Hi! I have had the most unfortunate acquisition so far. I bought DA* 16-50 off PentaxForums. The seller indicated that the SDM motor did not work and that the lens was converted to screw-driven AF. Upon arrival, it appeared that the lens does not rotate past approximately 0.7 m mark on focus scale.
I took it to Pentax Israel and USD 375 later I have a lens that kind of focuses somewhere. However, the focusing range is now fully accessible, so to say. So I took it for a walk. It seems that it also has optical problems that I cannot quite describe. But ultimately, it is not sharp except maybe at portrait distances in the middle of the frame. I am giving this lens away to any one who wants to take it apart or who needs some spare parts - mount, SDM motor parts, whatever. If you feel like paying me any money for it, it would be very generous on your part. I'll ship it cheaply with registered air mail, of course, not with expensive EMS. Now, that I have paid money and visit to Pentax Israel, it is clear to me that I cannot have Pentax as my primary gear because I cannot reliably repair it even with rather expensive service that I have here. Finally, you know, I also have felt real pain in my wrists today during this 2 hours photo walk that I had. So, upgrade to K-3 or K-1 is out of the question. I will be buying one of Sony A7 series cameras (I have yet to decide which one) and that 24-70/4 Vario Tessar lens for starters. Then I'd buy some adapters to use my K-mount 50/1.2, 77/1.8 and Leica mount 35/2.0 and 25/2.8. This should in fact be quite enough for most of my needs. Ricoh GXR will come in very handy as well. So, in the very near future I will be offering for sale moderately used K-5 with original grip, spare battery and magnifying eye piece. Sigma 24-60/2.8 full frame lens which is very good optic except typical Sigma color balance. Also I will be offering Sigma 17-70/2.8-4.5 (screw driven version) and Metz 50 AF-1 flash unit. As well, assortment of filters, Pentax lens pouches and so on. Please contact me off the list. Of course, I will have to get new gear before I send out my old gear, so I can have continuity of my favorite hobby. By the way, if you have any of Sony A7 series cameras that is in really good state that you would want to replace with Pentax K-1, I would gladly buy it from you. Alas. -- Boris -- 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.
