Ken Archer wrote: >Does anyone have any personal experience with this lens? Optical >quality? Build quality? I am considering this with a PZ-1P as opposed
>to a Nikon N80 and the Nikor 80-200/2.8. Optical quality is simply outstanding. This is the lens that converted me from a "primes only" guy (at least when doing "serious" photography) to a zoom user. There's some light falloff in the corners when wide open but that's the only optical criticism I have of it. Sharpness, color rendition and boheh are beyond reproach. It *is* big and heavy, of course. I use it on a tripod or monopod most of the time but I've hand held it when using fast film plenty of times. It has a rotating tripod mount (the tripod mounting point really needs to be farther forward for proper balance, especially with the lightweight MZ-S, but I'm working on a fix for that). I don't know from personal experience but I've been told by someone who's used them that it is optically much better than the Nikon and *slightly* better than the equivalent Canon. Since I already had a PZ-1p when I bought mine, my only other choices were Tokina and Sigma, both of which have excellent reputations. I expected the Pentax to be superior optically and the final factor in my decision to spend the extra money was the fact that the Pentax focuses 15 inches closer than either (I don't know how minimum focusing distance compares to the Nikon though). Mechanical construction is good enough that I believe it could serve as a formidable weapon if necessary. Built like a tank and I haven't heard of any reliability problems like the stories that are told about the 28-70/2.8. Not that you can tell much from web images but a lot of my best recent photos have been done with this lens. See http://www.robertstech.com/mendon_p.htm http://www.robertstech.com/fall_2k1.htm (The "alt" text for each thumbnail tells what equipment was used for that shot) -- Mark Roberts www.robertstech.com - 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 .
