So these lenses were just introduced for market hype? -----
No, the lenses are very, very good. As for SDM, it is quiet, almost spooky until you are used to it. I think that once a suite a telephoto DA* lenses with SDM are available, wildlife shooters will like the quiet. Other than that, I regard SDM as no big deal. In fact, I'd like to have a firmware option to switch between shaft drive and SDM. SDM is so quiet that one may not know if the AF fails to lock focus. There is the focus-lock indicator in the viewfinder, but I have long found viewfinder displays hard to read in bright light--which is mostly where I shoot. So I'd like to have the option to turn shaft drive on and off. That way I can hear whether or not the lenses focuses. Joe >>> Joseph Tainter <jtainter at mindspring.com> 10/16/2007 11:25 AM >>> "And, of course, there's AF which is a much more difficult and variable feature than AE and one in which Pentax really fell behind. The big issue here is again the lenses, as the new DA* lenses will bring AF speed much closer to the market leaders." Unfortunately, the DA* lenses don't focus noticeably faster with SDM than with shaft drive. I made it a point to try mine with shaft drive AF for a few days before installing firmware 1.3 and using them with SDM. About a year ago, a Pentax engineer essentially admitted that SDM wouldn't bring faster AF. Joe -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
