Dear list members, I got the FA 28-105 f/3.2-4.5 AL (IF) yesterday and here comes the votes from the swedish jury (oups sorry, an inter-euro joke). I won't comment on optical performance, since I haven't shot a single roll with it yet. * Design and build quality It's incredible small! It's amazing that Pentax has suceeded in designing a 28-105 lens with a 58mm filter thread and f/3.2 aperture! My Tokina 28-105 was a f/3.5-4.5 lens with 62mm filter thread. It's almost of the same size as the FA 28-80 f/3.5-4.5 - or just little bit bigger than the tiny 28-70 f/4 AL. It do extends quite much when zoomed out to 105, but at 28 it's hard to believe that this is a 28-105 lens. The zooming collar has the same design as on the 27-70 f/4 or the new 24-90. It's slightly heavier to turn than the 28-70, but it's more optics to move also... It's much lighter than my Tokina and balances very well on my MZ-bodies (5N and 10), even without the FG battery pack (which was a must with the Tokina attached). It has a plastic outside, but the lens mount is metal. It lacks the focusing window of past FA-lenses. Instead the distance info is printed on the outside of the focus ring (as on the FA28-80 f/3.5-5.6 and 24-90). The aperture ring is wide and easy to turn, much more pleasant than the tiny and stiff aperture ring on my Tokina. Sadly, the aperture numbers are not engraved on the ring - they're just printed and the paint may scratch off with time (but only time will tell). Overall, the lens feels solid. Nothing feels loose, nothing rattles. The focusing ring feels more damped than on the 28-70 f/4. I rate the build quality slightly higher than the 28-70 f/4. The lens hoods "clicks" easily into place and feels very good. When removing a plastic cover underneath, one gets a "window" so you can turn, for example, a polarizer without removing the hood. (something that's impossible with my Sigma AF 24 f/2.8 and it's "clip-on" hood). * Autofocus It sounds! Perhaps this has to do with the more damped focusing ring than the FA 28-70 f/4 or the Tokina 28-105. Maybe the sound will lower itself with time. But straight-out-of-the-box the whirr-sound is unpleasant. The AF speed seems slightly slower than the 28-70 f/4 (in bright conditions, this may change at lower light levels where the wider aperture of the 28-105 is likely to help the AF), but it feels quite secure. * Final conclusion A well made and compact lens that's well suited to travelling. I hope it performs as good as it looks. Mounted to my MZ bodies, the lens looks very nice indeed. I like it's silvery-finish with black lettering. It cost me 3085:- SEK and I bought it from Scandinavian Photo. Best regards, -- Roland Mabo [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.algonet.se/~rolamo - 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 .
