I really struggled with this earlier this year.
I settled on the A 28-135 f4 as the mainstay zoom. Color rendition and
flare control and very good, sharpness is fine at f 8 and f11, but the
corners get a astigmatic look at f4 and a little at f 5.6. I also carry a
Vivitar Series 1 19-35 and Tokina 100-300 f4. These three zooms, a 50mm
f1.4, and AF280T make a great kit, giving you coverage from 19 - 300mm and
a fast 50mm. With the camera and one lens out, the remaining gear fits in
the small green 'Pentax" bax that the local shop was selling for $14
earlier this summer.
Another excellent zoom is the Vivitar Series 1 70 -210 f 3.5.
Zooms that I tried and did not like:
Vivitar Series 1 28 -100 f2.8 - 3.5 (terrible vignetting at the short end)
Rikenon 28 - 100 f4 (wonderful lens but pronounced barrel distortion at 28
and equally bad pincushion distortion at 100).
In the AF arena there are more choices - I like the FA 28 -70 f4 AL and
power zoom FA28 - 105. I also have the Tamron 28 - 200 SP Super and it is
a decent lens, IMO.
At 12:44 PM 9/4/01 +0100, you wrote:
>hi all.
>
>after spending the last few days scanning all my slides from my summer
>hols, I've decided to stomp my 28-200 Pentax lens to dust. (luckily, I was
>also using another lens as well, so I have most of the shots twice thank
>[Insert appropriate Deity here].
>
>I shot a LOT of Provia F (Sharp, nice film), but I've been quite
>disappointed by the sharpness of the lens (very very awful at the long end).
>
>I'm going to replace it with something more useful. I use this lens as
>general purpose on a few cameras, so I'd ideally prefer AF, but not if
>there is a good lens in MF.
>
>Currently, my thoughts would be:
>Tamron 24-135 (I've read some rave reviews about this lens, and my
>experience with tamron is quite good to date - the 90/2.8 macro is
>awesome, as is the 20-40 zoom)
>
>Pentax 35-1?5 (Cant remember which one this is (105 or 135?), but I've
>seen quite a few people on the list talking about it over the last while)
>
>I already have most of the primes to cover these ranges, but there are
>times when you don't want to lug 4 lenses with you, which is why I want a
>nice crisp zoom.
>
>So basically, and advice/prejudices/blatant shilling would be appreciated :)
>
>Thanks
>
>T.
>-
>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 .
>
- - - - - - - - - -
Mark Cassino
Kalamazoo, MI
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
- - - - - - - - - -
Photos:
http://www.markcassino.com
- - - - - - - - - -
-
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 .
