[Kerrowdown]

well I tend to trust these frenchmen

Ouch

Said while diving for cover.

[Pentaxor]

Weird, I just went through the Sigma lenses, I've often felt that 3rd party lenses offer good value for their money , 26 pages of combinations tested, all on Nikons and Canons, not one tested on a Pentax. It's nice they posted what they did for Nikon and Canon users, I'm not seeing much of interest.

So their top rated lenses Nikkor105, SOny Planar 85, and Sigma 85 1.4 in third place. Now I can order the Sigma 85 from my favourite on-line camera store for a little over $1100, but, it's not tested on a Pentax. Why not? What good are lens ratings if they are not inclusive? SO question, what would the rating of a Sigma 85 mm F 1.4 be if placed on a K-5?

I recently blew a chance to purchase a Pentax FA 100 macro, second hand, so I thought I'd check it out, see what I missed. It's not even on the list of tested lenses. From the look of it, most of what they've tested from Pentax appear to be kit lenses. it looks like most of what they tested were about 5 lenses on 3or 4 different bodies. It's too bad, because I'd really like to know how the Pentax 100 macro stacks up against the Nikkor 105. You won't find out here. I'm not saying their testing is bad, I am saying it's woefully incomplete, way too incomplete to be drawing real comparisons about what the best lens and camera might be.

Without the help of the lens manufactures, ie, giving them some lenses to test, this is never going to e an important feature of this site. And testing a PENTAX DA 16-45mm F4, Pentax SMC D FA 50mm F2.8 MACRO, an 18-55 kit lens, and a few slow 50-200ish zooms, on a K-20D, a K10 D and a Km, how is that any kind of a test to determine which Pentax lenses are rated highest? Lets just hope it's a work in progress.

Did the OP know what he was posting?

I am appreciative of the heads up on the Sigma 85 1.4 though. Anyone know anything about it?



Ready to recant? Or do think comparing Pentax kit lenses to other's primes is a good test?

I believe photozone is pretty reliable. they have a review on the FA100 which says that it's an impressive lens. personally, it is. I had thought about selling it after I got the Sigma 70, but chose not to. I'm glad I didn't.

[normhead]

What Sigma 85mm are you looking at? The new Sigma 85mm f1.4 can be had for $899 shipped from Adorama or Abe's of Maine.

I'm looking at ones in Canada. I ordered a Jersey for my beloved Ohio State Buckeyes once, it cost $65 American, by the time I paid the duty, brokerage fees etc. it was $150 Canadian. You don't make that kind of mistake more than once.

I believe photozone is pretty reliable. they have a review on the FA100 which says that it's an impressive lens. personally, it is. I had thought about selling it after I got the Sigma 70, but chose not to. I'm glad I didn't.

Darn, now I feel bad again, it was listed on Kijiji for $500. I should have jumped.
__________________

[Wheatfield]

I was just browsing through the site`s lens rating, and I am curious, did anybody noticed the terrible ratings for Pentax lenses tested either on K20D, Km or K2OOD?
The overall winner is Micro Nikkor 105 on D3X with 34 points (DxOMark - DxOMark Score), while first Pentax`s lens is DA 16-45 on Km with only 13 points (DxOMark - DxOMark Score DFA 50 macro is even one point lower
so the question is, are all those ratings body dependent, or they just messed up the test procedure (which I doubt)?
I am sort of rather surprized with these results....
thanks

Compare the lenses on cameras with more similarly specified sensors. The Pentax lenses look a little better, though still not as good.
If they test wide open, I'm not surprised. I don't think (in general) Pentax lenses are quite as sharp wide open as they could be.

[Jewelltrail]

normhead: Weird, I just went through the Sigma lenses, I've often felt that 3rd party lenses offer good value for their money , 26 pages of combinations tested, all on Nikons and Canons, not one tested on a Pentax.

When you consider what % Pentax users comprise of the entire DSLR market, this makes sense--give them some more time & I'm sure we'll get more Pentax-related results.

audiobomber I really like the way DXO tests the camera and lens as a combination.

Agreed!

[audiobomber]

Compare the lenses on cameras with more similarly specified sensors. The Pentax lenses look a little better, though still not as good.
If they test wide open, I'm not surprised. I don't think (in general) Pentax lenses are quite as sharp wide open as they could be.

I'm not sure what you're looking at. I just compared Canon 7D, Pentax K20D, Sony A550 and Nikon D300S with 18-55 kit lenses, since they are the most comparable. The Sony was rated a little lower, the Pentax and Nikon were the same and the Canon was higher. The 16-45mm compares well to others' premium lenses.

[stanic]

Ouch

Said while diving for cover.

why ouch? is there any nation related problem?

[Bramela]

DA35 ltd NOT sharp. Boy, I don't know what you have been looking at but this has to be the misstatement of the year. (Especially on the K5 camera)

question has to be asked : do you own one, climit?"

[stanic]

Darn, now I feel bad again, it was listed on Kijiji for $500. I should have jumped.

yeah, you missed that one, looks like lens beauty

so, I compared three APS-C lenses, Pentax DFA 50 macro on K20D, Canon EF-S 60 macro on EOS 50D and the only APS-C Nikon prime there, the Nikkor DX 35/1,8 on D300 (another funny thing - on D300 it has got 17 points and with worse partial results on D90 it has got 2 more points overall)
DxOMark - Compare lenses
guess what - Pentax lens, even with better partial results for every value (except T value compared to Nikkor 35/1,8 of course) has got the lowest rank
I am getting the feeling that the price of the lens is somehow calculated into the final ranking...but that does not explain the difference between Nikon D300 and D90 bodies

[climit]

Come on Bramela. Where do I say that da 35 ltd is not a sharp lens? What I say is that it is not THAT sharp (compared to other lenses). Check Photozone. It is soft in borders compared to FA35 or FA43 for example.

DA35 ltd NOT sharp. Boy, I don't know what you have been looking at but this has to be the misstatement of the year. (Especially on the K5 camera)

question has to be asked : do you own one, climit?"

[timh]

I am getting the feeling that the price of the lens is somehow calculated into the final ranking...but that does not explain the difference between Nikon D300 and D90 bodies

That is a weird result, I have to admit. I don't think DxO would bring price into the ranking though, they're supposed to be benchmarking absolute quality.

On this whole issue, there are already a lot of lens tests elsewhere - the sensor tests are really where DxO offer something novel and useful.

[stanic]

. Check Photozone. It is soft in borders

ever read this?
Focus Fallibility: Lens Test Fallacies - SLRgear.com!

[timh]

ever read this?
Focus Fallibility: Lens Test Fallacies - SLRgear.com!

I'd never seen that before, but I always thought SLRGear had the best test result diagrams.

[stanic]

I'd never seen that before, but I always thought SLRGear had the best test result diagrams.

second that
that article is dangerous in a way - you won`t trust phase AF anymore

[timh]

you won`t trust phase AF anymore

I already see 'quick shift' as a tacit and commendably pragmatic admission of that.