At one time Pentax had several rebadged lenses. I a assured by a Pentax Rep that that is no longer true. I translate that to "Pentax now makes their own junk lenses". The same applies to other brands. I have a friend who uses old cheap Nikons, he does not see any difference in his 606's and an F-5 except price. He recently bought a new nikon lens. The sales guy sold him one of the new aperture ringless lenses. He called me distraught about how his new lens would not work on his old cameras. I told him to simply take it back.
The thing about cheap lenses, is in these computer design, cam manufactured days, they are often quite good optically. What they lack is build quality, and features (like aperature rings).
--
Shel Belinkoff wrote:
Hi Tan,
It's also been my understanding that several (maybe quite a few) Pentax lenses are just rebadged Tamron or Tokina glass. I have also heard that Minolta (I knew this) and SIGMA! have produced lenses for Leica. I don't know the degree of Sigmas involvement, whether they just produced the lenses or produced them to very specific Leica standards or design. IAC, these days it's sometimes hard to know just what you're buying, and maybe it's no longer important ... maybe it never was. After all, when it comes to lenses, it's the finished product, the photograph, that really matters.
However, Tanya, I do believe that, overall, build quality and optical quality have taken a dive when it comes to many of the lenses out there. Only when you are paying for the high end glass are you reasonably sure you're getting good quality on both fronts.
Another thing to consider is that when people tell you a lens is great, or poor, or sharp, be cautious. Descriptive terms are very subjective. Whenever possible try the lenses yourself to be sure they meet YOUR standards. Not only are subjective descriptions suspect to some degree, there are also sometimes wide variations in sample quality. So, while everyone swears the XYZ 15 - 500mm zoom is a jewel, you may be the lucky one to get a clunker.
With digital cameras you have an option that's pretty easy compared to film users. You can walk into a shop, ask to see any number of XYZ 15 -500mm zooms, and try 'em all out on the spot, stick your card into your portable computer, and look at the results immediately, giving you a chance to choose the best one.
Anyway, that's my kvetch for today.
Kind regards from fog bound California ... shel
Tanya Mayer Photography wrote:
"Plus, you comment about the lenses, yet so many Pentax users attach Sigma, Tokina, and Tamron lenses to their cameras ... and often rave about them. Clearly people aren't all buying Pentax for the lenses."
I agree with this also, and wonder if anyone knows just how third party lenses hold up these days by way of quality and optics - I am particularly interested in Tamron in this respect...
-- graywolf http://graywolfphoto.com
"You might as well accept people as they are, you are not going to be able to change them anyway."
