After all the great advice I received from this list on selecting a Macro lens for my K-r (and future K-5), I made my decision. I decided to go old school -- and cheap.
I found a used smc Pentax FA 100mm 1:2-8 Macro for $338 including shipping. It is certainly well built (and heavy). So far, I've only played around with it, taking some test images hand-held. So far, It looks really good. The problem: I went online to Pentax to download the manual, but they no longer carry it. Does anyone know where I can get one. The reason I need the manual is the lens has two controls that I don't really understand. They are visible in the right half of this image: http://www.photozone.de/images/8Reviews/lenses/pentax_100_28_fa/lens.jpg . >From the reviews, I understand that the lens "hunts" a lot in autofocus mode. The "focus range" control apparently alleviates that problem, by limiting the rage of focus. I am not clear, however, how to use the control. Also, why does this control have an "MF" setting, when manual focus is usually selected on the camera. Is there a difference between selecting manual focus on the lens rather than on the camera? Even more mysterious -- to me -- is the "clamp" dial. What does this do, and how? Any information or advice will be greatly appreciated. TIA, Dan Dan Matyola http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/danieljmatyola -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
