Far as I'm aware, the FA*24/2.0 is/was only available in silver. It does not have QuickShift, it has a clutch on the focusing ring. Slip the ring on the lens and the AF coupling is disengaged regardless of what the setting on the body is. This nets the ability to focus manually while the camera is in AF mode, but is not as handy as just being able to turn the focusing ring for a fine focus adjustment. The camera will also disable the shutter release if the focus point is not sensed to be locked in properly with the green indicator.
My reservations about the 24/2 stem from the wide disparity of comments I've heard about its optical performance. It seems most people who have used it with film love it, but most people who've used it with the DSLR bodies find too much chromatic aberration and poor sharpness wide open. I think Rob Studdert posted some comparisons showing the A24/2.8 and FA*24/2 performance, using the *ist D body, and the A24/2.8 was a substantially better performer. 24mm is an excellent focal length on the 16x24 format, however, and it's well worth getting a lens to cover it. I had the A24/2.8 and did a lot of work with it. I only sold it after I'd been using the FA20-35/4 a lot and realized that the latter was easier to focus with manually due to better wide open contrast. The A24 is likely a little better performer at the limits than the zoom, but the option of AF, the better manual focus contrast, and the flexibility of having 24-28mm focal length available on the camera appealed to me more. Godfrey On Aug 21, 2006, at 7:58 AM, Shel Belinkoff wrote: > Recently I've been using the K24/2.8 quite a bit, and have found > the focal > length to be very useful. While I'm not ready to buy the FA* > 24/2.0 right > now, it may be worthwhile to consider adding to my personal road > map, so > I've some questions: > > Is the lens only available in silver, or can it be had in black as > well? > > More important, how is it optically? I seem to recall some people > saying > that it wasn't very good - although I don't recall any specifics. > > Boz's site mentions an AF/MF clutch. What is that? Does that mean > the > lens can be used in auto focus mode and then adjusted manually without > having to take the camera out of AF mode, like some of the new DA > lenses? -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
