Upon opening the box, my first impression was that the lens was a lot smaller than I expected. I was expecting it to be just about twice as big as it is. When I picked it up, I was startled by the apparent build quality. Metal body, smooth turn of the focus ring. It feels really nice in the hand. As Dario pointed out, it's an "A" lens, so we even get full auto exposure on the DSLR bodies.
Focusing, particularly fairly close to wide open, is going to be a challenge. On the other hand, stop it down a bit and hyperfocal distances are pretty crazy. I should write a list of hyperfocal distances at different f/stops and stick it to the inside of the lens cap. If you're photographing something dark and there's something bright anywhere in the background, flare will be a bit of an issue. Especially with nearly a 180 degree field of view. My first quick tests show that it will be tough to get razor sharp photos with this lens, especially if you pixel peep. On the other hand, it looks like it will be a lot of fun, and it certainly adds a lot to the range that I can photograph in a single frame. My first quick test drive, a few shots around the house, nothing particularly artistic about these photos: http://www.flickriver.com/photos/ellarsee/sets/72157632607199177/ Short form: for under $300, I'm very pleased with this lens, and I'll almost certainly have more uses for it than a manual focus 85/1.4. -- Larry Colen [email protected] sent from i4est -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
