The SMCT and SMCK 120's are the exact same design as the fabled 105mm 2.8 SMCT & SMCK, just scaled up and are superb lenses. Too bad you never tried them. Have you ever used the 105 2.8s? Same performance. Avoid the 120 SMC-M, different inferior lens, I had one and sold it immediately. Dont know if the chromatic abberations would be detectable vs. the VL on *istD, but I would think the flare immunity would be better and visible given a harsh enuff test. They are only 5 element primes. whilst the VL has probably got a dozen elements. I once read somewhere that the 120 SMCT and SMCKs were optimized for portrait distances, but I never got anything but great results at any distance with them including landscapes.
JCO ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- J.C. O'Connell mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://jcoconnell.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: Rob Studdert [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 11:58 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: SMC Pentax-A* 135mm 1:1.8 vs. Voigtlan der 125mm F2.5 SL On 9 Feb 2004 at 20:23, John Mustarde wrote: > I am surprised by the comparative performance of the Pentax - it looks > nearly unusable until f5.6, as opposed to the Voigtlander which is > fairly sharp at f2.5. Hi John (& JCO), I wouldn't quite say that, I guess flare had a bit to do with the severity of the results however both lenses were fitted with recommended hoods. I guess it's more the magnification, consider that if your monitor is resolving 72pixels per inch the full image would be about 42 inches across. In any case the instances where I use the f1.8 wide open the sort of differences that are illustrated really don't matter and at f5,6 they are pretty much equal. What it boils down to is that my f1.8 is used for special tasks and my V is now my all round medium tele. I used to own the SMC K135/2.5 and the A100/2.8 macro and I sold them both soon after acquiring the V, killed two birds. (JCO) Unfortunately I've never owned any of the Pentax 120mm lenses but it definitely would make an interesting comparison, I do think the V would fare better WRT chromatic distortion at the very least. > Maybe the Pentax is optimized for a different > subject distance - or is that even possible? I don't think so but what is apparent is that their front to back DOF ratios differ as the lenses are stopped down. Cheers, Rob Studdert HURSTVILLE AUSTRALIA Tel +61-2-9554-4110 UTC(GMT) +10 Hours [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://members.ozemail.com.au/~distudio/publications/ Pentax user since 1986, PDMLer since 1998
