ah the K10D...... i'd love to have one in my outfit but having just gotten a GX-1L back in September I don't think I can justify getting another new body just yet. Especially as I have just this month finished paying it off my credit card.

I do intend getting a good Manfrotto Tripod and Head though. I'm looking to spend about £200 on it at the same time as the new lens. I guess i'd be throwing money away if I bought a monster lens like the 50-500 or the 135-400 and then didn't take the time to support it properly.

Personally the MN055 Pro B seems ideal. I currently use a Manfrotto 679B Monopod to great effect.

Hells bells.

I wish I hadn't seen or heard of the BIGMA now. I definitely want one! I've been drooling over pictures of that all day.

This site has a really nice review of the Sigma with some sample images (albeit from a Canon 350D). The sharpness of this lens at its fullest extent is stunning. http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/sigma_50500_463/index.htm

That along with a decent tripod - i'm thinking along the lines of a Manfrotto 055b and a nice pan & tilt head - is gonna push my budget way up. I hear the scampering of my piggy bank now as it tries to run away

I've seen the Sigma 50-500mm available to order from eBay stores in Japan for £500 + shipping. Making them around £550 in total.

This may be another avenue that is open for people like myself who are in need of a monster telephoto lens. Could be dodgy though and expensive if customs catch it coming in.

Hi,

Has anybody here used this lens?

I have a Samsung GX-1L dSLR and am looking at a big gun lens to replace a 300mm Chinon Mirror and an aging 300mm Paragon.

The main emphasis of my photography is in photographing shipping out on the River Humber. I have the 50-200mm kit lens and at times it isn't really long enough. The 300mm focal length is fine for me so I am particularly interested in the Sigma as it gives me some latitude either way.

From what i've read the Sigma's can be a bit hit an miss in their QC department. What are your thoughts on this?

Are there any other alternatives to this from Pentax that I may want to consider. I don't mind buying s/h lenses as long as they fit the bill for what I need. At the moment my AF kit lenses are taking a back seat to a bunch of SMC-M lenses that i've accumulated from eBay.

Regards
Mick

First time poster here.
I've been a Pentax user for years - sort of.

I got into photography whilst still at school at around 14 or 15 years old. My first camera was Praktica BCA which was AE only. I then added a BC1 body which taught me the essentials of using a manual camera.

My first K-mount body was a Ricoh KR-10M which was a lovely camera body and I used that for years with a pair of K-mount Centon lenses. That little camera was really impressive and did just about everything excepting auto-focus. When the shutter died on it at the end of the 90s I invested over £1000 in a Minolta DiMage 7 bridge camera but most of my interest had died.

At the end of 2005 I was talking with father about wanting to scratch-an-itch so to speak in having another go at 35mm but I couldn't afford a new camera. He filled me in on just how cheaply 35mm cameras had become and when I checked for myself on eBay I was astounded.

So early in January I took the plunge and got another K-mount body. I didn't know where to go so I took the safe route and got another Ricoh KR-10M. From there I purchased an original P30 which is truly one of the best (if not THE BEST) 35mm cameras i've ever used. I now have around 8 k-mounts in my possesion and i'm shooting more film than ever before. The availibility of SMC lenses at such cheap prices is a real boon and my photography is coming on in leaps and bounds.

I recently got myself a Samsung GX-1L with a pair of kit lenses. That again has been a great leap forward for me and i'm taking shots that i'm truly proud of.

Very shortly I have a small lump sum coming - around £2.5k or so and will be dropping most of that on a K10D with a selection of Pentax' better quality KAF lenses.

I still love film and will continue to shoot it when I can but as a learning tool the digital camera is unsrpassed.


I've looked at Canon and Nikon and don't see anything there to sway me into moving allegiances. My mate has a Canon 30D with two £800 lenses and my P30 and GX-1 run's rings around it. Perhaps it's because he doesn't know how to use it? Maybe so but i'll be staying with Pentax for some time to come.