On 30 Mar 2006 at 10:19, Sylwester Pietrzyk wrote: > Well, I can't say for A* 200/2.8 as I have never used one. AFAIR Rob used to > have both of them, so he could probably tell something more about > differencies between both lenses even that he now uses FA* 200/2.8 :-) Rob? > All I can tell about A* 200/4 macro is that it is sharp even wide open at > both - macro and longer distnaces.
I tend to use my FA* 200/2.8 mostly because it's in my standard travel kit, the A* 200/4 macro is pretty much a special purpose lens for me though I agree it can easily double up as a standard long lens. My only concern in doing that is that its bokeh can look a little untamed if you are used to the rendering of the FA* 200/2.8. Though I think that both the A* 200/4 macro and FA* 200/2.8 optically out-perform the A* 200/2.8, though all are very nice lenses. I often use the FA* 200/2.8 in combination with my AF1.7TC with excellent results and I've also used it with the A* 200/4 macro with great results. The Pentax XL TCs also fit both the FA* 200/2.8 and A* 200/4 macro and produce excellent results. The last issue is that as good as the lens tripod mount is on the A* 200/4 macro it's pretty useless when the lens is used on the DSLRs because the RTF housing hits the bracket knobs when the lens is rotated. So for portrait orientation the tripod head needs to be tilted. Thankfully I have an "L" bracket to solve that problem. 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
