[systemA]

What a score

[jct us101]

I need to check craigslist more. I've also been considering going to garage sales.

[LensScribe]

What a bargain. Nice one! I'd definitely keep the 50 - it's not going to lose you any money if you hang onto it for a while. As for the others, try them and see which you most like and flog the rest (especially where focal length overlaps occur). Great find, enjoy them!

[LensScribe]

I need to check craigslist more. I've also been considering going to garage sales.

Yes! Garage sales are the way to go. Found out about a photographic-specific garage sale recently - picked up a selection of filters (some 43mm for the Olympus Trips I can't stop buying), a step-up ring and some other odds and sods for <$25. He's having another one in a week or two - this time I get there at 08h00

[jct us101]

Yes! Garage sales are the way to go. Found out about a photographic-specific garage sale recently - picked up a selection of filters (some 43mm for the Olympus Trips I can't stop buying), a step-up ring and some other odds and sods for <$25. He's having another one in a week or two - this time I get there at 08h00

The biggest problem is finding anything of use. Most of the time the lenses that they're selling are usually from cameras that you've never heard of. Every once in a while I hope I'll find something nice.

[LensScribe]

The biggest problem is finding anything of use. Most of the time the lenses that they're selling are usually from cameras that you've never heard of. Every once in a while I hope I'll find something nice.

Yeah, it's definitely a bit hit and miss. Fortunately, there aren't that many Pentax users in my neck of the woods (or so it seems), so I'm always on the look out for old spotmatics and the like with salvageable lenses, and m42 mount lenses. It's with the m42s that I've had the most success at garage sales, pawn shops and the like - by way of example, I picked up a 135/3.5 in great condition for +/-$25 a couple of months back. They're out there... I just have to temper my disappointment on the days I find nothing worth buying and not let that put me off the never-ending hunt.

[jslifoaw]

My copy of the F70-210 is way better; it looks like it's shaken a bit in your crop. Also, the focus ring is often loose which can cause errors; you didn't indicate if you MFed or not.

If mine was as bad as that, I would have sold it ages ago and replaced it with a 50-200, but that's the reason I haven't

[rparmar]

So I shot the cell tower again, this time at long focal lengths with the lens aperture wide open.

That's more like it. Any lens can perform decently at an average aperture.

The DA 55-300mm lens outperformed all other lenses tested by a considerable margin.

I am not surprised. It's a corker of a lens. And great value.

Thanks for the comparison.

[Pentaxor]

I wasn't ranking them in order of sharpness. I was placing them in order of overall image quality (in my opinion).

I agree with you that the Pentax-A, Vivitar S1, and 55-300 are all the sharpest of the group. Personally, I think the image quality straight out of the 55-300 with no post processing is the best overall (sharpness, color, contrast, etc).

Like I mentioned in an earlier post the F 70-210mm seems very sharp when stopped down or focused on closer objects (lots closer than the 400 yards to the cell tower). I have had varied results (some better than others) but I seem to find that shooting with this lens zoomed to 210mm and setting the aperture wide open to f/5.6, focusing on objects over 300 ft away gets pretty sketchy. Dialed down to f/8 or more and it gets very sharp.

Does anyone have a copy of the F 70-210mm lens that can confirm if this is my copy or a characteristic of this model?

I haven't used it enough to really make any decisions on whether to keep it or not yet but from what I have seen so far it is a sharp lens, produces some nice images, and is easy to use. I think if I end up getting rid of it, it won't be because it doesn't take great images... it will be because I don't like the plastic construction of the Pentax-F lenses and personally I feel that if I own the DA 55-300mm lens I probably got this range covered with better glass.

Thanks for the thoughts... still looking for anyone else if you want to comment or weigh in with your opinion.

no problem JP. I do concur the 55-300 is the best overall. not because that I own it but basing from it's strengths.

[JP_Seattle]

I wanted to post a couple photos from the Pentax-F 70-210mm lens to get some more opinions and thoughts on the sharpness of this lens. I have included a new shot of the cell tower to compare to the original as well as some other shots of my fairly uninteresting back yard.

These are all 100% center crops straight from the lens @ 210mm zoom, f/5.6













I want to see what everyone thinks about this lens from these cropped photos before I say what I think.

Thanks for all of your input!

[Pentaxor]

the images appear fuzzy on the F70-210mm JP. and some CAs there on the tower as well. I dunno, but Im not liking what Im seeing.

