What bothers me (recently) is that with all the Pentax FA lenses that I have purchased lately, picking the "perfect" one was like buying a lottery. I am sure you guys are sick of hearing me complaining about the FA*200/2.8 that I purchased late last year.
I'm fresh audience (I was not subscribed during that period ;-).
And now my friend purchased a FA31/1.8 from HK for me last week, and guess what? He ran though 6 samples in the shop before he could pick the best but not perfect sample. The mounting screws have big fat tools marks, the 'A' switch is acting strange, the front/hood section wobbles a little (okay, this might not be a flaw and has yet to be determined), and the focus ring felt too light (compared to other 31 samples that I have tried, even my friend noticed it when he bought it). It was either due to the poor QC in Pentax factory, or the lens had been stripped. I would never know. :-(
That's why I'd like to be able to check myself before buying. Mail order doesn't work, when you'll complain they'll say the lens is fine, but if you really insist, we can send it for repair (no replacement hehe), Pentax will say it's "manually assembled so that's normal and it is within factory specs" etc. So I really want to inspect the thing *before* I touch the wallet. For your lens - I'd say replace the screws with new good lookin' ones and put it on e-bay ;-)
cheers, caveman
