Hi, I have just seen these two zooms locally, the SP 3.5/70-210 and the SMC-A 4/70-210... I ended up with the Tamron (half stop faster, which is important for me)...
I would like some group opinions on the comparison of these two, please! Re: build, both are really greatly built lenses. The tamron uses some internal breaking system so it doesn't have ANY zoom creep, the pentax is very well dampened. SMC would be an advantage, but the speed... Also, the SMC is smaller, obviously - the SP is long as an average 2.8 zoom, only thinner. So it looks much more "macho" than the SMC ;-) I didn't have opportunity to test them side by side on film :( - anybody did that? I am interested in results mostly wide open, and also stopped down :) and with big enlargements - I do mostly A4 (20x30cm) and A3 (30x40cm) prints. And finally, how do you rate the performance of the SP with the Tamron's 2x SP teleconvertor (the one which attaches directly to the Adaptall-2 mount) ? I can buy one really cheap, and thinking of how it performs with this lens, mostly wide open - with 400/7 lens, you can't stop down to have holdable speeds... Thanks! Good light, Frantisek Vlcek P.S.: I paid roughly 150 Euros/ 120 $ for it - is it the going price or did I do good or bad? - 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 .
