> Thanks, Fred. I've used it a bit now, and am happy with it. That's great, Bill (even if your report is not unexpected - <g>).
> I'm going to download the manual from Pentax, and I look forward > to seeing yours go up on your site. Well, I've already picked up a copy of Adobe Acrobat 5, so that I could start to create PDF files, but I've still got to learn how to use it (<g>). Then, I've got to do the necessary scanning. So, it might not be as soon as you or I would like (sorry). However, when I do have a chance to get around to doing the scanning, PDF-ing, and uploading, I will make a PDML announcement. Speaking of scanning time (and file sizes), I've already made the decision to include only the English portions of all the Vivitar and Tokina manuals (and the images, of course). And, speaking of languages, and the A* 600/5.6, I've even got a third version of an A* 600/5.6 manual - an Italian version (this one is just a photocopy) of the 4-in-1 manual - <g>. (I got this from Old-Timer Camera (where I'm not sure that the fact that it was in Italian was recognized). Of course, most aspects of using a prime lens are usually pretty obvious, even without a manual. Perhaps the only sort of unusual feature is the focus preset function (but, I'll bet you've already got that figured out by now, anyway - <g>). > Shooting in the morning sun the past two days revealed no > difficulty focusing a f5.6 or f8 (with a Kenko 1.5X TC), and I do > plan on getting the Pentax 1.4X-L TC for the superior > compatability, but I wonder about a 2X TC, going to F11. Will I > need a searchlight to focus in cloudy weather? Your experiences? Focusing at f/8 or so with a 1.4X or 1.5X TC is not too difficult, but (assuming that you're trying to use a split image focus aid) your eye does have to be exactly in the right position; using an all-matte screen (especially one of the newer LX matte screens) works quite well (don't forget that, at 600mm, even at mid-apertures, the DOF is so shallow that focusing is fairly obvious to the eye). At f/11, with a 2X TC, central focus aids are out of the question, but focusing with an all-matte screen is do-able (even if a little more tricky than at f/8 - this assumes that the light on the subject is reasonably bright); trying to work around a blacked-out central area on a focus screen can be annoying, though, if you're trying to use a screen that is not an all-mate one. You are indeed correct in suspecting that dimmer light makes things more difficult, especially with a TC (but, of course, autofocus technology has problems with dim light and small apertures, too - <g>). (Dim light makes it harder to see the pale greenish color of the lens barrel, too - <g>.) Fred - 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 .
