I bought one recently as I have been looking for a way to reduce the size and weight of my complete camera kit. With the rebate it cost me $166 complete (purchased through Amazon.com from 17th Street Photo, lowest price that I found available).
About a year ago, I tested the A70-210 Macro, the FA80-320 and the F100-300 against each other as I'd heard so many negative comments about the F100-300 and my photos with it I thought were remarkably good for an inexpensive lens that I bought used. In that trio, the A70-210 performed the best, particularly wide open, and the F100-300 performed the worst, particularly wide open, but two-three stops down from wide open (the way I normally use a long tele, along with "mounted on a sturdy tripod") they were all pretty much the same. All showed some degradation in performance at the limits of their focal length range, normal for a zoom. The 70-210 seemed the most consistent across the range but then it has a smaller range than either of the other two. Since I had the test exposures still on my system from the other three, still have the DS body, and since the target was simply the building across the street, I put the DA50-200 through the same test. Wide open, it is on par with and maybe a little sharper than the A70-210 test results at the edges of the FoV. Stopped down two stops, it is the sharpest of the four. Consistency across the zoom range is also quite good: it seems to fall off a little more at the 200mm mark when wide open compared to the 70-210 but the difference is difficult to see. Also, close up focusing: the 70-210 achieves a 1:4 image magnification, the DA50-200 achieves a 1:3.6 image magnification. I then put the lens on the K10D, grabbed the Pentax-A Rear Converter 2x-S, and went for a walk. I was curious about how well it would work with the K10D's AS, both alone and with the teleconverter, given the relatively modest light that day and the fact that it is an f/4-5.6 lens. I made this gallery of samples: http://www.gdgphoto.com/walkinabout/ Picture 7 is a nearly 1:1 crop out of the original frame with the lens at 200mm, wide open. Picture 8 and 9 are fitted with the 2x-S teleconverter, focused manually, set to 135mm focal length, AS set to 300mm, and near-wide open at about 40 feet and 4 feet respectively. It's not built like a tank the way the A70-210 was, but it is well finished, feels good in the hand, and is half the size and a third the weight. It supports all features of the DS and K10D bodies, and has Quickshift focusing. Overall, I would rate it pretty darn good, especially for the price. I haven't tested it against the FA135/2.8 explicitly yet, but overall I think it will suffice to the degree that I can sell that lens since I so rarely use it. I'm sure the FA135/2.8 is more useful for hand- held work due to its near-2 stop advantage, but it's simply longer than I use most of the time. I don't see that I'll use the DA50-200 very often either, but it will be useful enough to have the option of the longer focal length now and then. G On Feb 27, 2007, at 1:29 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I am thinking of getting the DA 50-200mm. Especially since there > is a rebate > going until March 27th. > > I know it is what one would call a "consumer zoom," so I am wondering > whether it is really worth it. Soft at some focal length, at some > aperture? What is > your opinion of it, if you have it? > > I currently have the DS, DA 16-45, A 35-105 (which I like quite a > bit), and > the A 70-210 (which I haven't test run yet). > > Bear in mind I am not fond of just adequate or poor lenses. > > I am thinking ahead to the K10D, which I might be able to swing in > about 8 > months or so. Bruce told me that he found that the SR works best > if the focal > length inputted on A lenses is the actual focal length used not a > rough > estimate, meaning the A lenses may be a bit less useful with the > K10D. The one > advantage is the 50-200 is cheap and the newer lenses that will > come out will be > pretty expensive. Since the outlay for the K10 itself is not > cheap, it's a > balancing act. But I'd rather not get a lens, either, that I will > be not very > happy with. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
