[traderdrew]

Here's one I'd posted elsewhere a couple weeks ago in the K-1 forum -

Looks like sharpness isn't an issue. I'm glad a company stepped up and made a macro with a longer focal length in a pentax mount. The 200mm F/4 macro is just to much money. I guess I better learn to use that focus ring pretty quick after I buy one this year.

[longbow]

Looks like sharpness isn't an issue. I'm glad a company stepped up and made a macro with a longer focal length in a pentax mount. The 200mm F/4 macro is just to much money. I guess I better learn to use that focus ring pretty quick after I buy one this year.

Yep, it's sharp plus other features make it a really good lens. Just posted this photo elsewhere -

[dick897]

I shoot a fair bit with bellows, I know this is not going to work with bellows, but I would have assumed that ext tubes with contacts would be fine, however, one user review says not so.
Has Any one use ext tubes with this ?

[sculptor666]

I shoot a fair bit with bellows, I know this is not going to work with bellows, but I would have assumed that ext tubes with contacts would be fine, however, one user review says not so.
Has Any one use ext tubes with this ?

extension tubes with contacts are few and far between (pentax has never made any). the ones that do exist do not do well on FF, especially if you stack them beyond 50mm or so... you get different results with different lenses though. tubes on a 150mm don't do nearly as much as they do on a 50mm. user review says that this lens won't work on pentax ext tubes (technically it will, but only at f2.8... which is as good as not working at all) and that it won't work with the 1.7x t/c... maybe there's a conflict with the lens elements touching each other or something.

[dick897]

extension tubes with contacts are few and far between (pentax has never made any). the ones that do exist do not do well on FF, especially if you stack them beyond 50mm or so... you get different results with different lenses though. tubes on a 150mm don't do nearly as much as they do on a 50mm. user review says that this lens won't work on pentax ext tubes (technically it will, but only at f2.8... which is as good as not working at all) and that it won't work with the 1.7x t/c... maybe there's a conflict with the lens elements touching each other or something.

Thanks for the reply, I'm just wondering if the ext tubes that were tried had contacts, as the contacts would have to be in the same place anyway. Contactless tubes and bellows would behave the same way, resulting in shooting wide open.

[clackers]

So under this point of view what seems to make little sense actually makes a lot of sense.
This is how the machine works, and we all embrace it, at different degrees.
The main difference is the level of awareness. Few are aware, most are not.

Agree.

This thing is better than shooting for portfolio, which is also unpaid and reaches no audience.

[longbow]

Just wanted to clear something up about this lens, the K mount has a mechanical aperture, not electronic. Here's photo showing the Irix next to the DFA*50 f1.4 which has electronically controlled aperture. As you can see the Irix doesn't have the contacts for the aperture (sorry for the quick cell phone pic)