17-70 is SDM only (as is the 55/1.4 btw) so no screwdriver option. The problem is, if SDM fails, the body will not allow a fallback to usual screwdrive (and we are angry at PEntax because of that) but a non-SDM body (ist-D serie, K100D) will work with screwdrive just fine.
AFAICT the 16-50 had a lot more SDM problems than the 50-135 but this is from memory. As for the lens itself, it isn't very fast to AF but optically this is a pure gem. And yes, not very discrete lens, hood is huge :) I wouldn't sell mine for all the tea in China ;) /blink (yep the tea reference is for Boris) -- Thibault Massart aka Thibouille/Thibs ---------------------- Photo: K-7, Sigma 28/1.8 macro, FA50/1.4, DA40Ltd, K30/2.8, DA16-45, DA50-135, DA50-200, 360FGZ KX, MX, SuperA+Motor, Z1, P30 Mamiya C330+80/2.8 Sekonic L-208 FalconEyes TE300D x2 Studio flashes Laptop: Macbook 13" Unibody SnowLeo/Win7 Programing: Delphi 2009 -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
