I sold my FA* 80-200 F2.8 for way too much money last spring and ended up with a hole in my lens lineup. To fill it, I picked up an SMC-A 70-210 F4 zoom on eBay recently. Here's my quick report on using it with my *ist-Ds and pixel-peeping the results. I got this lens based on advice from Bruce Dayton and others on the list....
Image quality: Quite sharp wide open at both ends (70 and 210). Not a lot sharper stopped down to F11, but a bit higher contrast when stopped down. The built in hood and/or SMC coating seems to do a good job. Handling: Longer than I expected. Feels good on an MZ-S with battery grip, but completely overpowers the *ist-Ds. The small grip of the Ds doesn't have enough leverage to handle the lens, so my right hand gets tired pretty fast even when I'm using my left to support the lens. I'll have to try different methods of holding the lens and camera to find a comfortable solution. My guess is that the lens would feel pretty good on a K10D with battery grip. About as big and heavy as I would want to put on my Ds on a tripod. It would probably be better on a bean-bag support. Conclusion: this lens fills a gap between the 200mm F5.6 low-cost zooms and "professional grade" F2.8 lenses. I really really really wish that Pentax would release an autofocus version of this lens! I picked mine up on eBay in near-new condition with hard case for around $120. --Mark -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
