[thorswolf]

That's the spirit!

You have to let us know how the 60B turns out... and post some pics (natch).

[Chex]

I also saw the 60B posting on e-bay and was very very tempted to just spring for it, unfortunately my budget doesn't work well with my LBA, so I ended up finding another cheap 400mm lens. I have/had an Auto Vivitar 400mm f6.3, and it was ok for the $85 I got it for, but I dropped my gear to run and rescue my little guy from falling off some playground equipment and the front element landed into the rocks. Surprisingly hard to see the damage in the images unless your shooting towards a light source.. never the less it's there. So yesterday I tracked down another cheap 400mm f6.3, this one is a Bushnell. I didn't even know they made camera lenses or even rebrands. It's design is almost identical, but it wouldn't focus to infinity, so after a quick adjustment to the focus lock ring, I'm in business. The 400mm Bushnell and a SMC Pentax 50mm f2.0 mounted on a Pentax Super Program for $50... I couldn't pass it up.. heck, I drove 2 hours to go get it (along with all the other made up reasons to drive to the city to go shop).

[thorswolf]

The FA* 300mm is in the bag.
The price was too good to pass up. So I'll put it head-to-head against the 60B once it arrives. Worse comes to worst, I can resell it on that auction site or here and very likely get all my money back... Life is good!

[steve1307]

The FA* 300mm is in the bag.
The price was too good to pass up. So I'll put it head-to-head against the 60B once it arrives. Worse comes to worst, I can resell it on that auction site or here and very likely get all my money back... Life is good!

Yes the FA*300 is still fetching quite high prices, & suprisingly close to the DA*300.
If I was buying used without any warranty I would probably favour the FA*300

Coincidentally just I picked up my new DA*300 about 1/2hr ago.
Out of here at 5pm on the dot today to test it out. The build quality and the galss looks beautiful.
If the SDM is fine then life will be good.

[gtl]

The FA* 300mm is in the bag.
The price was too good to pass up. So I'll put it head-to-head against the 60B once it arrives. Worse comes to worst, I can resell it on that auction site or here and very likely get all my money back... Life is good!

Whats a good price for the FA or F300mm now anyway? This lens seem very rare. Thanks!

[thorswolf]

Well mine was $850 CDN. Is U.S. funds, I think that equates to something like fourteen dollars or something.

Actually I think both the US and CDN dollars are roughly at parity right now.

The FA* is selling for roughly a grand on that auction site. I figure the prices would start to drop soon with the increased popularity of the DA*. In the past few pages of this thread, there's like 2 or 3 Pentaxians who acquired the DA*.

[steve1307]

The FA*300 is just as good IQ as the DA*300 and it is slightly lighter too.

The only real difference is the SDM focus and the weather sealing.

The FA*300 is perhaps more desirable because it DOESN'T have SDM.
Is say this because the DA*300 i got today has faulty SDM, it just turns very very slowly hunts and wont lock focus. I'ts back in the box and going back in the morning.

Note: SDM problems are rarer on the DA*300 compared to 16-50 ad 50-135 , guess I'm just unlucky wth this one.

[thorswolf]

That sucks Steve.

Hope you get a better copy back. Has anyone heard of SDM being less reliable than the older screw drive?

[Green&White]

Want to show a picture in this thread




Hmmm, I want to show you a flickr picture, but it doesn't work

[Green&White]

I made a upload...

[Chex]

Maybe its time to replace the the SDM with DC like in the 18-135mm, because it seems to work just fine and I have not heard of any problems with it yet.

[steve1307]

That sucks Steve.

Hope you get a better copy back. Has anyone heard of SDM being less reliable than the older screw drive?

Yes, took it back this morning. Tested it on a K-r & it did the same thing.
That was the only one in stock at the distributor in Australia, 6-8 weeks for another one.
It was also implied that they had to "search for it" when I initially ordered it, so methinks it had been returned before.

Full Refund. The guy at the local store was pretty good about it.
Initially (as trained to do) he said "exchange?". I said "exchange for what?". The only other K-mount 300mm prime is Sigma 300 f2.8 and I doubt he'd give to me for the same price

Re-evaluating.......

I think I still really want the DA*300. I could see that the Quickshift would be particularly useful for this lens.

[dadipentak]

Maybe its time to replace the the SDM with DC like in the 18-135mm, because it seems to work just fine and I have not heard of any problems with it yet.

Perhaps you're right.

[Ben_Edict]

Thanks both for the replies.

Yeah I figured when I saw that the 60B looked like that hand shooting would be an iffy porposition at best. Thank God for regular weight training.

Let me put it another way, if you had enough funds to buy a ANY reasonably priced 300mm for a Pentax (and did not want to scour the world for the FA* f2.8), what would you choose?

The 60B can be handheld - not easily, but it works. You just need some time to get used to it, during the first weeks, the images will turn out blurred a bit (I needed app. three months, until I started to get sharp handheld images out of that lens).

All in all the best thing about a 300/2.8 in my opinion is, that you can use it with the tcs ands still retain reasonable speed for focusing. I mostly use the 60 B with either the 1.4x or 2x Pentax L converters and both work great.

So, I find a 300/2.8 preferably in principle. BUT the one caveat is, hauling that thing around. If you intend to walk with your equipment or simply make longer hikes with it, it is a real burden. For these occassions I prefer the diminutive A 300/4, which is sharp enough for my needs.

Ben

[pacerr]

The 60B can be handheld - not easily, but it works.

------------

I'll repeat part of an earlier post in the Adaptall section (#1072 ) and add another picture.

I've found that a palm rest makes a significant difference in hand holding the long, heavy lenses. The balance is better and it frees your fingers for more precise focusing. Note that the rests position the fingers under the focusing ring. And, it's more likely that your upper arm can rest against your ribs for weight support which greatly reduces fatigue.

---------

I built this palm rest/tripod extension from 1" x 1" x 5" square aluminum tubing which greatly improves handling. The lower forward corners of the tube will be rounded a bit for better comfort one of these days. The weight of the lens is supported in the palm of the hand leaving the fingers free and positioned farther forward under the focus ring.

A solid aluminum bar about 1"x 1/4" x 5" with appropriate attachments would be equally suitable.

Velcro allows various attachments. One (not pictured) that's most useful is a soft bean bag about the size of a baseball that provides a steady, vibration damping pivot point when rested on a support like a car or window sill. This also works well with the 360B and 30A where shorter extensions are better.

H2