|
Forum: Sold Items
11-25-2015, 11:20 PM
|
| |
I can't comment on the DA* 300/4, but I doubt you'd be disappointed in the image quality from the F*300/4.5. It's my best lens by far, sharp from wide open and real easy to hand-hold.
The tripod foot can be removed, the lens hood is built-in, so cannot be lost. AF is a bit noisy on K5 and K3, accurate and reasonably fast on both, perhaps slightly faster on K3. It's not as noisy as I expected, being screw-drive.
Cheers
Rob
|
|
Forum: Sold Items
10-14-2015, 02:36 AM
|
| |
Wonderful lens... Like you I got mine with the MZ-S when they first came out... While mechanically it's a bit plasticky, optically it's great.
Good luck with the sale!
|
|
Forum: Sold Items
10-09-2015, 09:14 PM
|
| |
Same here... My favourite lens and the autofocus is quick and relatively quiet compared to other screw-driven autofocus lenses I have.
Fantastic lens. Someone is in for a real treat!
|
|
Forum: Sold Items
10-04-2015, 07:36 PM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-03-2015, 07:02 PM
|
| |
Hi fwbigd,
I prefer not to consider hearsay, but instead look at (my) real experience with this lens... It's sharp, sometimes astonishingly so, but that was not my original impression, especially fully open. This was down to large amounts of back-focus but, following correction, the full sharpness was revealed.
There are other gremlis, but they can be addressed or worked around, but to characterise the lens as not sharp is, in my experience, wrong.
Cheers
Rob
---------- Post added 04-10-15 at 09:12 ----------
Hi Snostorm,
I agree that the Tokina is a good lens, and under the write conditions, great or even excellent.
The biggest problem I find is absolutely not sharpness, but purple fringing, that can become oppressive under the wrong conditions, but is also completely avoidable under the right conditions... Let's call it temperamental!
It's a solid lens of astonishing build quality, internal focus and internal zoom mean that it doesn't act as a vacuum cleaner for dust, and the weight provides some stability (though can be a bit much over extended periods).
My ideal (at the time and probably still) would be the Pentax FA 80-200 f/2.8, but at over three times the price was not justifiable, and though still a dream, remains 'out there'.
For the price the Tokina represents astonishing value, great (but not the best) optics.
It will get a solid work out at an upcoming rugby event, which is why I'm looking at the Pentax HD AW 1.4x, to pair the Tokina lens alongside the F*300mm for some flexibility shooting with them both... sometimes 300mm is just too long. The other use would be wildlife, but for that I currently use the 300mm mostly, as well as a 400mm for greater reach where needed.
Cheers
Rob
|
|
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-02-2015, 02:23 AM
|
| |
Hi,
I'm considering pairing a Tokina ATX Pro 80-200 f/2.8 (already own) with a new pentax 1.4x converter.
Does anyone have experience with this combination, and if so, how does it perform? Sample shots?
I have K5 and K3 bodies, the lens being adjusted for back-focus on the K5.
I also have a Pentax F* 300mm f/4.5 that could also get paired with the converter, and I believe that this combination works very well.
Interest in pairing it with the Tokina zoom is for sport photography, to give a little more flexibility than the 300mm fixed length, while still matching the reach at the long end.
Thanks in advance for any info.
Cheers
Rob
|
|
Forum: Sold Items
06-10-2015, 07:35 PM
|
| |
Hmmm,
I have the 105mm f/2.8 and it's one hell of a sharp lens... I don't use it nearly enough, but will never be selling it.
|
|
Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
03-13-2015, 09:00 PM
|
| |
Hi,
I have just acquired a Metz 58 AF-2 that is on firmware version 2, while the current available firmware revision is at version 4.1
The firmware updater available at the metz website includes an installer for a USB driver, specifically FTDIUSBSerialDriver_10_4_10_5_10_6.pkg.
The '10_4', '10_5' and '10_6' in the file namke refers to versions of the operating system that this is compatible with, so implying that it os not OK with OS versions after 10.6, though further reading suggests that it should be OK up to at least 10.8.
OSX 10.9 has a different type of USB driver already installed as part of the kernel.
My question is has anyone successfully updated metz firmware for any flash, but especially the 58 af-2 from MacOSX 10.9 or 10.10, and if so did you follow the update process described by Metz, or did you do so without installing the USB driver they provide in the download?
Did everything go OK?
Thanks in advance
Rob
|
|
Forum: Sold Items
01-23-2015, 01:46 AM
|
| |
Whoever gets this is in for a treat! Brilliant lens, would never part with mine.
|
|
Forum: Pentax Forums Giveaways
12-13-2014, 05:34 PM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
12-07-2014, 01:52 AM
|
| |
The K-3 purchased from a forum member last week arrived a few days ago, and it's been frustrating to not be able to put it to good use before the weekend. Yesterday was the first chance to get out and do some proper shooting, as opposed to test shots of boring subjects around the garden.
