FYI, given your requirement for good wide performance, don't pine too badly for the 16-50, I noticed a fair amount of vignetting at 16/2.8
Honestly, given how much you care about the difference between 16 and 17, I think you might prefer something like the Tamron 10-24 or one of the Sigma 10-20. Then either suck it up on swapping lenses or get a cheap used body for the second lens. On Thu, Jul 25, 2013, Zos Xavius wrote: > > No use in even posting samples. I think my good copy is now bad. When > I push the barrel up the upper half gets sharp again, so clearly the > wobble is hurting sharpness. I think the build quality on this lens > simply awful. I've tried very hard to baby this lens, but it should be > able to withstand a knock or two. I guess I send in my bad copy and > have CRIS tighten that and realign it. I hate spending anymore money > on this stupid lens, but the range is nice and the rendering and > sharpness are both superb when your copy is optically good. I dunno. I > mean I can spend $180 or so at CRIS and have the same issue 6 months-1 > year down the road. I need something between the 16-40 range and this > lens was a seemingly perfect fit. The 17-70 isn't great at the wide > end IMO and the 1mm makes a big difference. The 16-50/2.8 is just too > much money and I don't need the speed enough to justify spending > $1000. Not when I could buy a couple of limiteds for that....If this > lens is this fragile, its gotta be the flimsiest zoom I have ever used > and that's saying something. Even my el cheapo 28-80 is better built. > I really don't know what to do. The 2nd copy was a LN- grade from KEH. > It seemed ok optically at first, but seems worse now than before. I > liked the lens enough that I needed another copy to replace the first > while I decided what to do with it and didn't want it missing. My > 18-55 mk1 just doesn't cut it really and isn't very usable at open > apertures. > > On Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 10:18 AM, Zos Xavius <zosxav...@gmail.com> wrote: > > LOL! It might not be that much, but it is noticable... > > > > On Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 9:49 AM, Bruce Walker <bruce.wal...@gmail.com> > > wrote: > >> 1/4" of wobble? You must have the special LensBaby co-design version. > >> Treasure it. :-) > >> > >> On Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 8:52 AM, Zos Xavius <zosxav...@gmail.com> wrote: > >>> > >>> I'll take an f8 shot today and upload crops of the upper corners. You > >>> tell me. My copy looks no better or worse than photozone's test > >>> samples BTW. Their samples are quite soft in portrait. So is > >>> dpreviews. My barrel probably has a 1/8-1/4" of wobble to the left and > >>> right. vertically it feels tighter. > >>> > >>> On Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 3:39 AM, John Coyle <jco...@iinet.net.au> wrote: > >>> > Zos, you must have either two bad samples or very high standards! The > >>> > 16-45 I got from another > >>> > PDML-er (in, I think, 2007) was well used but still gives great > >>> > images. I used it extensively on a > >>> > number of overseas trips, and most of the images I got from it were > >>> > sharp corner to corner: those > >>> > that were not are probably due to being taken from a moving bus or from > >>> > the hip... > >>> > There is no barrel wobble either, so it might pay to have it tightened > >>> > up after all. > >>> > > >>> > > >>> > John Coyle > >>> > Brisbane, Australia > >> > >> > >> -- > >> -bmw > >> > >> -- > >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > >> PDML@pdml.net > >> 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 > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 http://rule6.info/ <*> <*> <*> Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
