| Latest Review Posted | SMC Pentax-D FA 100mm F2.8 Macro WR
This is certainly the most desirable macro lens available for the Pentax system, but is it necessarily the best?
The build quality is little short of excellent with an all-metal barrel and precise machining. All the scales and text on the lens are engraved rather than printed which adds to the quality feel. This high quality feel is let down somewhat by the narrow polycarbonate inner barrel that extends outwards as you go towards MFD; this is a lens that looks better with its hood mounted.
The distance scale is one of the best I've seen: clearly marked and uncrowded. The 1/x scale goes from 25 to 1.0 with decimal markings at 2.5, 1.5 and 1.2. This makes it easy to choose the desired magnification. I can't say the same for the DOF scale which only has markings for F16 and F32, making it more ornamental than useful.
The manual focus ring is the best I've used - it has the same smoothly damped action as the Limited lenses, but is wider and more comfortable to use. The front element is fairly deeply recessed which makes this one of the few lenses that I mount a UV filter on. The weather resistant build is a bonus, I guess, but macro photography in the rain is such a specialized use that its utility is not fully realized.
As a macro lens, this is very good indeed. It produces superbly detailed images with superb colour and contrast and beautifully rendered OOF areas. The 30cm MFD is fairly comfortable (certainly in comparison to the 35 Limited). I find that with the assistance... |
