I have one of those, and have used it quite a while with the MX - until I got a DS with 18~55 last year. It's still in the 35mm bag, and scheduled to a series of trips to a rough area of the state.
Image quality is rather good, much better than Canon's 28~80, apart from a serious barrel distortion at its "wide" setting - which the DS reports as 31mm, not 28mm. Major drawback: the front element rotates as focus, so polarizers and graduated filters become a major pain. Much is written about the rear element separation, but since it's a fairly cheap lens in the US I'd buy it for full frame uses under the "light carry" gear cat. My sample has endured lots of abuse so far. Light falloff and edge resolution are no problem with APS sensors. Sadly the distortion remains there, a problem for me. lf original message follows: I had one and used it for quite some time on the old *ist D and loved the results. I've got a few nice scenics that I shot with it. One thing I miss about Pentax DSLRs is that the "low-end" zooms like the FA 28-70/4 are far superior to the low-end glass available from Canon. -- Christian http://404mohawknotfound.blogspot.com/ Sandy Harris wrote: > I've got a KX and so far my most used lens is an A 35-70 F4. I'm quite > happy with > that. I also have DA 16-45 and screwmount 55/1.8, but 70% or more of shots use > the 35-70. > > Looking at the reviews: > http://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/SMC-Pentax-FA-28-70-F4-Zoom-Lens.html > It appears the 28-70 might be even better for me. Lighter, auto-focus, > and a wider > zoom range. What's not to like? KEH have one, ex+ for $119. > > It seems worth asking here before taking that plunge. Anyone used this lens on > digital? Can anyone compare this at 42-105 equivalent to the old 35-105 that > was many people's favorite lens on film? > > For that matter, has anyone got one to trade? The 16-45 is a fine lens, but > I'd > happily trade it for the 28-70 and something else. First choice, 100/4 or 3.5 > macro, but anything that looks useful in a lightweight kit with KX and 28-70 > might be of interest. 50/1,4, 20 or 135 mm lens, 45-125 zoom, ...? Contact > me off-list if this is of interest. > Luiz Felipe luiz.felipe at techmit.com.br http://www.techmit.com.br/luizfelipe -- 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.
