Today I put the 43mm on an LX and went out to shoot a roll of
snapshots, just to get aa feel for the lens nd to try some
Kodak Supra 400 film. Well, the film's still in the camera, and
I'll finish the roll tomorrow, but I just wanted to say what a
joy that 43 is.
First, the angle of view is sweet. I like it better as a normal
lens than a 50mm or the 35mm. When I first got the lens I was
not pleased with how thin the focusing ring was, especially
being used to a typical ring on the MF Takumars, SMCP, and the
M- and A-series lenses. However, I soon figured out that I could
use just one finger to focus. Cradling the camera normally, I
found that by placing the tip of my index finger on the focusing
ring, I could move it almost all the way from infinity to the
closest focus with just a movement of my finger. Since the
focus is relatively light, although offering reasonable
resistance and smoothens (It's no Takumar in terms of its feel,
but a whole let better than any other AF lens I've tried), it
was easy to use this technique. For those who've used Leica
lenses that had a focusing lever, you might get a sense of how
the 43 Ltd works.
The size of the lens is what I caall "Perfect Pentax", being
small and compact. Even with the lens hood on the camera/lens
combination fits eaaasily into one inner compartment of smaall
Domke bag, aand carrying the caamera is easy and comfortable
aas well. The smaall size aallows the LX/43 combo to easily
fit into the large pockets of several of my jaackets and the
Domke vest I sometimes wear, and although it's quite snug, the
setup will even fit into the pockets of a couple of shirts that
I have. True, they are laarger thaan averge shirt pockets,
but think of it - an LC with a Grip B and the 43mm lens ~with
lens hood~ able to be carried in a shirt posket. Removing the
hood allowed for an even better fit and quicker access to the
camera, but required using a different lens caap, since the
standard cap is designed to fit over the hood, not the lens
baarrel. It so happens that the metal, slip on caps from the
old Takumar lenses slip perfectly over the barrel of the 43mm
lens, and a somewhat more secure cap can be found by using a
43mm metal screw-in cap, or some plastic clip-on caps made by
Penatax or third party manufacturers.
Thus far I am impressed with the feel and the handling of this
lens, and the angle of view that it offers. The viewfinder image
is bright and clear, and the image snaps into focus
beautifully with both the standard LX screen and tha SA-23
screen.
I can't waait to see what the images look like once they're
printed. I shot a variety of things today, from close-ups
designed to capture fine detail to some scenics shots of the
house boats in Sausalito. I'll also try to shoot some Provia
100F tomorrow, and after that some B&W.
Thus far I'm thrilled that I was able to obtain this lens and
highly recommend that anyone even remotely interested in it,
give it a try. I can't wait to try the 77mm.
Oh, yes, I tried it on ZX-7 a couple of days ago, and it seems
to work pretty well in AF mode, too.
--
Shel Belinkoff
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
My best work is often almost unconscious
and occurs ahead of my ability to understand it."
-Sam Abell; "Stay This Moment"
-
This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe,
go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to
visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org.
