Originally posted by Jewelltrail Agreed, but there is a time when you are trying the lens out. It did not take me long to realize this was not a lens I wanted to work with--too many compromises. After 2 weeks, I moved on to something better. I agree all lenses have tradeoffs, but there were far too many with this lens--perhaps I had a real bad copy? This is the only lens I ever felt this way about. Keep in mind, I wanted to to shoot more than birds.
to me, someone picking up a lens and deciding after 2 weeks it was not for them has not properly considered the things from the onset.
When I look at any lens, and when I review a lens, many of the things I consider are specification related, but not optical specs, the physical specs of the lens. MFD, and focus throw are at the top of the list.
Why, because especially when manually focusing you need to consider just how far the focus throw is, and how close you can get to a subject.
the K300/4 has what I consider the limit for close focusing as an acceptable lens at about 13 feet. I can generally get closer to subjects than that, so it is a limiting factor. FOcus throw at 270 degrees makes it slow to focus without a little forethought, but that is all it takes.
I have used this lens for about 20 years so, perhaps, I have adapted my shooting style to it, but 2 weeks is not long enough unless you are shooting for 8 hours a day to understand all the ways any lens,
I repeat, ANY LENS works.
the biggest negative that I see with the 300/4 is lack of a tripod mount, because it is just too heavy to mount on a camera and support from the body tripod socket. but that is easy to solve, or at least it was for me.