[xxlyyk]

Just back from my first holiday with my K10D and Tamron 18-250 (also brought along 50 1.4 and bought a 31 1.8, the black one, when it "happened" to be available) and I thought I'd share my experience with the camera, lens, holiday, combo. My holiday consisted of a private part and two group package parts(China and Japan),time was limited and I didn't wanna change lenses to much (also dust, etc), hence the tamron with occasional low light with the 50.

In the end about 95-98% of the pictures I took were with the Tamron, which was as expected. Even indoors in low light I used it most of the times. The 50 1.4 is a nice idea for low light, but I ended up using it only for portraits since DOF is shallow if you take advantage of it and a lot of times you don't want that, so it is just a matter of crancking up the ISO and retaking pictures if not sharp. After I bought the 31, the 50 never got used again, because the FOV is much better for close range portraiture than the 50, which is just too tight for pictures of my daughter held by an aunt, uncle, nephew, etc ;-)

After processing I'd say I'm very happy with the tamron. I wouldn't be able to say which focal range I used most, but I used the entire range. On the plus side: range (of course), zoom lock, sharpness, feel/balance with the K10. On the minus side:vignetting, especially at 18, not very good sealing, there is some dust in my lens now, although you don't see it much on pictures, low light focus (although of course that's as much a part of the K10), noisy focus.

About the K10. I'd say I'm pretty happy with it. On the plus side/liked: the user interface (although I do have to tweak some things I learned), nice looking camera (yes I know, but I think it is the prettiest camera available), balance/feel, the bracketing button, browsing while zoomed in view mode, histogram, custom WB. On the minus side/didn't care for: the auto WB (pretty bad I think), fill in flash (tried several different flash modes with or without flash compensation, I use AV most of times and it almost always burns out the thing that I want to fill in, fill in only seems to work in P or green mode and in P only if you don't program shift, some tips would be nice here), Raw+ button ( I usually forget to turn it on when I need to, so I just switched to alway Raw+), the focus switch (find it hard to switch with camera to eye), just the noise of an slr (for certain places/occasins a compact is just more suitable), AS (of course). In the end I'm happy with the pictures I got (about six thousand of them). I think I'm able to get the picture I want reasonably quick with the K10 (except for the flash thing)

Here are some pictures by the way: some out of camera JPEG, most PEF's with some tweaking in lightroom (my pictures are pretty crooked ususally). Picasa Web Albums - Jie Yong - 2007 Japan

[Confused]

Hi "xxlyyk"

Just back from my first holiday with my K10D and Tamron 18-250

Like yourself after a great deal of careful research, I recently purchased a K10D and Tamron 18mm - 250mm Di II zoom lens, plus a D BG-2 Grip. I am thoroughly delighted with my decision, although the vast number of adjustable parameters and user options can almost seem to 'overwhelm' the inexperienced user at times, but that's when the Green mode (Auto) setting occasionally comes in handy to rescue the situation.......I'm expecting the usual tirade of disparaging comments from experienced professionals !!
With the Tamron I simply relish the sheer relief of not having to carry 'shed-loads' of heavy lenses around with me and be forever swapping-them over......no more dust to worry about (he said hopefully !).
Incidentally I still have an old Olympus-mount Vivitar 70mm - 210mm macro zoom-lens 'knocking-around' somewhere that probably weighs more than the K10D & Tamron combined.....I'm not kidding either !!
Needless to say, the overall 'image-quality' I'm getting certainly exceeds my high expectations ! Although I have accumulated over 40 years experience using both 35mm & Medium Format film equipment, this is my first Digital SLR camera and I have to say that I'm slightly surprised to read your observation concerning "noisy focus" ! Please bear in mind that when I first took up a serious interest in photography during the late 1960's, 'autofocus' was all but a 'theoretical concept' on the distant horizon and virtually everything was done manually, including 'washing the dishes' !!!!
As you probably already know, the primary culprit for causing intrusive 'noise generation' within an SLR invariably revolves around the racket caused as the mirror 'flips' upwards, normally referred to as 'mirror-slap'. Modern 'compacts' or all-in-one 'bridge-type' cameras obviously aren't afflicted with this problem and increasingly have the option of 'switching-off' the irritating electronic 'bleeps' that draw unwanted attention when trying to take unintrusive photographs. However IMHO I would not the regard the K10D as being any 'noisier' than it's immediate competitors such as N****n or C****n etc. By my standards I reckon that the Pentax K10D is 'incredibly' quiet compared to what I'm used to !! Also remember that when you hold a DSLR up to your eye, any noise or vibration that occurs will 'resonate' directly through your skull and perhaps appear louder to you than others in the nearby vicinity ?? I would hesitate to state that the benefits of using a DSLR outweigh the disadvantages, because different people have different expectations. I'm convinced that 'image-quality' is the primary upside in this equation and think it's an utterly pointless excercise buying a 'compact' if the pictures you end up with leave a lot to be desired ?

Kindest regards
Richard