[Docrwm]

Second one I have tried to get off Goodwill in the last month was happy I finally got one

My bet is that its an old Dentist who retired that donated it. I looked but since I have the M50 and M100 macros I didn't bid on it. Looking forward to hearing what you got when it arrives and how it works.

[hangman43]

I also have the M100 F4 Macro with a set of tubes curious how well the Lester Dine will compare

[joe.penn]

I also have the M100 F4 Macro with a set of tubes curious how well the Lester Dine will compare

That not even a fair contest The Kiron "Lester Dine" will make you turn the M100 into a desk paper weight...

[aurele]

My latest acquisition is a FA-J 18-35mm f4-5.6 and it's soft case. The lens look mint, the only things that made me realise it's not new is the front lens has been cleaned before (few cleanings mark are slightly vsible.) Paid it 37€ (around 48$).



On film it produce a 90 degree horizontal FOV @18mm (28mm produce 65 degree horizontal FOV if you want some comparison point.), it seems soooo wide in the VF

Sadly, the body is loaded with color film and it's a very grey day today. B&W would have been so much better.


(Today i've seen a FA 50/1.4 for 240 bucks ... should i sell my 40/2.8 for it ? Hummm .... maybe ?! )

[kenafein]

(Today i've seen a FA 50/1.4 for 240 bucks ... should i sell my 40/2.8 for it ? Hummm .... maybe ?! )

Someone on the forum, whose opinion I trust, said I would probably end up selling my FA 50 1/4 after I bought a DA40. I think I am going to keep both, but an A50/1.4 might do just fine and I could pocket the difference. You just got a 55/1.2 didn't you? So maybe skip the FA50.

[aurele]

Someone on the forum, whose opinion I trust, said I would probably end up selling my FA 50 1/4 after I bought a DA40. I think I am going to keep both, but an A50/1.4 might do just fine and I could pocket the difference. You just got a 55/1.2 didn't you? So maybe skip the FA50.

i will follow your advice and skip the 50... for the moment i will wait with what i have now.
(selling the F50/1.7 wa such a ****ing mistake ... every day i think that i should have kept it. Hope the DA50/1.8 will come out fast )
(i realise that i did all my LBA when the weather was bad and i didn't shoot ... the weather is so bad since 4 days ... i need to shoot to keep my bank account in the green part )

[Docrwm]

My latest acquisition is a FA-J 18-35mm f4-5.6 and it's soft case. The lens look mint, the only things that made me realise it's not new is the front lens has been cleaned before (few cleanings mark are slightly vsible.) Paid it 37€ (around 48$).



On film it produce a 90 degree horizontal FOV @18mm (28mm produce 65 degree horizontal FOV if you want some comparison point.), it seems soooo wide in the VF

Sadly, the body is loaded with color film and it's a very grey day today. B&W would have been so much better.


(Today i've seen a FA 50/1.4 for 240 bucks ... should i sell my 40/2.8 for it ? Hummm .... maybe ?! )

I'll be interested in your impressions when you get to use the FAJ - they are panned by most reviewers so I look forward to your impressions.

There are times when nothing, absolutely nothing, will substitute for a truly fast lens like the 1.4. Is it better than the 40/2.8 or worth trading it in for one? Only you can say, but the 50/1.4 is a darn nice lens just remember to always use a hood with it. I am looking forward to the 50/1.8 too because I really think its one of those lenses that a lineup HAS to have to be considered competitive. I hope its a 50/1.7 with a mild change but the interview indicated that its a new design so.....we'll just have to wait and see once its out.

[aurele]

My very first impression about this FA-J (i used it around 30 minutes yesterday) : Fully plastic body but, even if it weight as much as the DAL 18-55 (around 200gr), it feel more solid, with more density. (maybe the big front plastic element explain this feeling.).

In the VF of the MZ-5n, @18mm i noticed a very discret vignetting. I noticed it when looking to a grey sky with a very uniform light. But when looking to building, this didn't shock me like it was obvious.
At all other range, i didn't see nothing like this.

i have no dedicated hood, so i can't tell anything about it.

Supposed to be subject to flare : i dunno (was only grey sky yesterday )

Not very fast (F4 -5.6), but the frame is so wide that if you have multi-seg metering, the body will want to close it a bit.

