the cut yet!

I think the only thing I really need is a fast short zoom, probably Tamron 17-50 f2.8. Might be on the Christmas list.

There is a fairly sensible reason to use selectable focus points, but to understand why requires a little thought:

Camera lenses are designed so that they have a flat plane of focus. If you take a photo looking straight on at a brick wall, the whole brick wall will be in focus. That's fine.

However, if you were to take a measuring tape, and measure the distance from the camera lens to the brick wall, you'd find that the distance from lens to wall varies across the frame. At the very center of the image, the distance is at a minimum. The further you get from that center point on the wall, the longer the distance is.

So, what does this mean if you are using the center point and re-composing?

Well, what if you turn the camera to an angle, and focus on a bit of the wall off center to you, and now recompose the picture so that you're pointing straight at the wall again. You'll find that the entire wall is slightly out of focus, as the camera is now focusing behind the wall.

Compare that with the alternative- if you'd selected one of the corner focus points, while pointing straight at the wall, everything would still be in focus.

The effect is fairly subtle, and most of the time depth of field is sufficient to disguise it, but that's why it's better to compose and then focus, rather than focus and then compose.

I'm not sure I've done a great job explaining it, but this is why I use selectable focus points, rather than center focus then recompose. This is also why I'd never buy a K-X....

There's something you're missing- most lenses will focus past infinity.

This is for a number of reasons- mainly it's because it's difficult to calibrate a lens so that the stop is exactly on infinity focus, partly it's because lens components can expand in heat so shifting the infinity focus point. I think it also means lenses are more likely to be compatible with conversion tubes etc.

You'll find the same with pretty much any lens. If you want to set infinity focus, I'm afraid you need to focus on something far away. The moon is a good bet at night time.

Heh, much as I love a bit of wild rumour and speculation, I think we'll be waiting for a while yet. It's too close to Christmas now for them to release a new model- too much risk of damaging sales of existing cameras or not having sufficient stock of the new one.

I guess it'll be February at the earliest now, either way there'll be something new before the Olympics, I'd happily put a bet on that.

Forgive me sounding daft, but what's the attraction? I can see it says Pentax on it, and is tilt and swivel, but isn't it effectively a manual flash on DSLR, without PTTL? Presumably it can't act as a remote slave either?

I guess the thing is, stay positive. So far the result of the Pentax Ricoh merger seems to have been new and aggressive pricing on the K-5 & Q. It's a step in the right direction, and at a time when other manufacturers are having supply chain issues, it's hopefully a chance for Pentax to gain a bit of market share.

Ricoh didn't buy Pentax just for fun, and I think this indicates that they're serious about getting Pentax out there. Give them a chance, and I'm sure more lenses will appear, and hopefully price reductions on the existing ones.

Great stuff! I think I'll be taking a trip to Watford on Saturday, have waited long enough....