On Sun, Jul 26, 2009 at 3:49 PM, Graydon<[email protected]> wrote: > On Sun, Jul 26, 2009 at 01:04:15PM +1000, Rob Studdert scripsit: >> On 26/07/2009, Graydon <[email protected]> wrote: >> > I take it that A* 135/ƒ1.8 can't be had for love nor money? >> >> That's not quite true, they do occasionally become available but for >> big money, far more than the photographic value IMO. It's a lovely >> looking piece of glass but has attained its legendary status more due >> to its obscurity than its performance in my opinion. I sold mine quite >> a few years back and never regretted the sale, it's not so hot until >> stopped down a bit, lots of CA and low contrast, it does look >> impressive though. > > That's a pity. > > Pentax seems to have decided that there's no reason to go faster than > ƒ2.8 on digital. The only exception I can think of is the DA* 55/ƒ1.4, > and it's got a sort of vast penumbra of expectation attached if it's to > serve as the APS-C 85/1.4. (Oh, wait, DA 70/2.4 Ltd.) > > I'd like to see some much faster medium -- 100 to 150 mm -- teles; at > the 77mm filter size, they ought to be able to do a 100/1.4, a 135/1.8 > (just squeaking, but that's the size listed for the A* 138/1.8), or a > 150/2; a DA* 150/2 Macro would be especially welcome. > > And, yes, perhaps I should stop trying to take pictures of wretchedly > crepuscular songbirds. Or inside zoo buildings on cloudy days. Or > under forest canopies. Or at the other end of long rooms inside. Or > of specific members of the orchestra after the house lights have dimmed. > > But, well, I've been known to try all of those, and a sharp-wide-open > fast medium tele -- what I suspect Pentax thinks of as a long tele -- > would be really useful. > > -- Graydon
Is AF a requirement? If not I can think of 7 different current-production lenses that fit your requirements. of course none are Pentax's. All are KA mount. They are: Cosina/Voigtlander: Ultron 40mm f2 Aspherical Pancake Nokton 58mm f1.4 Zeiss ZK: Distagon 28mm f2 Distagon 35mm f2 Makro-Planar 50mm f2 Planar 50mm f1.4 Planar 85mm f1.4 Makro-Planar 100mm f2 Samyang: 85mm f1.4 Aspherical (also sold under a variety of other names such as Vivitar and Phoenix) The Zeiss 35mm f2 and 100mm f2 are arguably the finest lenses ever sold at those focal length/aperture combinations. -- M. Adam Maas http://www.mawz.ca Explorations of the City Around Us. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
