New Member Registered: May, 2018 Posts: 10 | | Review Date: June 30, 2021 | Recommended | Price: $18.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharp, good contrast and color | | Cons: | soft wide open, green CA | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 8
Value: 8
Camera Used: Pentax K-5
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I added this lens to the DB as a non-APO variant.
As another reviewer pointed out, this lens being more or less identical to the Sigma version should have higher ratings than it gets and my own experience bears that out.
Sharpness - Color - Contrast
Wide open, this lens would rate a 6 for sure. Colors, contrast and sharpness all suffer across the range when shot wide open. Just stopping down to 5.6 however dramatically changes the character of this lens. I strongly recommend a lens hood if you want the best contrast possible.
The sweet spot for this lens is between 70-250mm - progressing out to 300mm, things start to soften up again. The corners never really get sharp at any length/aperture.
CA - Distortion
Wide open, CA's appear green and are worse as you progress outward from the center of the frame. Stopping down improves CA a great deal, but it never really goes away. When stopped down, CA is visible mostly when zooming/cropping and is easily corrected in post.
Build Quality - Handling
This is a heavy lens, which is expected given its size and the number of elements.
Despite the plastic build, it doesn't feel cheap. My copy doesn't have any slop in the zoom/focus mechanisms and doesn't exhibit any excessive rattling.
The aperture ring has a nice feel, with solid clicks at 1/2 stop intervals as well as the 'A' setting. The lens mount is metal.
Overall
I wouldn't actively seek this lens out, but for what it is, it provides a lot of value. I picked this lens up in a thrift store for $18 and gave it a shot.
Once you learn to work within the limitations of this lens, it can deliver some very nice shots, sample variation notwithstanding.
Samples (Flickr):
https://bit.ly/2UduTqH
https://bit.ly/3AdjyqZ
https://bit.ly/3h6b65m | |
