Sunday, November 26, 2006

Some recent events

It's been quite some time since I last posted to my blog. A number of events naturally took place. Notably my trusty F 70-210/4-5.6 bit the dust and my quest for an everyday (zoom) lens finally came to an end.

As for the tele-zoom lens if you have one you're willing to sell, please leave me a message.

Now the everyday walk-around lens quest. It started a long time ago with Sigma 28-135/3.8-5.6 IF AF Macro which was very average. Then came Pentax SMC FA 28-70/4 AL which I think is really the best solution for the problem - small, light, excellent optically. It expired due to dreaded element separation issue. Then came Pentax SMC FA 28-105/4-5.6 IF. It was reasonably good but I wanted better.

Here comes the interesting part. I decided to try modern Pentax SMC FA 28-105/3.2-4.5 IF & AL. I bought it second hand. Ergonomically this is truly wonderful lens. But there is one gotcha. The gotcha is sample variation. Mine was probably not the best sample. It would focus at 105, I mean electronics would say it was in focus, but image would come out soft - the focus missed. I struggled with it somewhat, but evidently my *istD (firmware ver. 1.11) did not quite work with it. So I had to return it to seller.

Thus I was left with no choice but to accept to my Pentax family a non-Pentax member. I chose Tamron 28-75/2.8 (letter soup omitted). This is truly wonderful lens, or at least my sample is. It is sharp even fully open, it is properly integrated with all the electronics, and, luckily, it rotates in the same direction as Pentax lenses do. So, except that Tamron label in front and the letter soup (omitted) around the lens barrel - this could really be a Pentax lens.

My hunt for everyday walkaround lens is finally over.

Here is a shot I took with this lens: