Do you want to get a free premium account on PentaxForums.com, which allows you to sell your old Pentax and photo gear at no charge, and gives you a lot more photo space on our forum and in our galleries? If you plan on buying a new Pentax camera, you may be eligible for a free account upgrade afterwards on our forum!

Through tomorrow (May 31st), if you buy a Pentax Q, K-01, or K-5 from one of our authorized US Pentax retail partners (B&H, Adorama, or Abe's of Maine), you will get a free 1-year account upgrade.  Thereafter, the upgrade will be for 1 month of marketplace access.  In addition, if you pre-order the new K-30 at any time before it's released, you'll also get a 1-year account upgrade!

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We've just posted a new comparative review of two ultra-wide zooms for Pentax: the Sigma 10-20mm F3.5 EX DC HSM, and the Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC J.  In the review we take an in-depth look at the optical performance, the autofocus, the handling, and the value of each lens.

More importantly, however, this review is actually an extension of the three-way ultra-wide comparative review we posted last month, in which we compared the Sigma 12-24mm, Pentax 12-24mm, and Tamron 10-24mm lenses.  Thus, this new review is a 5-way comparison of ultra-wide zoom lens options for Pentax (and other camera brands as well). We hope you enjoy the read and find it useful!

Read the new ultra-wide zoom comparative review

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Pentax Japan announced the Pentax K-30 today in Japan and included this image of the optional hand strap O-ST128. It is available in three colors.

It looks quite nice. We wouldn't mind seeing a strap in this design for the K-5/K-7 as well!

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Forum member Duplo has just posted a small giveaway photo contest in which you can win his copy of the Pentax-DA 21mm F3.2 Limited lens!  Essentially, this is a landscape photo contest in which your photo should "convey the raw power of mother nature and her fragility".

There's a special story behind this 21mm- it's taken some award-winning photos, been through temperatures as low as -40 degrees C, and traveled around the arctic.  We hope that trough this contest, the lens will find a great new home by another Pentaxian!

Click here to enter your photo or learn more!

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We are very proud to announce the winners of our official April photo contest, for which the theme was "Patterns".  There were 3 clear winners from among over 100 submissions.

Our first-place winner was forum member Macario with this photo, entitled "Gateway":

(Click to enlarge)

This photo is now being featured in our Premier Gallery - feel free to comment on it there on in our winners' showcase on the forum.

Don't forget that through the end of May, you can enter in our current photo contest ("Night Scene") for a chance to win $150 in gift cards!

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Tamron has just reintroduced 5 instant rebates for their most popular lenses for Pentax- while they're all mail-ins and fairly low ($25-50), any type of savings is still welcome news given the high Pentax lens prices.  Below we summarize the current rebates.

Summer Tamron Mail-In Rebates - thru 6/30
	Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 This lens is one-third of the price of the Pentax DA* 16-50mm, and optically better as we've found in our in-depth review. Read our Tamron 17-50mm comparative review	Price: $474 $25 Rebate
	Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 This zoom lens was designed for full-frame cameras, but still works wonders on APS-C.  See also the Pentax FA* 28-70mm in our lens database.	Price: $474 $25 Rebate
	Tamron 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 The Tamron 10-24mm competes with the PEntax DA 12-24mm, and is $250 cheaper after the mail-in rebate.  It's very close to the Pentax in terms of image quality. Read our Tamron 10-24mm comparative review	Price: $449 $50 Rebate
	Tamron  18-200mm F3.5-6.3 This all-around zoom is an affordable alternative to the Sigma 18-200mm or Pentax 18-135mm WR.	Price: $249 $50 Rebate
	Tamron 90mm F2.8 Macro The Tamron 90mm macro is arguably one of the best macros available for Pentax right now.  It is almost half the price of the Pentax D-FA 100mm WR, which we've compared this lens to in a recent review. Read our Tamron 90mm vs Pentax 100mm comparative review	Price: $449 $50 Rebate

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The new Pentax K-30 DSLR has just been added to our camera comparison page. If you wonder how this new camera matches up against the K-5, K-r, K-01, or even older bodies, you need not look any further!  For even more details on the camera, be sure to read our K-30 preview and our other in-depth DSLR reviews.

The comparison page, linked below, is also accessible via the "Databases" tab in the navbar.

You can find our K-30 comparison page here

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Now that the embargo on the new Pentax K-30 has been lifted, we are happy to be among the first sites to post a complete overview of this revolutionary new $849 DSLR.

The Pentax K-30 is targeted at the mid-range DSLR market.  As such, it's the first successor to the K200D, which ended up being one of the most popular Pentax DSLRs due to its good balance of features and value.  The K-30 can be seen as a K200D on steroids: it is weather-sealed, and while it has no top LCD, additional external controls (including a second control wheel) have been added to make it even easier to use, and it now supports AA's as well as a rechargeable D-LI109 battery.  Other new features since the K200D include an AF assist light, new shooting modes, a larger LCD, and a faster processor. overhauled

Figure: the overhauled AF system in the K-30

That's enough about the K200D, however.  What's important is that Pentax is reviving the mid-range line with an extremely powerful camera.  The K-30 features a vastly overhauled autofocus system.  Known as SAFOX IXi+, this 11-point AF system incorporates a diffraction lens to minimize chromatic aberration, factors in the light source at the time of shooting, and uses an overhauled algorithm to focus faster and more precisely than even the K-5.  Pentax is also including a new select-area expansion function for enhanced tracking of moving subjects, and promises improvements in "all areas", including focusing accuracy and speed.   Now, let us take a closer look at the specifications of the K-30.

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