Author: | | Site Supporter Registered: January, 2010 Location: Hampshire Posts: 27 1 user found this helpful | Review Date: January 17, 2024 | Recommended | Price: $415.00
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | Light, sharp and with good all round qualities | Cons: | Noisy AF, not fast not slow | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: 645z
| | What a cracking lens, so light and capable of producing very sharp shots. I love the fact that this combo doesn't weigh much different to the K1 with a grip and 300mm f4, also it is roughly a 300mm f4 in ff terms so is fast enough to use for nature in terms of light (with a 645 sensor) - bokeh is fine when you distance the subject from the background, but not as pleasing as the DA* 300mm. Neither is it quite as sharp as the DA* nor the Sigma 300mm f2.8 but it is close, and for the 645 probably the sweet spot for reach and usability. I will happily carry it around for a while in backpack due to the relatively light weight (used to K1, K3iii and 300mm f2.8 and 500mm f4.5!)
Considering how little I paid for this lens, I am very very happy. Yes the 645z is not the best for bird photos, but I have enjoyed using it so much that the far better reach of 500mm on FF has not been in the bag for a while! | | | | | Senior Member Registered: June, 2016 Location: Paris Posts: 124 1 user found this helpful | Review Date: July 30, 2022 | Recommended | Price: $1,200.00
| Rating: 10 |
Pros: | IQ, AF, Weight | Cons: | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: 645Z, FUJI GFX
| | Had a deal on this lens from a Ricoh Imaging store and didn't hesitate buying for i was eager to use it for a trip in North Africa.
Moslty shot landscapes with people and some on-the-fly portraits hand held.
I rate it 10 for all specs as i also had the chance to test it on a GFX 100mpx with an adapter, in manual focus, for a day and night for city shots from tall buildings using a tripod where you can fix your lens directly thanks to the collar.
It's a very well balanced lens on the 645Z, the IQ is what one expects from this kind of lens.
The results are very good in combination with the 1.4X pentax converter with no pp, and very acceptable with the 2X one with no pp ( for once, i had to pixel peep as my city project needed pixel peeping before printing).
For now i definetly recommend this lens, i will try to complete the review with pics and soon, with some astrophotography ( where i haven't tried it yet ) .
| | | | Loyal Site Supporter Registered: October, 2018 Location: Quebec City, Quebec Posts: 6,636 5 users found this helpful | Review Date: March 16, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $600.00
| Rating: 10 |
Pros: | Sharp and contrasty | Cons: | None | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax 645Z, K1, K3
| | St Lawrence shoals at low tide near sunset, tripod-mounted 645Z + FA 400 mm f/5.6 @ f/16. Pierre Laporte Bridge, Quebec City, tripod-mounted 645Z + FA 400 mm f/5.6 @ f/16. The Pentax K1 body can be mounted on the 645 FA 400 mm with the proper Pentax adapter. You lose all automation but you can use Aperture-priority stopped-down auto-exposure. . This lens necessitates the use of a tripod to truly exploit the high-resolution possible with a camera such as a 645Z. You must take your time and operate with great care to obtain the best results. It particularly shines as a landscape lens. I always use it between f/8 and f/16 but it is impressive at every f/stop. Notice the total absence of flare in the 2 pictures above. The tripod foot permits the rotation of the body and lens to shoot verticals easily. 645 FA 400 mm f/5.6 on a K3 APS-C sensor : equivalent to a 600 mm FF lens. Baie Saint Paul city center from REALLY FAR AWAY. Magnification of the Pierre Laporte Bridge picture above reveals a myriad of details. | | | | Site Supporter Registered: February, 2018 Location: NoVA Posts: 635 5 users found this helpful | Review Date: May 21, 2018 | Recommended | Price: $700.00
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | Nicely sharp, light for its length | Cons: | Bokeh is only so-so | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 4
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: 645z
| | Reasonably sharp even wide open. I will not hesitate to use this lens wide open, unless I need more depth of field.
Bokeh shows some bright-line effect with busy backgrounds; not the best. Also not what this lens is for--I use it when trying to make distant things sharp, not when trying to make them smooth.
Work just as well with the 1.4 converter.
Mirror vibration is a factor with this lens. Even on a sturdy Gitzo tripod, I needed mirror lockup to avoid a vertical shake of the image.
I saw the slightest bit of purple fringing around high-contrast highlights, but really it's too small to really notice.
