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Showing all 5 reviews by photocles

Review of: Pallas Magenta AM M42 28mm F2.8 by photocles on Sun May 19, 2019 | Rating: 5 View more reviews 
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Views: 9013
Reviews: 2
This lens is an enigma in so many ways. I'm not sure who the manufacturer was, but it has some of the same build characteristics of some of the Chinon and Revuenon lenses of the late 70s and early 80s (but not the optical performance, at least of the Chinons of the era). The aperture steps are in half stops and the focus ring has a depth of field scale. The lettering is engraved and the overall look and feel is high quality. There are several variants of 28mm lenses with this name. Mine has a 62mm filter thread and a correspondingly large front element with little to no coating visible on the surface. I have seen versions of this lens with 55 and 58 mm filter threads and smaller front elements for sale over the years. The Pallas Magenta 28mm is as solid as a rock in terms of construction and overall handling. It's a very pleasant M42 lens to use because it has a nice, big focus ring that's perfectly damped and a great A/M switch. That's where the pluses end I'm afraid. Wide open, I can only describe the output as "through a fog". Coma is brutal and contrasty areas have a broad halo, especially when they are in close focus. On the other hand, this lens is capable of generating very sharp images between f/5.6 and f/11 in good light, but only in the center. The edges, even on APS-C, never really get sharp at any aperture, but they are acceptable at ~f/8 on APS-C. On a film body, the edges are genuinely bad at all apertures. On a film body, this lens can give an interesting "old fashioned" look to centrally-oriented subjects when one wants to use the poor corner characteristics as a tool. However, the rendering of the out-of-focus areas is quite "frantic" and not really that pleasant (especially on a digital sensor). I don't like the look of many images I've produced with this lens and I think it's the odd rendering characteristics that push my feelings in that direction. It's worthy of a a bit of experimentation if you run across one on the cheap. That's why I will still recommend it even though I don't like it. Someone might feel that the odd characteristics of this lens could be exactly what they are looking for. Here are some examples of images I've made with this lens on Pentax bodies as well as on a mirrorless body: https://www.jaredgerlach.com/Pallas-Magenta-28-mm-Samples/n-mFLGHX/ Jared

Review of: Tamron AF XR Di II LD Aspherical IF Macro 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 by photocles on Tue June 27, 2017 | Rating: 8 View more reviews 
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Views: 134466
Reviews: 32
After nearly eight years of using this lens with three digital bodies and with a 1.4x converter on a film body, I thought it only decent to add my $0.02 worth here. Now that it appears Tamron (like all the rest of the current third-party lens suppliers) is moving away from offering lenses in KAF mount, it's probably on the edge of its twilight. First, I will say that this lens has been exceptional value. I bought it in 2009 specifically to go along with my then-new K-x to Egypt. I didn't want to switch lenses in places that I anticipated would be dirty/sandy and it fit the bill. Interestingly, my K-x was sold with the DA-L 18-55 kit lens (which never worked very well on that body in terms of focus) and the Tamron turned out to be a more reliable lens for focus than I would have ever expected. After using the Tamron 18-200 on the K-x, I literally never used the 18-55 DA-L again until I bought my K-30 (on which the DA-L worked great and continues to work great on my K-5. Go figga.). Anyway, I used the Tamron as a "one-lens" travel solution on a number of trips and it never let me down. On the K-30 and K-5, the Tamron is a stronger performer, yet. It's not perfect, however (as superzooms never are). My biggest complaint with this lens is strong magenta/green CA, especially when the lens is nearly wide open and at the shortest end. It is manageable in PP, but it's not something that can be left alone without being obvious in contrasty images. The lens is quite noisy while focusing, too. In fact, it's louder than most of my screw-drive lenses by a good margin. However, it's actually not that much different audibly than the original version of the DA 55-300 on closer inspection. Would I recommend this lens? Absolutely. New ones still pop up online and in camera shops and used specimens can be had at a low price. If one needs a superzoom on the cheap, this is a tough choice to beat. I have put a bunch of images made with this lens here: http://www.jaredgerlach.com/Tamron-18-200-Samples/n-R4NMp5/ All in all, while it's definitely not as good as the newest superzoom offerings from Sigma (which are still available in KAF mount), it's a good lens that can return good results with attention to inherent limitations. My "8" rating is tiny bit generous, perhaps, but I'm rating it an 8 as a superzoom and while taking cost/performance ratio into account.

