Anthony, sorry to disagree, but I hold in my hands @ this very moment, a 70-210 f4-5.6 SMC Pentax - F that has -- ta dah - an "A" position on the aperture ring. Bought in late 1988. I use it a lot and like the results. It has been totally trouble free. The only complaint I have is the end rotates for focus, making the use of a polarizer a little more complicated than it could be.
Kenneth Waller ----- Original Message ----- From: "Anthony Farr" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2003 4:50 AM Subject: Re: Views on the F 70-210 > Boris, > > Sorry to disappoint, but this lens lacks an "A" position. The logic in its > omission is that the soft effect changes with aperture so Pentax thought it > undesirable to use program or Tv mode. The lens's contemporary camera > bodies could do Av or metered manual without the "A" setting, and body > control of aperture was at the time unforeseen. > > Sometime soon I really must get down to a store with my own F85 Soft and see > how an *ist regards it, because even though it lacks an "A" button on the > aperture ring it has "A" contacts on its mount. Because of its vintage its > aperture actuating lever should have true linear proportionality (which does > not exist on pre-A series lenses). > > IMO Pentax should retrofit these lenses with an "A" type aperture ring at a > nominal cost, because they were so recently made. In fact the FA version > was only dropped from the current lens list immediately before the *ist > became available, and was outwardly identical except for the colour of the > finish (black vs slate grey), was optically identical, and AFAIK only > differed in having an MTF chip fitted. > > regards, > Anthony Farr > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Boris Liberman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > Hi! > > > > On Mon, 18 Aug 2003 22:24:25 -0600 > > "William Robb" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >Any post M series lens has the A position. This includes A series, F > > >series and FA series lenses. > > > > > >William Robb > > > > I see. Well, I did not know that. But then I suppose it means that my > > soon to arrive F 85/2.8 soft would have A position too. That's way > > cool. > > > > Still, I am curious - what is the difference then between F and FA > > lenses? Something to do with the way FA lenses "talk" to the camera > > body? > > > > I am sorry I am taking this subject off-track, but I hope noone is > > offended. > > > > Thanks. > > > > Boris > > > >
