| Latest Review Posted | SMC Pentax 300mm F4
I bought this lens some years back at a charity auction site, and mine looked almost unused, apart from missing the front cap.
It is a big, heavy thing, but obviously well made, with a focus feel much like my Tele-Takumar 300 f6.3, though it is much larger and lacks the tripod collar.
This is clearly a "sports" lens, designed for handheld use near the car, not a "wildlife" lens meant for hiking around the backcountry with a tripod, but there is obviously a load of subjectivity in that once it comes to reality...
Ergonomics are very good, with a nice feel to focus and aperture control. I also like the built-in hood.
And it balances superbly with a "medium-sized" body, like the KP or a film KX/K1000. It also suits the K1, but that combo starts to get beefy.
On the MX, the lens overwhelms the body a bit, balance-wise, but it obviously works fine.
Focus is challenging, particularly on a modern, high-resolution sensor that doesn't cover up small mistakes like Tri-X would.
Green button metering works as expected, and it obviously meters fine on film cameras, even if it lacks the "A" setting for camera aperture control.
It also does red/green fringe like crazy if you point it at the wrong subject... even at f8...
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/members/98220-twouptons/albums/14350-more-things-play/picture145565.jpeg
Minimum focus distance is also challenging, meaning deep crops of small subjects and playing human zoom (or is that human focu... |