Review of: Sigma DC Macro HSM (Contemporary) 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 by photocles on Sun April 9, 2017 | Rating: 9 View more reviews 
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Views: 72694
Reviews: 10
I've owned this lens for almost a year and it has been a most pleasant surprise, overall. This lens attracted my attention as an upgrade over my previous "do-all" lens (a Tamron 18-200) for two main reasons; silent focus and a little bit more reach. What I actually got with the purchase of this lens was a lot more than that - and most of it very good. So far, I've used this lens at Christenings (with only natural light), at symposia (with bounce/fill flash) and for travel and informal landscapes with good results. I'll get the complaints out of the way first. This lens is pretty big in comparison to the 18-200 it replaced and is about an inch longer and a half an inch wider in diameter. While it's certainly not as big as some of the fastest, full-frame zooms, it's not much smaller (and is designed for APS-C). Combining the weight of this lens with a K-5 or similar body ends up being unexpectedly heavy. But, of course, with a super zoom, one only has to carry one lens, so it does tend to balance out. This lens doesn't have any zoom creep, which is great, but my copy requires a lot more force to rotate the zoom ring than any of my other zooms. My only concern is that the force will accelerate wear on the camera's locking pin and/or the pin slot on the lens' mount. The zoom ring does, however, rotate with a smooth, precise feel, so that is good. Now on to the good stuff! This lens is really, really sharp for a super zoom and is also competitive with most of the standard zooms at similar focal lengths I have tried. This lens doesn't feel like too much of a compromise in everyday use and I don't often find myself saying "I wish I had X lens" instead of this on the camera. At 300 mm, it's completely at home with centralized subjects and I could not be happier with the performance (and especially at the price). On the wide end, the performance is no less impressive to me (with the exception of "abrupt" vignetting in the corners that doesn't really go away even at f/10 and beyond). In between, the performance is more than pretty good across the board. This lens has really good control over chromatic aberration and is much better behaved in this respect to any other super zoom I've auditioned. At it's worst (18 mm and above f/5.6), red/green fringing is incredibly minor and hardly noticeable. Mounted on a K-5, I have found the focusing to be pretty fast and surprisingly accurate even in artificial and/or poor natural light and definitely better than I would have believed. It's a little faster on the K-30, but only in some situations. Overall, I'm rating this lens a 9 for what it is. It is a highly versatile lens capable of doing many, many things well. Highly recommended!

Review of: Industar-50 50mm F3.5 by photocles on Sat August 13, 2016 | Rating: 8 View more reviews 
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Views: 123452
Reviews: 24
I purchased my Industar 50-2 from a re-seller in Poland. My copy was manufactured in 1974 and came to me in what I would call unused condition. It was physically perfect and looked like it had never seen a day of use. Over the past three years, I have used this diminutive lens on all of my Pentax bodies (digital and film) with pretty good results. It's a bit fiddly with its very small aperture ring and very compact design, but these are parts of the charm of using this little beast. I frequently put it on my K-30 and slip the combo into a very small bag for carrying. It's frequently a conversation starter, too. From a performance standpoint, I'm generally impressed with this lens. It's quite sharp in the center even from wide open and I would call it razor sharp across 3/4 of the frame at f8. However, my copy never achieves great corner sharpness on APS-C even above f5.6 and on film corners show obvious blur. On the other hand, this lens is consistent enough from f5.6 to f/8 to work around it if one is aware of these limitations. Metering between f3.5 and f/8 on my K-30 is also excellent and very consistent. Not so much with K-x. Flare and loss of contrast is a big issue, even with the tiny front element. However, one can easily shield it with one hand since the lens is so small. I can definitely recommend this lens. It's very fun to use and the results will surprise most skeptics.

Review of: Sigma Zoom Master AF MC 35-70mm F3.5-4.5 by photocles on Fri April 1, 2016 | Rating: 7 View more reviews 
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Views: 27424
Reviews: 7
I've had two copies of this lens. The first was an early version with a smooth finish on the aperture ring. The second one is a late version with a sort of semi-rubberized finish on the aperture ring. Both lenses appeared to have the same glass and were nearly identical in most ways. I still have the later version. First, the features that attracted me to this lens are the compactness and the build; it feels like it's made with the intention of hanging around for a while. The barrel and aperture ring are made of metal although the focusing ring (which is very, very thin) is plastic. With the zoom at 70 mm, the lens is at its shortest and is about the same as the Pentax F 35-80 in length. Zooming to 35 mm, the lens gains about 50% in length. Performance wise, it's a pretty average lens in most respects. When mounted on a K-30, autofocus is very good overall, but there's some slop in the mechanism and there is no "after infinity" focus range. When it gets to infinity, it just stops. On a z70 film body, it's a great general use wide-to-normal zoom with minimal vignetting wide open and decent corner sharpness when stopped down to about f/8. On a crop body, it covers the 52-105 mm equivalent range and takes advantage of the APS-C sweet spot which is great for portraits, though the maximum apertures (3.5-4.5) and bokeh aren't great for that purpose. The 52 mm diameter front element is pretty good at limiting flare, but it rotates, so just leave that polarizer in the bag. Colors are very neutral and there's little noticeable chromatic aberration. Minimum focus is 0.5 m. One of the things I do really like about this lens is that it forces some restraint in composition. At 35 mm on a film body, it's wide enough for landscapes and demonstrations of depth. On the crop-sensor, it gives enough short telephoto zoom range to make some useful composition changes with things like portraits and still life, but if you want more leeway you have to use your feet. ;) In general, it's a decent lens and worthy of space in a collection, but there are definitely more convenient lenses out there with a more modern feel. If I could, I'd give this lens a 7.5 because it's a little better than a 7 but not quite an 8.



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