Stopped at a nearby temple where people regularly go to 'make merit' by freeing buckets full of frogs, fish, crabs, terrapins, and snails… much to the delight of the local population of egrets, herons and cormorants.
These were taken with a Tokina AT-X AF 400mm f/5.6 attached to the K-3 in the last couple of hours of daylight, going from low sun to overcast and raining necessitating higher ISO than I really wanted.
Still, happy with the results as 'first samples', looking forward to more practice in the weeks ahead.
Little Egret
Chinese Pond Heron (raining)
The cormorants just didn't come close enough!
Comments welcome.
Cheers
Rob
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
12-06-2014, 04:46 PM
|
| |
I've not seen any mention in the manual (doesn't mean it's not there, just I haven't seen it), but all I can say is that I only ever format the cards in-camera and, having done so now with the K3, that both it and the K5 name them according to the camera that formats them.
Problem and puzzlement solved.
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
12-05-2014, 07:44 AM
|
| |
Thanks... These were brand new cards and so not formatted by the camera yet.
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
12-05-2014, 03:26 AM
|
| |
When I connect the K3 to my computer the two cards both mount as 'NO NAME'.
On the K5 the camera mounts as 'K5'.
Anyone know if it is possible to get the cards to mount as K3-1 and K3-2, or K3A and K3B?
Cheers
Rob
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
11-24-2014, 09:17 PM
|
| |
Be careful what you wish for... While UN monitors may work OK on some key issues, they are still not permitted to upset the political applecart. As a separate thing, UN meetings operate in exactly the same way, decision-making is by concensus, and words have to be chosen very carefully for fear of causing offense... I fear you'd end up with the same "my turn this year, your turn next" situation you seek to avoid.
|
|
Forum: Sold Items
11-24-2014, 05:42 PM
|
| |
Payment sent, 24th November
|
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
11-24-2014, 04:16 PM
|
| |
Here we go!
Yay! it worked!
|
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
11-24-2014, 07:27 AM
|
| |
Indeed, that's what I was aiming to do, but seems not possible to post one from my gallery here that is also on PPG... leastways, when I tried the photo failed to load.
Does it have to be hosted externally? Seems a little strange if so!
|
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
11-24-2014, 03:47 AM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Sold Items
11-22-2014, 03:51 AM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Sold Items
05-20-2014, 11:10 PM
|
| |
What price the 1.7x converter? None indicated.
|
|
Forum: Sold Items
05-15-2014, 06:13 PM
|
| |
Without doubt one amazing lens. The new owner is going to be very pleased with their purchase I think. There is no way I would begin to consider parting with my copy, also reviewed here.
Enjoy!
|
|
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
03-24-2014, 09:25 PM
|
| |
Hi,
Sorry to hear about your loss, but then the cloud came with a silver lining in the form of a K3.
If you do decide to take this route you need to be aware that any correction applied in debug mode is global, and so affects every lens you use.
Mine needed +50µm to be added in debug, so this plus the +10 auto focus adjustment on the camera in normal operating mode equates to an effective +15 for this one lens.
In order to compensate for the debug offset I also set a -5 auto focus adjustment for ALL lenses, to bring them back into focus... Any separate adjustment needed for any other individual lens would also need to be adjusted to compensate for the debug correction.
Every 10µm in debug is equivalent to 1 step in the standard auto focus adjustment.
I have a tamron 90mm macro that was exactly 0 correction prior to my changes... that now requires -5 on the normal focus adjustment.
This would not work if you have one lens with extreme back focus, and one with extreme front focus. All it does is to shift the +/-10 scale towards one direction or the other, it does not increase the adjustment range at all, it remains +/-10, but you've moved the centre point of the range, in my case to allow correction of more extreme back focus.
Good luck.
|
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
03-24-2014, 02:06 AM
|
| |
Yes, it was quite a relief to get it nailing focus... This is on a K5, and while I suspect it would be different on other bodies I don't have any alternatives with which to try. Good to know that the lens may be better behaved on the K3!
Will post some shots once I have something other than focus tests.
|
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
03-23-2014, 11:14 PM
|
| |
Just taken delivery of an AT-X Pro 80-200mm f/2.8 and like others here found it suffered from some pretty awful back focus that was not correctable via AF fine tuning alone.
Having spent the weekend first learning that this could be adjusted via a debug option, and then a few hours and loads of boring focus checking, have managed to now get the lens dialled in to my K5 and the results appear now to be reliably sharp, even wide-open. Before fixing things I could see the lens was sharp... it just wasn't sharp in the right places.
Now it is! Disappointment is gone and I can start taking some more interesting shots.
Pity the weekend is over!
|
