On Sep 20, 2005, at 6:41 AM, Charles Robinson wrote:
Back "in my film days" when I shot a lot of concerts, I was quite
fond of my 135mm f2.5 zoom.
...
Seems like I want something in the 70-90mm range, that is no slower
than about f/4. Doesn't have to be autofocus, or even an "A" lens
as I tend to use them wide open in these situations anyways. Is
there something reasonably-priced out there that would fill this void?
...
In January, I found an M85/2 at KEH in "bargain" condition for $60.
It was "bargain" because the lubricant in the focusing helicoid had
congealed making the focusing action very very stiff; everything else
about it is perfect. It was usable, however, and I found the lens
produced such excellent image quality that I couldn't help sending it
in for a CLA, add $100. Now it is flawless. The bugger-all Pentax
clip-on lens hood as NOS cost me nearly half-again what the lens did,
$28.
So they are out there. I consider $188 for this small, light, fast
lens to be a tremendous bargain.
Some examples:
http://homepage.mac.com/ramarren/photo/PAW5/11q.htm
http://homepage.mac.com/ramarren/photo/PAW5/11r.htm
Godfrey
