Originally posted by saladin certainly the shop owner thought it was worth waiting for in preference to what's currently available - but then he may have an, err, "incentive" to say that.
Pentax and Sigma are both distributed by the same company (CRK) so while it may be possible I doubt SPIVs are involved in this case, maybe he just likes Sigma?
Interestingly at AUD$600 for the Sigma the price difference in Australia to the Pentax is not so great at all... How much was your local dealer charging for the FA50/1.4? I have seen it for AUD$550 which is a joke considering the US price..
As for quality comparison, who knows, until it is released we cannot compare. Though I would be interested to see if the f1.4-f2 corners are better than the pentax and what the PF/L.CA control is like as MY FA50/1.4 had a lot of problem in that area... Though I do think though the Sigma will be a fair bit bigger and heavier than the Pentax, which is a negative IMO..
Personally I would just wait and see, unless unlike me you have money to burn