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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
12-31-2010, 05:51 AM
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Hi, I am new to the forum so here is a quick post ,
I bought a "discontinued" K10d body about 12 months ago with no lenses and hunted around for a couple of cheap Pentax AF lenses to get up and running. I chose the SMC DA II metal bodied version as it was on special offer for £39. What did I have to lose? Having bought many SLR lenses s/h over the years this was even cheaper than many of my old 35mm purchases. The SMC DA 50-200mm was about £99 so we are not talking about a lot of money here for some quite respectable brand new AF lenses.
I also use a Fuji S5500 that has made me very lazy in terms of having a great Auto mode that I only override for "special shots" so had bought the K10d to get back to a more manual experience with greater control and of course the increased pixel rating as well as interchangeable lens options.
Generally I have found the limiting factor of image quality with these lenses has been my own lack of adequate control over f-stop/depth of field and ISO sensitivity settings coupled with a rather "soft" jpg algorithm that seems to slightly blur otherwise sharp edges. Edge to edge sharpness does vary across the field with edges being a little softer than the centre but often worsened by my own manual settings failures - depending on image composition.
It takes a while to get back the "feel" I used to have for my old 35mm Minolta X700 and suite of lenses - including a Tamron 28-200, now fitted with a Pentax K adapter for use with the K10d, so expect better results to come from practise.
Prior to buying the k10d I did try out a Kx at Jacobs in New Oxford St with the plastic kit lens and the lens elements seemed to wobble around quite a lot and images were pretty awful just using it around the shop and in the street outside. Not a scientific test, but it put me off ever having a plastic kit lens. I also tried out several mid-range DSLR Nikons and Canons and their kit lenses seemed as bad or worse, with pretty awful test results.
Conclusions:
Plastic kit lenses often seem to be a waste of money - either in the kit or especially as an after market purchase.
If buying a DSLR, hunt around for a bargain body only - often bodies-only are available new for substantial discounts. Then buy better-than-kit lenses as and when they turn-up at decent prices. Total price can be less than the kit.
Compared to expensive primary lenses etc SMC DA quality is not going to be the same. What do you expect for so little money? Are these lenses VFM and will they allow you to explore DSLR photography with reasonable results ? Definitely.
Will submit some pics later for comments.
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