[Tuner571]

Wow, what a great buy for all those lenses. Every deal I come across is gone so fast that I would have to be on craiglist all the time just to get them.

[Just1MoreDave]

I am confused by your statement, "ugly to use". Do you mean the photo from my copy? From playing around with the F 70-210mm it seems to be pretty sharp in all occasions other than at full zoom with the aperture wide open. Stopped down even one click and it sharpens right up and also at any zoom range shorter than 210mm it was pretty sharp (even wide open).

I would be interested to see any of your comparison test shots if you have any online or even just some samples of your F 70-210mm just to compare with my copy.

Thanks!

Sorry, I forgot about my comment/participation in the thread. I was referring to the focusing. I read someone describing the F series as "brutal", and they are sort of the opposite of SDM. Manual focusing is not great either, tiny ring, no feel and limited rotation. My copy has all that and a nicely battered exterior.

I am pretty sure my copy is sharper than yours looks, but don't have any immediately available shots to prove it. Maybe Thursday. I have the ideal uninteresting back yard. How far away is that cell tower?

I wanted to post a couple photos from the Pentax-F 70-210mm lens to get some more opinions and thoughts on the sharpness of this lens. I have included a new shot of the cell tower to compare to the original as well as some other shots of my fairly uninteresting back yard.

These are all 100% center crops straight from the lens @ 210mm zoom, f/5.6
I want to see what everyone thinks about this lens from these cropped photos before I say what I think.

Thanks for all of your input!

The cell tower still makes me think something is off. The other ones don't immediately give me the same reaction. In those, the exact focus point is more obvious, so focus errors aren't an issue. I don't know if distance would matter that much. That lens has a not terribly secure method of adjusting for infinity focus. That might be a problem at distance.

[JP_Seattle]

You guys have affirmed my thoughts on this lens. As I mentioned in the prior post, to me it appears the lens is sharp when zoomed to 210mm and focused on objects within 30 ft or less. When zoomed to 210mm and focused past 30 ft, it starts to gets fuzzy and trying to focus on distant objects like the cell tower (probably 1500 ft away) it is obviously less than sharp at f/5.6

Dialed down to f/8 or smaller and it is fine, and the shutter speeds don't seem to matter. I tested it with shutter speeds all the way to 1/3000. Other than the case of focusing on a subject at the extreme telephoto end of the zoom range with wide open aperture, I find this lens to be very sharp as everyone says about it. The colors and contrast are nicely rendered and it focuses quickly and correctly. I think it is a pretty great lens if you don't mind the shape, size, and plasticky feeling. I just want to know if anyone has similar experience with the fuzziness at long distance subject focusing.

So here is my question to all of you that own the Pentax-F 70-210mm lens:

Is your Pentax-F 70-210mm sharp at 210mm, f/5.6, focused on objects over 100 ft away? Keep in mind that my test photos under these circumstances appeared sharp at full size but looking at 100% crops revealed that it was not. I am curious to find out if it is indeed just my copy of this lens or if they all display this characteristic. Feel free to let me know if you have used your F 70-210 for long distance zoom shots and got good results or if you want to test your copy and let me know I would appreciate it.

I noticed in the Pentax-F 70-210mm lens review section on this site a member named Focused wrote, "Very good sharpness till 210mm, still at the long end there`s still a touch of softness wide open. Stopping down to f8 will solve the problem." This makes me think that perhaps all of these lenses have this issue.

On a positive note, I took the F 50mm 1.7 and the K 35mm 3.5 to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival this past weekend was very pleased with the results I got. You can check out a few of my photos with these lenses here:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/post-your-photos/97321-nature-tiptoe-through-tulips.html

I really like the F 50mm 1.7 but I am still reluctant to let go of my M 50mm 1.4 lens. I love that lens and I also use it with a Vivitar macro focusing 2x teleconverter as a 100mm f/2.8 macro lens with great results. I will have to check out how the F 50 does with the TC before I decide whether to keep the M 50 or not.

Out of the lenses that I got in this package deal I am planning on keeping the F 50mm 1.7, K 35mm 3.5, and maybe the A 70-210 f/4. I will be selling the F 70-210 and M 28mm 3.5 (probably on ebay) so let me know if you are interested in either one before I post them for sale next week.

Thanks!

-JP

[Blue]

My biggest score would be the Tak 500mm f4.5.