Nice review of the DA 50-200 on Photo.net

[macdaddy]

Follow the link to this bargain gem in Pentax's lineup:
http://photo.net/equipment/pentax/da50-200.adp

Rob W

[FotoPete]

The DA50-200mm is a decendant of the A70-210/4 and the F70-210/4-5.6 right? Or was this a totally new lens design?

[hinman]

Though it is wide open at f/4.0, I do find a lot liking for this lens. It is light and small and very easy to work with. I find the color, bokeh and even sharpness good for my general use in outdoors. I have not uploaded a series of pictures when I was chasing my older boy aged at 5 with fast legs in the mountain. I could not have shot the series without the DA 50-200. It is so versatile that I can zoom in at a farther distance while my boy runs away from me with a laugh

I have some thoughts in this old blog post

Color
Hin's Tech Corner: Color from Pentax DA 50-200

Review
Hin's Tech Corner: Photozone.de Pentax DA 50-200 review

Hiking


Indoor Portraits (I have good luck with my younger boy who is very mellow to my Pentax gear)


Thanks,
Hin

[Ivan Glisin]

Originally Posted by FotoPete

The DA50-200mm is a decendant of the A70-210/4 and the F70-210/4-5.6 right? Or was this a totally new lens design?

Totally new optical design, smaller image circle, different range. I did a test -- mounted on MX it shows absolutely useless corners for full frame photography -- dark corners, severe distortion, obvious lack of sharpness. So it can not have anything in common with A70-210/4 and F70-210/4-5.6.

[andrei46]

Originally Posted by Ivan Glisin

Totally new optical design, smaller image circle, different range. I did a test -- mounted on MX it shows absolutely useless corners for full frame photography -- dark corners, severe distortion, obvious lack of sharpness. So it can not have anything in common with A70-210/4 and F70-210/4-5.6.

DA 50-200 is not suitable for MX camera - it's written!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ivan Glisin]

Originally Posted by andrei46

DA 50-200 is not suitable for MX camera - it's written!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who said it is?????????????? :-)

Perhaps I was not clear enough: I have mounted DA 50-200 to MX just as an experiment and image does not cover 35mm film frame properly. That means that optical design is not directly derived from 35mm film zoom lenses of the similar range as someone have suggested/asked. That was the point.

BTW, I like mounting DA lenses on MX just to see image circle. Results are surprising with most DA lenses: some of them would be quite useful with FA-J compatible bodies (For example, DA16-45 would make an excellent 20-45mm zoom -- it covers full-frame from 20mm up.)

[raider]

The Sigma 70-300 and Tamron 70-300 are unable to use polariser since their focal ring rotates. The DA 50-200 is fixed. Not a very important consideration but I just thought I should raise this anyway

[arbutusq]

I love my 50-200. The only issue I have with it (aside from f5.6 but what are you going to do?) is its tendency to vignette. A great small travel lens.