At least I was surprised. YMMV. Brief evaluative comments here, I’ll post link(s) later to selected full-size images so you can make your own evaluations.
Setting: I went to the riverbank behind our house. I was going to choose some appropriately challenging target for vignette testing, but our local pair of geese and their goslings were on the grassy shore below and I wanted to include them in the shots. By the time I was set up, they were gone. But I left the setup as was. When you look at the image files, remember to imagine a family of geese grazing below. Process. I put the camera on the tripod with the center spot on the near shoreline and a clump of grass just off the edge. Didn’t move the camera after that so all shots are the same, subject to differences among the lenses. A/V, ISO 100. I shot at f/4 and f/8 except sometimes with faster lenses I shot at f/1.4 (or whatever) and f/4 and f/8. DA 15mm: Forgeddaboutit. DA 21mm: I forgot about it. I’ll check this one tomorrow. DA 35/2.8 macro: Dark corners at /2.8, /4, and /8. However a center crop to avoid the vignette would leave a much larger usable image than if you shoot in Crop Mode. DA 40/2.8: Slight darkening of the corners. If I “Enable Profile Correction” inLightroom (leaving the Distortion and Vignetting parameters at default zero) then the shadows are gone. DA* 55/1.4: Slight darkening of the corners at f/1.4. If I “Enable Profile Correction” inLightroom (leaving the Distortion and Vignetting parameters at default zero) then the shadows are gone. No readily visible issue at f/4 or f/8. DA* 50-135: Not good at the wide end, not bad at the long end. DA* 50-135 with HD 1.4x tele extender: Not good at the wide end, not bad at the long end. I need to shoot some more with the 50-135 at various f/ stops and zoom levels and the same with the 50-135 combined with the extender. I am not happy that it wasn’t better in the 50-60 range; getting heavy vignetting there even at f/8 In sum, the 35/2.8, 40/2.8, and 55/1.4 all seem to have value when used with the K-1, without too much compromise. I also did a few shots on the same set up with a 24/1.4, 77/1.8, and 100 D FA Macro /2.8 WR. No detailed evaluation yet, but no obvious nasty surprises. Some quick shots with the venerable FA 28-105/4-5.6 left me scratching my head and wondering why I didn’t sell this one for $25 when I had the chance a few years ago. It can’t be that bad! Wide was ok but long end quite soft. Did I screw up the focus? I need to re-check this one. Later or tomorrow I will sort/label/export/upload some images so that you can see for yourselves what I am talking about. stan -- 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.
