I checked their optical diagrams and they look identical. Interestingly, the
AF Nikkor 105/2.8 macro also has the same optical diagram as the Pentax
F/FA100/2.8 macro.
Alan Chan
http://www.pbase.com/wlachan
> That 14/2.8 Nikkor is actually a rebadged Tamron.
Hmmm. Based on the specs it COULD be--same number of elements and groups,
almost same minimum focus and weight. Nikon has been known to use
rebadged and slightly tweaked Tamrons before.
OTOH it seems odd that what is a premiere lens for Nikon is not one of
their own designs. Plus, for all the specs it doesn't quite LOOK the
same, although it could be merely cosmetic. It's also the first I've
heard this assertion.
For all the rumors that the third party manufacturers make all the lenses
for the big names, from what I know only a handful of well-known lenses
(like the Pentax 100 macro) are in fact rebadged designs from another
company. Specialty lenses would be a good candidate, though...
I wonder if it is a case of "sharing designs". Pentax and (Contax?) were
suspected of doing that back at the end of the screw-mount era (they
introduced 15/3.5s with almost identical designs at almost the same time)
and Leica and Minolta (apparently one of the Minolta 24s was
suspiciously good and similar to the Leitz lens) at one point as well.
Even if the basic design is the same the glass, build quality, and
quality control could vary a lot.
I've stayed away from the Nikkor 14, no matter who makes it, because
my experience with the Sigma 14 and everything I've read about the Nikkor
15 suggest that ultrawides like that are more trouble than they are worth.
Give me a 35mm-sized sensor and I won't need a 14mm lens anyway--that
is assuming I ever find an M 20/4 or splurge on the FA version.
Perhaps the fact that the Pentax is a DA design gives it an edge over the
film-format 14s that everyone else uses, other than the fact that it
leaves Pentax without a film-format 14. I suspect that Pentax's 15/3.5,
which dates optically from the early '70s, is as outdated an optical
design as anybody else's older 15/3.5. I've heard predictably
unflattering things about its performance wide open.
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