[BigMackCam]

I'm a very happy photographer since I've stopped reading DPreview, DXO and some other reviewers. I much prefer to spent 20-30$ and rent the lenses that I'm interested in, rather than buying at the recommandations made by the reviewers like DPreview, DXO. I mean, who can test lenses/ cameras for me better than myself?

I wonder if there's a lens rental service here in the UK that covers Pentax K and Sony A mount lenses...

[rawr]

I wonder if there's a sample variation issue? I can't imagine Tamron would go to the trouble of releasing an updated lens with worse optical performance than its predecessor

Sample variation could work both ways, of course - their old lens (A011) may have been a better than usual copy, their new lens (A022) is a 'normal' one.

But yes, one would not expect Tamron to introduce a new lens with poorer optical performance than the old one. DxOMark's test is a puzzle.

[lithedreamer]

I'm a very happy photographer since I've stopped reading DPreview, DXO and some other reviewers. I much prefer to spent 20-30$ and rent the lenses that I'm interested in, rather than buying at the recommandations made by the reviewers like DPreview, DXO. I mean, who can test lenses/ cameras for me better than myself?

You only spend $20-30 to rent lenses? Where? LensRentals is far more expensive than that. Still doesn't help if you get a bad copy, I guess.

[boriscleto]

You only spend $20-30 to rent lenses? Where? LensRentals is far more expensive than that. Still doesn't help if you get a bad copy, I guess.

There is a local store in Syracuse where you can rent lenses for $20-45/day. They do a 3 day special on Fridays. But it's Canikon only

Lens/Camera Rentals - RA-LIN The Original Discounter!

[Dan Rentea]

You only spend $20-30 to rent lenses? Where? LensRentals is far more expensive than that. Still doesn't help if you get a bad copy, I guess.

Here, in Romania, you can rent lenses from 12$ per day, sadly only for Nikon, Canon and just a few Sony cameras and lenses. I rent quite often Sigma 150-600mm with 19$ per day. For wildlife I also rent 300mm f2.8 and this is the most expensive lens in the store available for renting (50$ per day). 24-70mm f2.8 and 70-200mm f2.8 lenses are available for 25 -30$ per day. And if you rent a lens on saturday you can keep it until monday without paying an extra day.

Regarding Pentax lenses, you can only play with them in the store for 30 - 40 minutes, depending on the lens. I wanted to buy a Tamron 70-200mm f2.8 for Pentax and they let me to test it in the store for 3-4 hours. This is quite sad because our official Pentax dealer is living in his own little world and he is not interested in making Pentax known.

Yes, you can buy a bad copy, but you have 2 weeks to play with it and if you don't like it you can return the lens and get your money back (or another lens).

[lithedreamer]

Here, in Romania, you can rent lenses from 12$ per day, sadly only for Nikon, Canon and just a few Sony cameras and lenses. I rent quite often Sigma 150-600mm with 19$ per day. For wildlife I also rent 300mm f2.8 and this is the most expensive lens in the store available for renting (50$ per day). 24-70mm f2.8 and 70-200mm f2.8 lenses are available for 25 -30$ per day. And if you rent a lens on saturday you can keep it until monday without paying an extra day.

Regarding Pentax lenses, you can only play with them in the store for 30 - 40 minutes, depending on the lens. I wanted to buy a Tamron 70-200mm f2.8 for Pentax and they let me to test it in the store for 3-4 hours. This is quite sad because our official Pentax dealer is living in his own little world and he is not interested in making Pentax known.

Yes, you can buy a bad copy, but you have 2 weeks to play with it and if you don't like it you can return the lens and get your money back (or another lens).

Ah. I thought you were recommending renting Pentax lenses.

If I wanted to rent a D-FA 15-30 for example, it'd cost $86 for three days (the minimum period) from LensRentals in the States.

[redpit]

Here, in Romania, you can rent lenses from 12$ per day, sadly only for Nikon, Canon and just a few Sony cameras and lenses. I rent quite often Sigma 150-600mm with 19$ per day. For wildlife I also rent 300mm f2.8 and this is the most expensive lens in the store available for renting (50$ per day). 24-70mm f2.8 and 70-200mm f2.8 lenses are available for 25 -30$ per day. And if you rent a lens on saturday you can keep it until monday without paying an extra day.

Regarding Pentax lenses, you can only play with them in the store for 30 - 40 minutes, depending on the lens. I wanted to buy a Tamron 70-200mm f2.8 for Pentax and they let me to test it in the store for 3-4 hours. This is quite sad because our official Pentax dealer is living in his own little world and he is not interested in making Pentax known.

Yes, you can buy a bad copy, but you have 2 weeks to play with it and if you don't like it you can return the lens and get your money back (or another lens).

Do you still own Pentax cameras? I had the notion that you have switched to Canon.

Here you cannot rent or play with lenses, unfortunately. Pentax representative is among the best in business nowadays (one of the latest camera shops that opened in Athens) because they have plenty of equipment in stock (another rarity here), they let you try it in shop (very few do that) and I can test all new Pentax equipment prior to buying it... They also sell Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus and Fuji equipment so comparing is quite easy

[Dan Rentea]

Do you still own Pentax cameras? I had the notion that you have switched to Canon.

Here you cannot rent or play with lenses, unfortunately. Pentax representative is among the best in business nowadays (one of the latest camera shops that opened in Athens) because they have plenty of equipment in stock (another rarity here), they let you try it in shop (very few do that) and I can test all new Pentax equipment prior to buying it... They also sell Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus and Fuji equipment so comparing is quite easy

I only have a compact camera from Pentax, a red one. For work I use Canon and it does the job very well for me. But a very close friend of mine just came back in Romania and he is using a K1 with 24-70mm and 70-200mm so I still have the chance to play with Pentax quite often. I love the K1's image quality (I also loved image quality of my K-5 II and K-3 II), the af is not bad at all (it still needs a little extra split of a second to lock focus, but is accurate most of the time). I'm sure I could have made it work (tke K1) for me, but I'm starting to do a lot of corporate headshots and wildlife lately and Canon is easier to work with (tethering and controlling my big Godox flashes is easier, renting long lenses, etc.).

We also have one of the largest store in the eastern Europe and they sell Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, Olympus, Pentax, but they don't promote Pentax (even if they have cameras and lenses on stock) because the official dealer doesn't help them with anything.

---------- Post added 02-14-17 at 09:47 PM ----------

Ah. I thought you were recommending renting Pentax lenses.

If I wanted to rent a D-FA 15-30 for example, it'd cost $86 for three days (the minimum period) from LensRentals in the States.

I always recomend to rent Pentax, Nikon, Fuji, Canon, Olympus, Sigma, Tamron, Samyang, etc., if it's possible before buying. Someone tried to convince me to buy Samyang 135mm f2. Save God I had the chance to rent it because it's not worth the effort to try and manual focus at f2 - f2.8.