I paid the "beast" for 37€ wich is nothing for this lens (it was hard to find !), and so far, it's all good


The DA40 is an awesome lens with a very nice color rendition that often PoP out if the real color are vivid. But i find it slightly short now and slow. in fact, since i got the 55/1.2 i use less and less the 40mm. the lack of aperture ring bother me a lot now that i do film often.

I'd like to get the DA* but it's a bit ... out of money range ? (and i don't have weather sealed body so far, so the Sigma 50/1.4 might be a better choice...)

This new 50/1.8 has to be like the 35/2.4 : unofficialy FF compatible
(I tend to buy lenses that i can use on both film and digital)
BTW, is there any release date ?

[RKKS08]

A SMC Pentax-A 28-80mm F3.5-4.5 for €30.42 shipped. Just won it at an eBay auction. I should get it in a week or so.

There are now redundancies of which I will sell some, not decided yet which of these:

SMC Pentax-F 35-80mm F4-5.6 - came bundled with a selection of broken MZ-5n bodies I may try to repair. I have only tested whether it works - it is OK. Reviews in our lens section are not impressing. But AF is fast.

SMC Pentax-FA 28-80mm F3.5-5.6 - came bundled with a Z-20 which I also may sell soon. A couple of shots seem to indicate it is much better than its reputation. Extremely fast AF, specially with the MZ-5n. However, it seems to be the same optical design as the Pentax-A 28-80mm F3.5-4.5 and Takumar-A 28-80mm F3.5-4.5 (both budget lenses, non-SMC and 8 elements in 8 groups), whereas my new lens is SMC, 12 elements in 9 groups and is said to be prime-sharp even fully open. We will see.

Tokina AT-X 35-70mm F2.8 (PK/A) - I bought it new when it was introduced back in the eighties. I used it quite a lot at parties, mostly with flash. It is a mixed bag - constant aperture of 2.8 allows to take pictures which are not possible with many other zooms, but fully open contrast is low and sharpness not the best. However, F2.8 helps a lot with manual focus.

EDIT: After everything seemed to be fixed, I urged the seller to make sure it really is a "SMC Pentax-A", not the "Pentax-A". He opened the package, which had been ready to be sent, and had to admit he made an error. We tried to cancel the transaction with eBay, but it seems in such a case this is not possible, at least not for private sellers. So, for eBay, we completed the transaction, and he has to pay the provision. Just a pity, I was looking for a possibility to get this lens (cheap) for quite a while.

[arsn.r3d]

Latest acquisitions (and the last ones in a while, I think...):

DA 35 2.4 - Got it new from B&H (FINALLY they got it back in stock!). Had it for a couple days and haven't put it through the works yet, but already it's paying off with all the indoor low light shots of my 3-year old son. I'm getting so many more keepers this time . I still love my Taks, M, and A primes, and I still feel the IQ of my old glass matches up quite well to the new glass. But in certain situations, nothing beats the convenience and quickness of AF.

Sigma 75-250 4-5 with Achromatic Macro Filter - Got this old MF zoom from another forum member in practically "like new" condition, I'm almost afraid to use it. Even the leather case was fresh and almost spotless. Decent enough zoom, from initial test shots. The achromatic macro filter alone was well worth the purchase.

[ducdao]

Latest acquisitions (and the last ones in a while, I think...):

That's what I kept telling myself and looks like my while has a very short duration...like a week or so

[hangman43]

That's what I kept telling myself and looks like my while has a very short duration...like a week or so

That is what I said also after buying my Tamron 70-200mm but have bought about 4 or 5 more since and have only had the Tamron for a couple weeks now LOL

[arsn.r3d]

That's what I kept telling myself and looks like my while has a very short duration...like a week or so

Haha, ok maybe I'm either still in initial stages of LBA, or I'm more of a mild-er/non-terminal case. My last lens purchases prior to these two were back before Christmas . Thing is, I sold a few lenses a week ago, freeing up space in the bag/closet/wallet. So I got to thinking, "Hmmm, now what can I replace those with..."...oh, and despite these recent purchases, I haven't stopped looking. Haha! In fact, I think I've been spending much more time here on PF now...

[ChrisPlatt]

B+W brand 39mm yellow-green filter, for my Bessa R 35/2.5 Skopar combo.

Chris

[Jonathan Mac]

I just bought an ME Super in excellent condition. Unfortunately, I probably won't ge tmy hands on it for another 2 months, until I'm back in the UK.

I will have to get by with my K200D & MX for now...