Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
04-24-2015, 08:59 AM   #16
dms
Site Supporter
Site Supporter




Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: New York, NY
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 2,192
If you are looking to get an AF (F or FA) lens I believe they added a screw/clamp to increase the friction on the focus ring in the FA 50mm macro. You can check this--but I recall reading this.
Personally after using one FA lens (a zoom) I would not buy another one as the manual focusing is so poor in feel (and I don't use AF). Maybe the FA macro is better--one would hope so--but anyway a caution if you haven't used the FA, and likely the F (?), lenses.
Also the optical formula of the A (50mm f/2.8) lens changed significantly in the F and FA lens.

04-24-2015, 09:44 AM   #17
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
UncleVanya's Avatar

Join Date: Jul 2014
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 28,161
QuoteOriginally posted by dms Quote
If you are looking to get an AF (F or FA) lens I believe they added a screw/clamp to increase the friction on the focus ring in the FA 50mm macro. You can check this--but I recall reading this.
Personally after using one FA lens (a zoom) I would not buy another one as the manual focusing is so poor in feel (and I don't use AF). Maybe the FA macro is better--one would hope so--but anyway a caution if you haven't used the FA, and likely the F (?), lenses.
Also the optical formula of the A (50mm f/2.8) lens changed significantly in the F and FA lens.
The FA 100 Macro has an adjustable "drag" that you can use to tailor the amount of resistance on the focusing. The F lacks this - I think this is the same on the 50mm Macros of the F and FA series.

Last edited by UncleVanya; 04-24-2015 at 09:50 AM. Reason: Clarifying which 50's I was talking about.
04-24-2015, 09:45 AM   #18
Veteran Member




Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Nevada, USA
Photos: Albums
Posts: 3,348
Lens suggestion for shooting 35mm negs?

The D-FA 50mm only has an on/off clamp to lock the position. It does not have a friction adjustment.
04-24-2015, 09:52 AM   #19
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
UncleVanya's Avatar

Join Date: Jul 2014
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 28,161
QuoteOriginally posted by 6BQ5 Quote
The D-FA 50mm only has an on/off clamp to lock the position. It does not have a friction adjustment.
The lack of a focus limiter on the digital 35, 50 and 100 really bugs me. I have the F 100 and the limiter really helps me. How much does this impact your use of the 50 in walk about use?

04-24-2015, 09:59 AM   #20
Veteran Member




Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Nevada, USA
Photos: Albums
Posts: 3,348
QuoteOriginally posted by UncleVanya Quote
The lack of a focus limiter on the digital 35, 50 and 100 really bugs me. I have the F 100 and the limiter really helps me. How much does this impact your use of the 50 in walk about use?

Sometimes, once in a rare while, the camera will miss focus and the camera will cycle the lens allllll the way back and allllll the way forward. It's actually amazing to see and hear the camera in action like this. The camera acts like an android trying to become self aware! It softens the blow of missing the shot. I wouldn't say this should be a deal breaker but I wouldn't recommend this lens for critical paid professional work unless you need a macro. For walk around fun with extremely crazy sharpness then there's almost nothing better.
04-24-2015, 11:02 AM   #21
Veteran Member




Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Ontario
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 3,332
QuoteOriginally posted by UncleVanya Quote
The lack of a focus limiter on the digital 35, 50 and 100 really bugs me. I have the F 100 and the limiter really helps me. How much does this impact your use of the 50 in walk about use?
No experience with the 50, but I do have the DFA100mm (non-WR). It's also quite comical when it misses focus and goes hunting through the macro range. I will say with the improved AF of newer bodies it goes hunting much less, I find the AF with the DFA100mm on a k5iis very useable compared to pretty frustrating on my older k100d (all at 'normal' distances, I stick with manual focus for closeup/macro).
04-25-2015, 10:46 AM   #22
Veteran Member
KevinR's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 653
The DFA-50 f/2.8 or any of the F/FA/DFA-100 f/2.8 lenses are very good for this purpose. I recently helped a guy locally who did not want to go DSLR with digitizing his entire slide collection of around 4000 high quality 35mm color slides from safaris trips into Botswana, and he used his FA-100 f/2.8 macro on my K-3 with very good results. I did process testing with my DFA-50 and this also produced excellent sharp results. Result was equivalent to excellent quality scan at about 4800dpi with no field distortion or lack of sharpness.

He was lucky to be able to loan a color balanced light table for backlighting, and had a sturdy mini tripod for the setup. About 6 or 7 cans of dust-off and a month latter, he was done...! (BTW: for the testing I improvised a crude light table with a cool-white CFL 15W globe, and it worked fairly well.)

I suspect the Sigma 70/105 or Tamron 90 macros will also be very good options. The full 1:1 macro capability is not required because of the smaller sensor on APS-C compared to 35mm negative. But you will need 1:1 capable lens practically.

Edit: couple of other tips: camera on full manual and AF with multi-points enabled. The AF missed focus when on spot if no clear color/contrast in spot field-of-view. Shuttle on 2s mirror-up delay to eliminate any vibration with the relatively long shuttle speeds used (typically iso100, f/8, 1/6-0.5s range)


Last edited by KevinR; 04-25-2015 at 10:54 AM.
04-25-2015, 04:16 PM   #23
Junior Member




Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 31
Original Poster
Thanks for all the help and replies guys, very cool community here.
I'm leaning towards the Vivitar 55mm 2.8 macro. I've just got a thing for older, manual glass. Plus I'd play around with that lens on my MX which is a bonus. I'm also not in a rush to buy, travel for work has all of May spoken for.
Best,
Derek
Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
35mm, lens, lens suggestion, macro, negs
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Shooting portraits with 35mm prime or kit lens? christiantypet Troubleshooting and Beginner Help 17 09-30-2014 09:39 PM
Best lens to digitise negs and slides jonlg Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 4 06-15-2014 01:40 PM
max size enlargements from 35mm negs dj_saunter Film Processing, Scanning, and Darkroom 22 07-09-2011 08:24 PM
35mm SLR suggestion for user with poor eyesight? ChrisPlatt Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras 20 07-29-2010 03:23 PM
Purchasing a DSLR soon ~ suggestion on lenses for my shooting style Shooter Troubleshooting and Beginner Help 8 12-09-2009 11:12 AM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 03:05 AM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top