Hi Paul, On Sat, 05 Jan 2002 16:52:22 -0500, Paul F. Stregevsky wrote:
> Speaking of Pentax 400/5.6s, my PKA version arrived Friday... > a day after I ordered it from Adorama. Congratulations. I've dealt with Adorama on several occasions and have always gotten good service from them. > My longest lens had been a 200. Man, what a difference 200mm makes! I know what you mean ... it's amazing. I use them mainly for motor racing photography and occasional attempts to get good, fat moon photos with a pair of teleconverters behind them. Stick some extension rings behind the A 400 and you can do some really nifty macro work at amazing working distances. The Sigma 400/5.6 APO Macro is 1:3 at 1.6m close focus. With the accidents at motor races that have injured or killed fans and officials and team members alike the last few years, the fences are pushing us amateurs without credentials farther and farther from the track. If I can't weasel my way into credentials, then I foresee a 600mm f/4 or f/5.6 lens in my future and I'll have to test out the 1.7X AF teleconverter with the 400/5.6 lenses. > It's earned a semipermanent place on my heavy > Cullmann monopod [...] I use a Bogen 3218 monopod with a 3262 medium ball head on it, and that's plenty strong. Even the SMC 400/5.6 isn't all that heavy and Tokina SD is quite a bit lighter. The Sigma seems to be the heaviest of those, at 1.5 kilos, so you're only looking at about 2 or 2.5 kilos on the head. > I also find the 5.6 plenty bright for snappy focusing in all > but the dimmest light. I've been pleasantly surprised by the AF speed of the ZX-5 with f/4 and f/5.6 lenses, even in very dim indoor conditions. Maybe I'm just not used to fast lenses, since I don't usually shoot indoors. > My only problem is, it's so close in focal length to a 500, I'll never > justify getting the 500/4.5. But at 1200 grams, it's 2/3 lighter than the > 600/5.6 ED-IF. That's no hill for a climber. Of course, I'm single without kids, so I don't have to justify my toy budget to anyone else, either. :-) TTYL, DougF - 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 .
