Recently I've picked up a number of opinions on this lens.
Interesting to me because I got one of these from another PDML member, and apparently it's got some problem with consistent AF focusing below 10 feet. It should focus to a foot or so...
Said member warned me about this anomaly before I purchased it, so fair's fair! <g>
Anyhow, I opted to have Pentax figure it all out. No point in me being owner number 3 and having the same problem! Let them fix it!
I am taken with the specifications potential. If it can be made to work to specs, and it eventually gives proven performance in some portion of it's range, it ought to be worth having.
It's at Pentax as I speak. When it gets back, we'll see how it does...
keith whaley
Alin Flaider wrote:
Jim wrote: JC> It is light, its AF JC> seems reliable, it is sharp enough wide open for most purposes
Sharp enough really depends on the purpose. I wouldn't shoot landscapes at any aperture wider than f/9.5 but portraits at f/4 will do. Mine shows the best performance at 28 mm, f/11, where I can enlarge 10x. At any other focal lengths is well below, notably I think it's disappointing at 70mm even closed - worse than FA 80-320 80mm wide open. Yet a friend's sample apparently delivers much better results at the long end so it won't be surprising to find significant sample variation at this consumer grade. Also, it shows virtually no chromatic aberrations at normal distances but below 1 m it starts to show up. On the non-quantifiable part, it has quite pleasing boke. Build feeling is less than desirable; worse are stories about the aspheric (organic?) element getting fogged through cement failure.
Servus, Alin
