I have been using for about a month now the SMC PENTAX-A 24-50/4.0 Zoom almost exclusively ( mostly product photos for ebay on tabletop ) on my *istDS DSLR. Its a two ring zoom so you never get any annoying "zoom creep" and it holds focus perfectly when zooming. The F4 speed is a little slow but the lens is so contrasty that its easy to focus at 50mm ( I use a split image screen - third party model - in my *istDS ). Anyway, after you figure in the 1.5X lens factor you are left with a 35mm SLR equiv of 36mm to 75mm which is a very versatile "super normal" lens. This model is extremely contrasty, great color saturation, and freedom from flaring. It works beautifully for tabletop product photography. I have never needed wider or longer, as it has a pretty decent magnification at 50mm and min focus. The constant aperture (F4 thru the zoom range) is great when using manual full power flash like I like to do.
Anyway, if you do a lot of ebay or similar product photography for web, I recommend this lens very highly. Much more versitile than a prime or macro 50mm with the 24m capability. I must add I have never used the stock 18-55mm that was sold with the camera, but I doubt it can match this lens, let alone beat it. Maybe it can? Anyone ever compared the two in the 24-50mm range? jco -- 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.
