Photozone is requesting Pentax lenses for testing

Pentax - providing lenses for testing

DA 15/4 Ltd,
DA* 55/1.4
DA* 60-250/4

I think our German friends could be the most obvious choice since the process is fastest. So if you want to see those lenses reviewed (and your copy thoroughly tested ) please contact Klaus.

Regards,
Radu

[jct us101]

I'd be nice if they actually reviewed some FA and F and A and M series lenses.

[pingflood]

Originally Posted by jct us101

I'd be nice if they actually reviewed some FA and F and A and M series lenses.

They probably mostly worry about current glass.

[Rondec]

Klaus has reviewed all of the FA limiteds as well as some of the other FA series lenses. He relies on users who loan him a lens and then he tests it. As to F lenses and before, since they are not currently in production, I am not certain how useful the information would be generally.

[wasser]

Originally Posted by jct us101

I'd be nice if they actually reviewed some FA and F and A and M series lenses.

He did review the Pentax k 135mm 2.5:

Pentax SMC-K 135mm f/2.5 - Review / Lab Test Report

Originally Posted by Rondec

Klaus has reviewed all of the FA limiteds as well as some of the other FA series lenses. He relies on users who loan him a lens and then he tests it. As to F lenses and before, since they are not currently in production, I am not certain how useful the information would be generally.

Odd, if amount of reviews were based strictly upon usefulness of information, I'd think with the wealth of A and M lenses they'd be the ones reviewed most.

However, it's that wealth of lenses that seems to be what discourages Klaus:

PS: Please don't bet on many more non-DA/FA tests though - I would surely die testing the zillion of old Pentax lenses ...

That's at the end of the review posted above.

[stevebrot]

Klaus has reviewed a few non-current lenses, but has stated that to cover the full universe of available lenses for Pentax and other cameras is more than he can or wants to do. If you were to send him something of particularly interest (unusual or cult standing such as the Helios 40-2 that he reviewed some time back), he might indulge you.

Steve

[dnaseigel]

Originally Posted by RaduA

Pentax - providing lenses for testing

DA 15/4 Ltd,
DA* 55/1.4
DA* 60-250/4

I think our German friends could be the most obvious choice since the process is fastest. So if you want to see those lenses reviewed (and your copy thoroughly tested ) please contact Klaus.

Regards,
Radu

I just emailed Klaus to offer free testing of all three of these lenses. I'll let everyone know what the response is.

[Parallax]

Originally Posted by RaduA

...I think our German friends could be the most obvious choice since the process is fastest.

In addition to being scientific and unbiased. (Unlike a few well known review sites that I won't mention.)

[AM2]

I'd be very interested in seeing these lenses reviewed by Photozone, also there's a few lenses I'd send them for testing if I was living in Europe. Sigma 70-200/2.8 EX DG for K mount and the DFA 50/2.8 macro come to mind.

Originally Posted by dnaseigel

I just emailed Klaus to offer free testing of all three of these lenses. I'll let everyone know what the response is.

Your response is already in the link page: EU citizens only

Originally Posted by Parallax

In addition to being scientific and unbiased. (Unlike a few well known review sites that I won't mention.)

What I meant was that if people from Germany send him the lenses the whole process of testing and publishing the results would be much faster. About being or not biased I don't know, I guess they have the same flaw (arbitrary scoring after in general fair reviews) as the sites you *won't mention*.

Some examples (all results for optical quality):

FA 43/1.9 Ltd: 3,5 stars (7/10) - sharpest Pentax lens ever tested @ photozone!
FA 77/1.8 3.5 stars (7/10)
FA* 80-200 3 stars (6/10)
DA* 50-135 3.5 stars (7/10)
DA 35/2.8 M Ltd 3.5 stars (7/10)
FA 50/1.4 3 stars (6/10)
DA 50-200 1.5 stars (3/10)

I bet a lot of people looking at images taken with the lenses above and the own pzone's charts could take some scores as unnecessary harsh.
Let's see what happens now!

Radu

[Rondec]

I think you have to take all reviews with a grain of salt. Klaus feels that it is his job to give accurate, by the numbers information. He showed up on DP Review awhile back and basically said that he feels that reviewers that give all lenses eight or nine out of ten are worthless and that he needs to call things as he sees them

[Alfisti]

This is what I like about him though, he doesn't pull punches and almost everything he says makes perfect sense based on the images taken. The problem with dpreview is they base 99% of the weight of a camera review on JPG's at default settings.

I don't really see how Pentax FA lenses can score too highly as they suffer from cyan fringing and purple fringing, 'tis our achillies heel.

He also takes price into consideration.

Originally Posted by RaduA

Your response is already in the link page: EU citizens only



What I meant was that if people from Germany send him the lenses the whole process of testing and publishing the results would be much faster. About being or not biased I don't know, I guess they have the same flaw (arbitrary scoring after in general fair reviews) as the sites you *won't mention*.

Some examples (all results for optical quality):

FA 43/1.9 Ltd: 3,5 stars (7/10) - sharpest Pentax lens ever tested @ photozone!
FA 77/1.8 3.5 stars (7/10)
FA* 80-200 3 stars (6/10)
DA* 50-135 3.5 stars (7/10)
DA 35/2.8 M Ltd 3.5 stars (7/10)
FA 50/1.4 3 stars (6/10)
DA 50-200 1.5 stars (3/10)

I bet a lot of people looking at images taken with the lenses above and the own pzone's charts could take some scores as unnecessary harsh.
Let's see what happens now!

Radu

[ogl]

Originally Posted by RaduA

Your response is already in the link page: EU citizens only



Some examples (all results for optical quality):

FA 43/1.9 Ltd: 3,5 stars (7/10) - sharpest Pentax lens ever tested @ photozone!
FA 77/1.8 3.5 stars (7/10)
FA* 80-200 3 stars (6/10)
DA* 50-135 3.5 stars (7/10)
DA 35/2.8 M Ltd 3.5 stars (7/10)
FA 50/1.4 3 stars (6/10)
DA 50-200 1.5 stars (3/10)


Radu

Klaus, to say honest, is rather unbiassed. The optical quality is mixed conception.
I know minuses of FA43 or DA35, for example, and Klaus says about it too.
He makes technical analysis, not emotional.

[mazdamazda]

His reviews for the lens that I own is quite spot-on...

[Andi Lo]

Klaus takes bokeh, PF, CA, distortion and everything else into account, not just resolution and sharpness. I'd probably give the FA 50 4 stars, but what Kalus discounted it for isn't totally unfair.

Also as someone mentioned here I think it's impossible to measure rendering, and everyone's taste differs