Full scene at f/5.6
1:1 at f/5.6, not much loss compared to f/11
1:1 at f/11
Rick "solid performer" Denney
| | | | | New Member Registered: December, 2014 Posts: 2 6 users found this helpful | Review Date: September 19, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $1,100.00
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | Manual focus, tripod mount, weight, image quality, sharpness | Cons: | Aberrations, image stabilizer No;-) | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: 645z
| | The telephoto lens is unique in combination with the 645z.
The image quality is very good, also the sharpness. It's not as simple as to produce the 28-45 permanently sharp images.
Mirror shock, tripod head wind at shutter speeds below the "focal length" gladly produce blur / shake.
Value for money is perfect.
The tripod mount is very good, because it locks the twist by 90 °. "Perfect"
Manually focusing is fantastic, as you can "screw"
I am wondering about a teleconverter to buy, because I still want something more focal length at MF. | | | | Veteran Member Registered: February, 2008 Posts: 434 3 users found this helpful | Review Date: March 1, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $1,100.00
| Rating: 10 |
Pros: | sharp, light, not expensive | Cons: | not f/4, but then it wouldn't be light | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: 645D
| | The lens is quite light and very sharp when used at high shutter speeds or very secure tripod mount at lower speeds. It doesn't have the build quality of * lens, but the optical quality is in the same league. I find the AF reasonably fast (but I was using manual focus lenses before the 645D so my perspective may be different) more importantly,I find the AF very accurate. Here's an example handheld with the AF tracking the merganser: takeoff by tsjanik47, on Flickr
| | | | Inactive Account Registered: July, 2011 Location: www.flickr.com/photos/aseel Posts: 7 | Review Date: November 5, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $1,800.00
| Rating: 8 |
Pros: | light sharp and not very expensive. | Cons: | CA in high contrast, S L O W .. coming from nikon. | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 3
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 9
Value: 8
| | very light and sharp lens, i hiked with 645d, very good sharp birds photos (only test) . however it is extremely slow compared to new nikon and canon counterparts.
| | | | Junior Member Registered: November, 2009 Posts: 29 1 user found this helpful | Review Date: August 9, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $1,500.00
| Rating: 10 |
Pros: | light weight, sharp | Cons: | long (but necessary) | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 9
| | This lens is very sharp and relatively light weight for its length. It is about as long of a lens for the 645D as I'd typically travel with (the length starts chewing up limited storage space in a backpack). With that in mind, I think a nice telephoto travel set with the 400/5.6 is the 75/2.8, the 120 FA macro and the 200 FA. (If weight/size needs to be kept to a minimum, then I'd go with the 75/2.8, the 150 FA and 300/5.6.)
The 400/5.6 seems to focus slightly slower than the 300/5.6 (but maybe my imagination) and not as close. WIth the hood in place, it is very large (long). Stopping down to f8 does seem to improve the sharpness. I tend to use it on a tripod (Really Right Stuff TVC-24 carbon fiber tripod) with the mirror up and my hand on top of the lens to add weight and dampen vibration.
| | | | Forum Member Registered: November, 2007 Location: Germany Posts: 98 1 user found this helpful | Review Date: April 29, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $1,100.00
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | light, build quality, optical quality | Cons: | none | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 9
| | I recently bought this lens second hand to use with an adapter on my Pentax K-5 and I must say it does not disappoint. It is lightweight and can be handheld though it can be hit and miss even with the anti-shake as it equals 600mm on a fullframe equivalent.
AF does not work with the adapter and neither does the aperture automatic, so you have to step down but as the lens is already brillant wide open this is no big deal. It does just work with the 1.7 AF adapter - but only in brighter conditions. Here these results are also high quality.
At the price I paid I consider it a bargain taking into account that other than its A brother it features ED elements.
| | | | Junior Member Registered: January, 2011 Location: Perthshire Posts: 29 4 users found this helpful | Review Date: March 6, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $1,300.00
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | Very sharp, not heavy, efficient hood. | Cons: | Does not focus very close. AF hunts a bit. | | This lens looks enormous when complete with its large lenshood but is surprisingly light for its size. It is very sharp at f5.6 and remains so until at least f16. However extreme care is required to get sharp images due to shake/vibration etc even when mounted on a good strong tripod. You really have to hone your long-lens technique to get this one to work for you. But when you get things right the results are extremely pleasing.
It does not focus particularly close and so is not very suitable for small subjects, eg. garden birds, and I find the AF tends to hunt a bit, probably due to the f5.6 max. aperture.
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