Originally posted by dgaies I believe it's the same hood as the FA*80-200.
I think I'd agree with that. Compared to my Tamron 28-75, the FA*28-70 felt too heavy and the sharpness wide open above 50mm wasn't nearly as good as the Tamron (see next comment). Sure the build was better in that it felt more solid and was mostly metal, but not to the point where it was worth anywhere near the premium (to me).
I owned the FA*28-70 in question. There's no question that softness wide open, specifically at or above 50mm, is probably this lens Achilles Heel (that and the hide price tag). It was a hard lens for my to judge because shoot test shots against the Tamron, the FA* wasn't as sharp, but the final output of a lot of similar shots I took with both lenses, I did end up preferring the output of the FA*.
All that said, I both bought and sold mine for around $800. They seems to be going for even more money now, which would only make me more likely to go for a Sigma 24-60 or Tamron 28-75 if I were choosing again.
The softness wide open help you to use it as a portrait lens...it sharpens up like crazy at F=4.
Originally posted by Clinton This is at the heart of my point. I can buy a new DA* 16-50 from Adorama for $822. or I can go to fleabay and procure one for a cool $1500 or $1200. :P
Originally posted by paperbag846 A friend of mine has one of those...distortion magnitudes worse than the Pentax FA*, and the colour rendition is very, very hot and unnatural, especially skin-tones...she's got shots of the Taj Mahal that have SO much distortion, it looks like it was designed by Picasso....
Originally posted by Boris Indeed. I chose Sigma over Tamron mostly because of extra 4 mm on the wide end. Also Sigma seems to render the OOF areas somewhat smoother than Tamron. Tamron in turn has more pleasing color rendering to my eyes. But either lens costs way less than half the price of FA*28-70 these days, your offer, being most attractive one I have seen for quite some time now.
Are those full-frame lenses? Probably not. Compare apples with apples, etc...
Here's what it does...second one's a little over-processed, but that was on my old CRT monitor setup.
Both of these look stunning at 13"x19" - tack sharp from front to back, very natural yet bold colours, with very high contrast.
Yeah, I can't understand WHY this rare, handmade, full-frame discontinued lens is worth so much...:>)
Cheers,
Cameron