Shel wrote:
> A friend of mine has a ZX-7 fitted with a third-party 28~200
> consumer-grade zoom. He would like to get a better quality zoom in
> the (approximately) 80~200 range. His son is going to be performing
> at a club, and after checking the venue that focal range seems
> appropriate. Here are the requirements:
> Excellent optics that will hold good definition and contrast with
> prints up to 16x20;
> Fastest glass possible with consideration to being able to easily
> hand-hold the lens or (perhaps) use on a monopod and provide
> reasonably good viewfinder brightness;
> Autofocus not necessary but could be helpful;
> Price is a secondary concern, but not irrelevant.
Hi Shel,
Don't know if you need any more help on this, but for what it's worth, I
echo the sentiments of a few others on the list in endorsing the SMC-A
70-210/4. I've got a couple of images scanned from 4x6 prints I had taken
soon after acquiring this lens. One of these is a previous PUG submission
and can be found at http://pug.komkon.org/01may/BMX.html. Not the best
photo I've taken recently, and not a terribly good scan, but it may give you
an idea of what one can do -- maybe a worst-case scenario? :-) -- with
this lens hand-held. The shot is pretty heavily cropped and represents
about a 2x3 area of the original 4x6 print. This was shot from a distance
of perhaps 70 to 100 feet (??) or so IIRC. Ambient lighting in this shot is
possibly similar to what you might encounter in some parts of a nightclub.
Didn't mention this in the comments, but I used a Sunpak 433D flash. The
other shot I can show you is an entirely different theme -- this one an
uncropped, scanned image from another 4x6 print, taken indoors with bounced
flash from a distance of about 8 or 10 feet at 210mm and f/4 IIRC. I don't
have this second one posted anywhere, but could e-mail it to you if you'd
like to take a look. This second one might give you a better feel for
edge-to-edge resolution (excellent), light fall-off (very little, as you
might expect at 210mm), etc.
I've got some more recent shots from a youth tee-ball game in which I
supported camera and lens on a Bogen 3218 monopod. These were taken
outdoors in the very early evening (around dusk), mostly at f/5.6 or f/8.
Don't have any of these scanned, but I was really pleased with resolution
and color rendition and saturation (even on the 4x6 prints!). I wouldn't
hesitate enlarging these to 16x20.
Hope this helps.
Bill Peifer
Rochester, NY
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