Another of the things you have to realize here is that most of folks here on this list, or any other photo equipment list for that matter, are nitpickers. One honestly would be hard pressed to tell the quality difference in any non-defective Pentax lens or another in a good 8x10 print. So take the comments on this list with a grain of salt. Most Pentax lenses very between very very good, and fabulous. One or two are only very good, none are crap.
The problem is the newcomers do not know that the comments they are reading are nitpicking and repeat them as serious comparisons, so they soon become urban legends.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
On Tue, 7 Oct 2003, Mark Roberts wrote:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
KEH.com is knee-deep in M lenses.
But they can't keep later lenses in stock. This should tell us something.
OK, here's a question for those of you with broader experience of pentax lenses (I've used K, M, and A*)--are the "M" lenses the low-water mark of pentax optics? I would think either that or sales volume accounts for their prevalence on the used market.
In almost every case the "M" lens that replaced a "K"
lens is not as well thought of. Often, the "A" lens that replaced the
"M" lens is better thought of. My guess is that in miniaturizing the
"M" series pentax did make compromises optically and only gained it back
with better manufacturing technology and design tweaks in the later lenses. I can't offhand think of any of the pentax legends that are
"M" lenses only, except perhaps the 20mm f/4. Most of the legendary
lenses are either "K" lenses that date from the screw-mount era
(85 f/1.8, 105 f/2.5), new "K" lenses (18 f/3.5, 30 f/2.8, 200 f/2.5), or
newer "A*" and "FA limited" top-of-the-line glass.
DJE
-- graywolf http://graywolfphoto.com
"You might as well accept people as they are, you are not going to be able to change them anyway."
