It would be interesting to see how the K200/4 would have fared in these tests. The K200/4 is a different optical formula than the M200.
-- J.C. O'Connell (mailto:[email protected]) Join the CD PLAYER & DISC Discussions : http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cdplayers/ http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/cdsound/ -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of P. J. Alling Sent: Saturday, October 16, 2010 2:37 PM To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List Subject: Re: Speaking of KEH and good lenses I've shot film and digital with this lens, and when I did everything right the performance was much better than your results seem to have been. I also tested it at 200 mm against every 200mm capable lens that I own, (two that are actual legendary the Vivitar S1 version 2, and version 3), using both film and digital, (6mp bodies). Test Subjects: FA 28~200mm Vivitar S1 70-210mm f3.8 (Ver. 2 in the series) Vivitar S1 70-210mm f2.8~4.0 (Ver. 3 in the series) Pentax M 200mm f4.0 Pentax F 70~210mm f4.0~5.6 Mostly out of curiosity, but partly to decided which 200 to carry if I needed the best quality possible. I thought that the M200mm f4.0 which is well regarded, though available relatively inexpensively would win being a prime and all, but not so much. The only lens that really let me down was the FA 28~200mm, on film, where edge performance was, well, not good. The other four lenses didn't leave a lot to choose between them. The Vivitars both more or less lived up to their reputation. The M200 4.0 was very good but it didn't blow the Zooms away, and the F 70-210 was every bit as good as the reviews on Stan Halpin's web comment site <http://stans-photography.info/LongComments.html#70-210%20mm%20f/4.0-5.6%20F > would lead you to believe it is. Now I'd love to have the smc [K] 200mm f2.5 you're unloading but even cheap it would be more that I paid for all of those lenses, combined. (Maybe that's not entirely fair, as the FA28~200 came as a lens cap on a camera body I wanted, but it's the lens I would have paid the least for). On the digital camera body, each lens out preformed the sensor for resolution. On 10/16/2010 10:30 AM, John Mustarde wrote: > On Thu, 14 Oct 2010 08:55:11 -0400, you wrote: > >> KEH is listing one of the semi-legendary F 70-210 f4~5.6 lenses >> for only $139. > When did this lens become "semi-legendary"? I've had > two; neither was great. I sold my last one for the > going rate of about $125 some years ago. It was nicely matched in > range and size with the F 24-50/f4, but optically was sub par, > suitable only for 4x6 snapshots and cropped 8x10s, at almost every > focal length. In the days of when anything faster than ISO 100 was of > unexceptional quality, the f5.6 speed was a nuisance. > > There was a long PDML thread discussing its measured shortcomings some > years back. It was poor anywhere near the edges. But of course, using > only the center glass on an APS-C camera, it's performance likely > increased substantially. Maybe even to semi-legendary status? > > The problem with "great" glass is that it becomes > greater through discussion and praise, rather than objectively > evaluated by measurement. I've been as guilty as anyone of promoting > lenses based on my limited experience. It is an easy thing to do in > the absence of reliable and accurate means of measurement. > > That said, I have a superb, super fast and > semi-legendary M 200/2.5 lens for sale. Cheap, make > offer, hurry cause there's a fancy new but soon to be legendary .22 > Magnum semi-auto pistol I'm lusting after. > > . > -- > John Mustarde > Paris, TX > -- "His lack of education is more than compensated for by his keenly developed moral bankruptcy." -Woody Allen -- 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. -- 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.
