PENTAX-FA SMC 100-300mm f4.7-5.8

[Monza76]

Crashman,

are all of your lenses Sigma? The 28-70mm f2.8 should be a great lens in either version, I have used the 70-200 (or was it 210) f2.8 that one of my students had on a Canon 20D. Absolutely fantastic lens, but really heavy, lots of glass and sturdier construction makes for a heavy lens. I suspect the digital version of the 28-70 may be a little lighter, but the trend to lighter lenses to cover the smaller image circle seems to only apply to the cheaper, consumer stuff.

With my old MF Pentaxes I owned only one real Pentax SMC lens, an M series 50mm f1.7. My other lenses included a Vivitar 70-150mm f3.8 (sold with my ME Super) which was a very good lens but of course the focus turned in the wrong direction, two Rikenon XR lenses, a 28mm f2.8 that I purchased new and still own, and a 135mm f2.8 that I received used, a Takumar-A 2X teleconverter completed the set. My current lenses include the Rikenons, aSamyang 500mm f8 mirror lens, the M 50mm, the Takumar teleconverter, and the rest are Pentax AF zooms (3 SMC lenses and a Takumar-F). I like the idea of having one brand of lens, there is a sense of familiarity with the equipment. All Sigma is the plan for my former student and his Canon 20D as well.

To be honest I do like the fact that the design is the same as my FA 28-80mm, I think Pentax changed the "look" of their lenses far too often, my DA, FA and F series lenses all looked so different (even similar FA lenses have different designs, most using a window for the distance scale, the two that I own with the scale on the focus ring, and of course the couple of FA models with no focus scale at all, then there is the fact that some lenses were available in black or silver while others were not, oops, rambling again). All manufacturers make cosmetic changes to their lenses when they bring out a new line but Pentax seemed to make the most radical changes.

I know this may sound very superficial but just think about it, those of us who were involved with photography in the early 1980s will remember a time when there was very little, style, in lens design, they were all black tubes with rubberized grips. With the AF lenses every manufacturer seemed to want to be noticed, with less emphasis on the focus ring (and often no more aperture ring) companies started to make statements on their lenses. The early Minolta Maxxum lenses with the very tubular design, very small gear style focus ring and the large Minolta "globe" on each lens. Pentax came up with the strange dull gray colour of the F series lenses, most of which used a rather small 49mm filter size which made them look a little odd. throughout the 90s manufacturers kept changing the look of their lenses with each subsequent generation, however Nikon, Canon, and after an initial shaky period, Sigma seem to have picked a theme and stuck with it. I like the new Pentax design look as shown in the DA lenses, I just hope they stay with it.

Good luck on the auctions.

Ira

[Peacekeeper]

Ira

Yes, all my lenses are Sigmas at the moment. Sigma and Pentax are more readily available here over, makes like Vivitar and others mentioned regularly on this forum are more USA andEuropean markets.

Sigma is cheaper to buy thanPentax and definitely easier to buy online for me.

I was actually checking out a "Sun" lens yesterday with the push pull zoom that rotates for focus, damn that was great, sort of changed my mind about that style of lens.

There is a camera market on today, so I have grabbed some cash and will be heading down there inabout an hour, hope to pick up a 50mm f1.7, maybe a 28-70mm if I am lucky.

You never know, some old widow might be selling her hubby's old camera gear and I might find a nice 500mm f4 cheap. :?

I heard an interesting bit of information yesterday.

"Sigma is owned by the same company that runs Pentax" That is one hell of a statement, I have no idea of the accuracy of this piece of intel, but it might explain why there is such a large and diverse amount on Pentax mounted Sigma lenses.

[Peacekeeper]

Back from the camera market, got some good bargains and addressed some LBA issues. :-)



Tamron 80-250mm f3.8 M42 $40 Aus ($29US)

Big, slightly heavy, no dents, collar mount, hard case and both lens caps. Had a macro converter (spacer) also screwed on, so bonus.



SMC Pentax 50mm f1.7 $70Aus ($50US)

Mint condition, clicky, perfect, both lens caps



SMC Pentax 55mm f1.8 $20Aus ($15US)

Mint condition, clicky, perfect, both lens caps

He threw in two T mount adapters because he saw me carrying the Tamron, thought they might fit.



Vivitar 2x tele-converter full function $15Aus ($12US)

Brand new, never used, he had no idea of the value of this item.



Ran into my Camera dealer there, he had a stall going and checked over my purchases and couldn't find anything wrong with any of the lenses. Extra bonus



He also runs one of the local camera clubs and was offering a lot of advice to different people, so I felt confident with what I had managed to obtain. He was surprised at the prices I managed to get them for too. Extra extra bonus



Then I find one of my work colleagues' wife is there with a stall, wrong camera format so I couldn't buy anything form her. I didn't realise she was a professional studio photographer.



She offered to give me UV and polarising filters for all my lenses for free, so I need to go home and go through my lenses and get all the sizes. Extra extra extra read all about it bonus



What a great day. Then I get introduced to some guy who does all the camera repairs and servicing for our agency and he looks over my Tamron lens and is impressed with the quality and I talk to him about the T-mounts and what I can use them for and then the need for a M42-Pentax adapter for my newly acquired Tamron. He says he will order a new one in from Japan and come to his shop and collect it on Wednesday $25Aus ($20US).



So apart from great sunny warm weather, does it get any better than this.

[Monza76]

Water droplet from icicle - 300mm, hand held, f11, 1/800 sec, ISO 400, centre weighted metering, single AF, burst mode to capture a droplet in flight.

The pattern you see in the droplet is an inverted image of the trees and back fence in my back yard. This was shot through a double pane window.

I applied an adjustment to levels and resized but that is all. I am very happy with the results I am getting with this lens.

Ira

[bilybianca]

Monza76 wrote:

I am very happy with the results I am getting with this lens.

Ira

You should be!

Kjell

[Monza76]

Thanks Kjell, I just had an 11" X 14" print done from this file (which is colour BTW) and it was really nice, subtle hints of blue, green and brown are visible in the icicle. The gray sky and dark coloured fence and trees provide the gradation in the out-of-focus background. Great when a simple idea turns out right.

Thanks again

Ira

[CptOfGondor]

Wow! Thanks for the indepth coverage, Ira!

You give hope to those with small wallets! Haha. Yea I have the Samsung rebrand of the *ist DL2 and a bunch of old lenses I got used off ebay and Henry's.

[Monza76]

CptOfGondor wrote:

Wow! Thanks for the indepth coverage, Ira!

You give hope to those with small wallets! Haha. Yea I have the Samsung rebrand of the *ist DL2 and a bunch of old lenses I got used off ebay and Henry's.

Glad to hear this old thread is still useful.

Ira