Alan Chan quotes a post I haven't seen:
> The lens appears (nearly) unused, but I notice
> >that the front tube (filter mount) is looser than on other lenses that I
> >have. Is this normal? Slides from a test roll last weekend came back
> >very sharp.
>
> This is normal.
Yes, the lens barrel is very loose. It disturbed me a bit as well but it doesn't
seem to cause any problems. When using this lens handheld I usually grip
it in such a way as to reduce any possibility of it being a problem when the
shutter trips.
> >With my 1p set for mtf, the meter gives me f5.6 at regular distances,
> >and f8 at macro. I thought that macro lenses were designed to give their
> >best performance stopped down. How does this lens perform at f16-32? (In
> >macro, I shot every stop from f8-32, and my eyes can't detect much
> >difference in the slides except depth of field.)
>
> I doubt you would notice the difference without blowing up the pictures.
Most lenses, including macro lenses, are sharpest around f/5.6-f/8. You get
more DOF at f/16-32 as you noticed, but sharpness drops due to diffraction.
I usually use this lens at f/4 (I like shallow DOF and smooth backgrounds)
and I'm certainly not disappointed.
> >My 1p hunts more than usual with the lens in macro mode.
>
> This is normal as well.
Absolutely. Take a look at the focussing scale and you'll see that at macro
distances it takes a fair bit of focussing ring rotation to change the focus by
even 1cm. The AF tends to hunt not only because of the extremely fine
focussing requirement combined with "fast" gearing, but also because if
you're using the lens handheld your own movement will require constant
refocussing.
I once shot some bumblebees in "servo" mode and actually got a
surprisingly good hit rate. The AF in the Z-1p isn't too bad at all.
You will also notice that at non-macro distances the AF is very fast.
Theoretically this might result in a slight loss of focussing accuracy but I
haven't tested it.
Cheers,
- Dave
David A. Mann, B.E. (Elec)
http://www.digistar.com/~dmann/
"Why is it that if an adult behaves like a child they lock him up,
while children are allowed to run free on the streets?" -- Garfield
-
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 .
