All, I went backcountry skiing this weekend and took my MZ-S, BG-10, and FA* 28-70 F2.8 lens. While huffing puffing up the mountains, I had plenty of time to muse on my Pentax equipment. In particular, you may recall that there is a difference of opinion regarding the FA* 28-70 F2.8 lens. I like mine, but I believe that P�l is "less than enthusiastic" about its mechanical properties.
Here's what I think is going on. In my experience, technology companies will often make product design changes that are not externally visible. This is often done to save $$$ on the production line, and it is often done to improve reliability. Many tweaks were made to the Pentax LX, for example, but Pentax didn't change the name each time they made a modification. If I recall correctly, P�l purchased an early sample of the lens (in 1994?) and had many problems with it. I purchased my lens new in 2001 and it works well despite being tossed around in a rucksack on backpacking and skiing trips, spending hours at the beach, etc. I think that my lens may have internal mods that make it more robust than P�l's was. The lesson here? If you want to buy a used FA* 28-70 F2.8, you might want to try to find out when it was manufactured and make your decision from there. --Mark
