I have the 80-320, purchased for its very useful range -- great for
newspaper. I had also heard that there were some problems with softness, but
I haven't experienced that much yet. I know there's been some discussion
about what Paal terms the 3-D effect, but I can tell you it's true. I bought
it a couple of years ago, and I tested it at our local wild safari. The
results were excellent. I was shocked when I looked through the loupe and
saw my furry subjects standing out from the background in an almost 3-D sort
of way. I wasn't disappointed in the scans and prints, either. I get very
good color and contrast from this lens, and every time I publish something
shot with it, I get comments from other staffers about the quality of the
shots. If you want something with this wide a range, I think it would be a
good choice. It's one of my favorite lenses.
Alin opined:
As for Pentax FA 80-320/4.5-5.6, I think this lens deserves more
than the bashing it usually gets here from our "prime" majority. It's
on par with the commonly accepted reference FA 28-70/4 up to 200 mm,
then it softens just a bit but still has very good contrast and
excellent flare resistance. Around 80 mm is exceptionally good,
perhaps rivaling with any prime. At 200 mm is below K 200/4, but not by
much. Perhaps it's biggest advantage is the good image quality wide open. It
slightly improves by stopping down but overall it appears to be optimized
for wide-open performance at the detriment of absolute image quality at
optimum apertures.
Then Artur replied:
Perhaps after I e-bay my Tamron, I'll get this FA 80-320.
> Greetz
> Artur
>
-
This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe,
go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to
visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
