[whyhaveone]

Hi all.

I've been lurking here for a while now, signed up on the 30th September. Back in the 70s & 80s I was a big fan of 35mm photography and had a Canon AE-1 (a great camera!) complete with specialist Macro gear (including a diopter attachment for close focusing) a Vivitar series 1 70-210 lens, Vivitar flash, motor drive attachment (2 frames per second!), etc. This lasted me until the 1990s when I got a Pentax digital compact camera. I can't remember the model, but it had 3.1MP capacity, wow, and the 256MB(!) compact flash card cost me £56.

I then went through a couple of other digital compact cameras including an Olympus Tough 8100 (great build quality and still used for underwater photos) followed by an Olympus SZ31MR. Though a good camera I began to get frustrated with sharpness and speed issues, so started to research DSLRs.

Wanting an all weather camera I settled on the Pentax K-S2 with the 18-50 and 50-200mm lenses which I got at the end of October. Since then I've been playing/testing out all the features and re-familiarizing myself with the basics of photography - much helped by various articles on this forum - thank you.

I'm now looking at getting a 1:1 macro lens, due to budget constraints this is looking to be the Tamron SP AF 90mm F2.8 Di Macro. I have to say that the reviews on this forum have been most helpful.

Anyway, that's enough of an intro, I thought it polite to post something before I asked any questions!

[Nakedgun]

Welcome!
The reviews, here, can be most helpful in emptying one's wallet, to be sure!

[bertwert]

Welcome to the forum!

[jimr-pdx]

Welcome - now fire away with those questions!

[normhead]

Welcome, you have questions, we'll debate them.

[dansamy]

Welcome!

[debakarma]

Welcome to the forum.

[aacjr]

Welcome to the forum.

[Kerrowdown]

I thought it polite to post something before I asked any questions!

Welcome aboard, polite people are more than welcome here.

[whyhaveone]

Thanks for the warm welcome.

Well I've taken the plunge and bought the Pentax D-FA 100mm F2.8 WR Macro Lens. I was looking at four lenses: The Pentax, the Tamron SP AF 90mm F2.8 Di Macro, the Sigma 50mm F2.8 EX DG Macro (AF) and the Sigma EX DG (not OS version)105mm Macro.

It looked like it was going to be the Tamron (~£200) as the Pentax was way out of my reach at £450 (or ~£300 secondhand), but then came along Black Friday and whilst many dealers were knocking of 10% to £50, SRS Microsystems (who appear on the UK Pentax forum) was offering the Pentax for £249 brand new - so obviously I've ordered one and it's due tomorrow. Happy days.

At some stage I'll post a few photos.