Originally posted by Mr Hyde You are correct. I purchased one last week for about this amount. The lens is very well built and the contrast is excellent. The lens is smaller than I expected it to be... which is nice.
Overall it is quality through and through... but it won't part the Red Sea and magically make great pictures. That is done on the other side of the camera
It handles lighting transitions very well though there occasionally will be some very minor CA. Too early to tell but the only CA I have seen at various focal lengths is about 1/3 in from the right side of the image and that was only a pixel wide. so, overall CA's look to be fairly well controlled.
It is a very good addition to Pentax's lens lineup. Nice to see them finally being delivered.
I have not done any testing with it yet but have cranked off a couple of snapshots. Images appear sharp, perhaps as sharp as the Sigma 70-200 2.8, but those tests will be forthcoming, but the relative lightness of the lens makes steadying it a little more of a challenge than the Sigma.
Stephen