Site Supporter Registered: September, 2006 Location: midwest, United States Posts: 5,715
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: November 27, 2020 | Recommended
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Small, light, and sharp! Works well with 1.4x teleconverter. | | Cons: | Manual focus ring could use a little more resistance | |
Added this lens for hiking. It is lighter than all the other 300s and of course the 400. It works well in the backpack with the 645 HD35 F3.5, DFA 55, and A 120 macro. I also carry a couple of extension tubes and the Pentax Rear Converter 1.4x.
The lens is delightful to use. It weighs less than the 645 FA 80-160 F4.5 zoom. It doesn't have a tripod collar, and doesn't need one. The 645 400 F 5.6 has a tripod collar, and is still usually sharper with the 645 body mounted directly to the tripod.
Autofocus works fine and didn't require any fine tuning. It is easy to switch to manual focus by pulling back on the focus ring. Manual focus feel doesn't quite match an older A series lens. Like most AF lenses it is a little light weight and fast.
Performance is decent wide open, but improves stopped down half a stop. It is capable of very sharp results. It appears a litlle sharper than the 645 400. I don't see any ca or other problems.
The PENTAX FA 300 F5.6 WORKS GREAT WITH THE PENTAX 1.4X TELECONVERTER!
Haven't seen this mentioned anywhere. Combo gives over 400mm and is sharp when lens is shot at f8-11. This is an added bonus for hiking and makes this my dream tele combo.
I love this lens and highly recommend it. They aren't easy to find, but worth the effort.
Just the 300mm:
 645Z2777cypresstreestumpWEB by Doug Adams, on Flickr
300mm with 1.4X teleconverter:
 645Z4150helicoptertakingoffhospitalWEB by Doug Adams, on Flickr
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Senior Member Registered: July, 2008 Location: montreal Posts: 136
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 8, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $950.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | light and small | | Cons: | no tripod collar | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-01 and K20D
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I bought that lens to use it on my K20D and K-01 when i don't want to carry my Pentax-67 M*400m/4.
It's a very good lens, build quality is very good as usual with Pentax long lenses. The focusing ring is large and smooth.
I would like a tripod collar but it's easy to use anyway since it's small and lightweight.
Sharpness is good at f/5.6 but gets better from f/6.3 and is still very good up to f/11. At f/16 it's still good on an APS-C sensor but after that it's getting too soft and unusable. Since i bought it for occasional wildlife and will use it for frog photography next spring i don't mind the softness after f/16 since i will use it mainly between f/6.3 to f/11.
You can take a look at my Blog where i writed a review of that lens with some photos:
http://steevemarcoux2.com/2012/11/24/pentax-645-fa-300mm5-6-review/ | |
Junior Member Registered: November, 2009 Posts: 29
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 8, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $1,500.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | sharp and light weight | | Cons: | none | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
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This lens seems to be often overlooked in favor of the larger 300/4 version. The f5.6 300mm is half the weight and only sacrifices 1 f-stop. It is thus much more convenient for travel and hand-held use with the 645D.
Sharpness is excellent at f5.6 but does improve slightly when using f8. The bokeh is very smooth.
This 300/5.6 lens, together with the Pentax 75/2.8 and 150/2.8 FA lenses, make for a nice telephoto travel set.
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