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09-07-2012, 06:55 PM   #1
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FA645 MACRO 90mm f/2.8ED

So this lens obviously is interesting. If it matches the sharpness and contrast of the 120mm macro it will be great lens. My only concern is that the rumor is showing this lens at $5000. That seems way to high in my opinion. I was hoping for something in the 2-3k range. What do you guys think?

09-07-2012, 07:28 PM   #2
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Yeah, 5k would be too much. I don't see that focal length being of great use to me...especially when you can get a very sharp 120 macro A lens for about $300. Maybe it's a good portrait lens? I shoot landscapes, so I probably won't consider it regardless. I love my 120...it's a little hard to nail the focus with the very shallow DOF, but you can usually check focus after you take an image using the LCD.
09-07-2012, 07:31 PM   #3
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1.The 120mm is already superb.
2. SR? Macro shots require a tripod.
3. $5000! Pentax could get market share from high end 35mm users with the body price, but not at these lens prices.
09-07-2012, 08:06 PM   #4
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I actually use my 120mm mostly for portraits and occasional landscape. Yeah its a macro lens but I have never used it for macro....so the Image stabilization would be useful. My wife uses a Nikon and she loves the 105 Macro with Image stabilization....it is pretty handy. Still 5k is way to much in my opinion. I can see that price point with wide angle lens...but not with a lens like this.

09-07-2012, 08:08 PM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by Ryan Tischer Quote
. I love my 120...it's a little hard to nail the focus with the very shallow DOF, but you can usually check focus after you take an image using the LCD.
Have you tried the FA version? I have the 120 FA and while it is not the fastest Autofocus lens its pretty darn accurate.
09-08-2012, 06:18 AM   #6
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I think I would look at it as more of a portrait lens that also happens to be macro. AF isn't very useful IMO when I do macro work, but would be very much so with portraits...and also I think that's where the IS might come in handy. But 5K is too much, maybe at $2500 they could move a few lenses, assuming its suberb in all aspects.
09-08-2012, 07:43 AM   #7
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is this the same lens as the recently announced 90/2.8 couple of months ago?

09-08-2012, 07:45 AM   #8
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any word on when it's coming out?
09-08-2012, 04:46 PM   #9
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I find it curious that the 100 Macro for the 67 was so affordable and so sharp performance wise, yet this new 90 macro 645FA is ultra expensive. The design of this new lens is probably a Double Gauss type or something close to symmetrical. The use of expensive low dispersion glass (ED) for a lens like this is really not necessary. Pentax used to be the value brand, with excellent lenses at an affordable price. That looks to have changed.
09-08-2012, 06:35 PM   #10
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Yes, I already have a P67 90mm 2.8 and 100mm macro 4. Both outstanding lenses and about the same size and weight of the new DFA645 lenses. Thats what i dont understand. The size of the prototype 90mm i saw was enourmous for 645 format.

Now if they went to a stop of 2.2 or 2 and made the lens about the size of the current FA75mm , then i could see my way to 5K........
09-09-2012, 06:24 AM   #11
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Yes, this is perplexing if it's priced at $50000 . The current 120 645 macro ( I use the superlative FA version) , is nothing short of having superb image quality across it's entire docking range and in all the samples I tested, was the only FA 645 lens that required absolutely no AF fine tune adjustment when used on the 645D. This ilies very careful tolerances and adjustment during assembly when new. Tpits good for portraits where it's only drawback may be the too bitingly sharp image it produces may be Too much for certain portrait subjects. That's wherevthe FA 150 f2.8 lens comes in. It's a gem for portraits, especially in the subtle way it draws an image when shot wide open and is another all around light weight superb performer. These two lenses may not have WR, but at their current selling price points, especially used, they are a real bargain when compared to the recent costs of some of the new Pentax 645 lenses now being introduced.

If the new 90mm does have IS (is this confirmed?), then of course this is a factor in it's general use and could certain be of benefit, but that's still a steep price for a lens in a system that was supposed to be a relatively attractive entry way, $$ wise, to medium do at photography.

Dave (D&A)
09-09-2012, 09:01 AM   #12
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Well, the new 90mm is a stop faster than the other lenses which requires an entrance pupil of twice the area. It is rather silly to compare this to a 67 manual focus lens designed in 1998. Also, the FA 120mm is not a new lenses either. Both the 645 and 67 lenses were produced when the customer base was larger. While I think the $5K price tag is over the top, why are you expecting the same price ranges from products made 15 or 20 years ago? A lens that cost $1500 15 years ago and if inflation was just 4%, the same product today would be $2700. This does not take into account changes in production cost, new technology added, nor number of products produced.

As far as the question of why bigger, perhaps Pentax just wants to make a better lens. Not only for the current camera, but for future bodies which presumably will have hight resolutions. BTW, the folks that own a 100mm Macro lens that suits them fine are not actually customers as they are not in the market to buy a lens. This is for customers not having the optics they want and are willing to pay.
09-09-2012, 04:01 PM   #13
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Here's an interesting price comparison-- The 80mm Zeiss Planar f/2.8 HFT EL for the Rollei 6001, 6003 etc. goes for $2050 new. If the Pentax 90mm in question is indeed $5000, they are pricing themselves out of the business.
09-10-2012, 03:00 PM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by desertscape Quote
Here's an interesting price comparison-- The 80mm Zeiss Planar f/2.8 HFT EL for the Rollei 6001, 6003 etc. goes for $2050 new. If the Pentax 90mm in question is indeed $5000, they are pricing themselves out of the business.
Well, the lens has SR and as someone else have pointed out it is probably designed for future generations of MF sensors; probably sensors with 100mp or more... The product lifespan of MF lenes is measured in decades...
09-10-2012, 03:08 PM   #15
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BTW, I don't follow other MF companies very closely, but would this be the first ever medium format lens with image stabilization?
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