There have been a few passing comments about this lens recently. I had the
opportunity to buy one (cheap) on eBay, and so I now have one of these
beasts. I intend to resell fairly quickly - this really is not a lens I
would use very often! But I just got back the prints from some shots with
the lens taken during my Christmas trip and I was very pleasantly surprised.
I used the lens on an LX, mounted on my father-in-law's somewhat rickety
Bogen tripod. ("It is the one I use for my 'blad" he says. "Your Hasselblad
is a whole lot lighter than this lens + camera!" I say. "And the
quick-release plate is worn . . ."Anyway, I had an iffy tripod with a loose ballhead. Oh, and temperatures in the 20-degree F range, making for cold hands and short attention span. Shot geese floating on the river 250 yards away, a piliated woodpecker about 300 yards away, and a squirrel about 50 feet away. The woodpecker was basically invisible to the naked eye, my wife heard it pounding on the tree, and spotted it with binoculars. I am not pleased with the woodpecker shots. I never got a good focus. I have some undeveloped shots I did with a 2X A-S added on the back, hope that those are a bit more clear. The geese and the squirrel, however, are amazing to me with respect to the sharpness and contrast achieved. Even with the new-style screen in the LX, it would be difficult to focus and shoot at f/8 or slower with this lens. Since it is a manual aperture, the process involves opening up the lens to 5.6 to get enough light to see enough to be able to focus, then closing to f/8 or smaller for the shot. While trying to maintain focus. And hoping that the target doesn't move. Realistically, it must be mounted on a sturdy tripod and used for a fairly stationary target if you are to get get good shots. On the other hand, if you have the right support, and if you get your shot in focus, the lens will not let you down! I have 2-3 jpeg's wh8ich I can email to anyone interested in the outcomes; let me know offlist. stan - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
