Re: Another test of DA 16-45/4 against other Pentax glass

[Paul Stenquist]

Good work. The 31 Limited is obviously superb, even at 2.8. I'm 
surprised at how well the DA 16-45 stacks up at f8. It appears to be 
better than both the 20/2.8 and the FA* 28-70 and a near match for the 
31 Limited. It's also decent at F4. On the basis of this, I'm thinking 
I don't need the 20/2.8. That f-stop would be nice, but it appears to 
be an f-stop that I wouldn't want to use.  I'm speaking only in regard 
to perceived sharpness. On these web images, I can't really judge CA.
Paul
On Apr 3, 2005, at 7:41 AM, Jostein wrote:

Hi gang,
With all the interesting tests performed with the new wide angle DA 
lenses
to the older workhorses of the Pentax lineup, I felt like it was my 
turn
to contribute to the pool.

I bought the DA 16-45 for my trip to Israel about a month ago, and 
found the
zoom range so convenient that it reduced my lens swapping by at least 
30%.

Before the DA, I mostly used the FA 20/2.8 and the FA* 28-70/2.8, so a 
comparison
to those was what I really wanted. While I was at it, I threw in the 
FA 31/1.8
ltd, FA645 35/3.5 and A645 45/2.8 as well.

The two factors I looked at was chromatic aberrations and perceived 
sharpness.

http://www.oksne.net/tests/watest/watest.html
I haven't posted any specific conclusion, but there are cases where I 
will prefer other optics than the 16-45.

Jostein