Hi Jim, In my first message about this I had said about being told the Tamron not being made by Pentax, the one who told me was Dean, my repair guy. Dean had called his friend in Pentax (Colo.) and he said it was made by Pentax. Personally, I can't believe it one way or another because being a Pentax guy, he probably couldn't answer the question any other way.
Steve ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim King" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <pdml@pdml.net> Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2008 10:45 AM Subject: Re: 18-250mm - Pentax or Tamron Tim Øsleby wrote on Sat, 10 May 2008 09:12:37 -0700 > Specwise the Pentax is the same as the Tamron, eccept for the coating. > Accoding to the Norwegian distributor the DA is a Pentax design. I > don't know what they mean by this, I just report what I was told by > them. Tim, I don't doubt that you were told this, but I have the Pentax version of this lens, and when I compared the reflected color from the front elements with that from other Pentax and Tamron zooms in my collection, I found it to look quite different from the Pentax lenses and quite similar to the Tamron lenses. I don't think that the coating is Pentax SMC. Having compared the specs, optical diagrams, and photos of both lenses, it appears to me that the Pentax is a rebadge of the Tamron, with cosmetic changes to the rubber rings, different labeling, and a Pentax-style lens hood. The Pentax is even marked, "Made in Japan,", and all other DA lenses are marked, "Made in Viet Nam." If I were a betting man I'd lay odds that Tamron makes this lens for Pentax. Regards, Jim -- 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. -- 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.