Hi all, I just finished looking over the slides from my 300mm lens test. The test was performed by photographing a building across a sports field, a distance of perhaps 100 metres. Tripod mounted LX with mirror locked up, Kodak E100S film. I have tested the LX and I know the focus accuracy is spot-on.
The F*300mm f/4.5 is fantastic. A real gem, ultra sharp and high contrast even wide-open. In fact its wide-open performance is very impressive. It handles really well even when manually focussing. This bit of glass is a real keeper and I certainly don't regret buying it. In fact, this lens is optically better than the A*300mm f/4 I tested it against. The difference is much less noticeable below about f/8 but when wide open the difference is "chalk and cheese". In fact I am strongly considering selling the A* lens as I am not likely to need the extra 1/2- stop enough to justify keeping it. I am still a bit disappointed with the FA* 400mm f/5.6. Mine just doesn't seem to be a very good performer at near-infinity, although it is better than the manual focus Tokina lens it replaced. I will do some more testing at closer distances. However if I hold it "just right" I can see what may be cleaning marks on an internal element (I purchased this lens secondhand). Maybe thats causing a bit of softness. Would other owners of this lens care to comment? Cheers, - Dave http://www.digistar.com/~dmann/
