New Member Registered: March, 2019 Posts: 3 1 user found this helpful | Review Date: March 7, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $20.00
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | Compact size, general performance, ease of use, cheap | Cons: | None for the price | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: SP1000, MX
| | I have used this lense for many years and it pretty much lives on my SP1000. It's great for landscapes and as a substitute for a standard 50mm. It's very compact and fits in the standard case which is a bonus. I used to photograph a lot of subjects where I had limited space to step back and this lense was perfect for that kind of work.
Focus is smooth as is the zoom. The zoom ring has a couple of knobbly bits which help in locating it by touch. I can't understand the criticisms of the handling of this lense, as I've found it very easy to use over the years. It's also solidly built and has not been any problem over many years use.
Like all zoom lenses, performance improves below f5.6 and the sweet spot is somewhere around f8-f11. If there is a criticism, it's that at wide angles and wide apertures it's a bit soft in the corners, but not badly, and no worse than many other lenses. At 50mm and f8, there's nothing to criticise and it's perfectly capably of replacing many standard 50mm lenses.
Given that this is a "consumer" lense and can be had cheaply on ebay, there's nothing to criticise.
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Forum Member Registered: September, 2013 Posts: 62 | Review Date: December 27, 2013 | Not Recommended | Price: $80.00
| Rating: 5 |
Pros: | wide-to-normal FF lens. | Cons: | heavy and not easy-to-use | Sharpness: 7
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 5
Value: 5
| | so, it is a "lens"
I was using it for a while with a FF film camera.
it is useful indoor, little slow but...
IT IS SO BIG AND HEAVY!
always, than I was changing a lens, the "adaptall" bayonet was disconnected instead of main bayonet.
zoom is with thin ring, not easy to use.
at the end it was returned to the shop and changed for Pentax A35-70/3.5-5.6.
after this lens I never was purchasing non-Pentax lenses.
but, it is still not bad as a lens. pictures was not bad at all!
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Loyal Site Supporter Registered: January, 2008 Location: Paris, TN Posts: 3,350 | Review Date: September 4, 2010 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 7 |
Pros: | Nostalgia | Cons: | Nostalgia | | NOT A DIGITAL REVIEW
This was one of the first non-telephoto zooms I encountered (around 1985-86). I had the opportunity to borrow this lens (w/ M42 adapter) for an afternoon family outing paired with Ektachrome film, a Spotmatic and Super Tak 35 & 55 lenses.
I don't recall the resulting slides being significantly different than what I was accustomed to with the Super Tak primes but the "exotic" nature of such a lens and its relative impression were quite a novelty. The 'dinner plate sized', 58mm polarizing filter was awesome to me at the time.
The focal length range was convenient but I wasn't accustomed to using zooms and didn't use it well. It looked and handled good on the Spotmatic/K1000 sized body but that "fat-glass" really called attention to itself in those days. It was sort'a like having the opportunity to drive a really cool car I'd never be able, or at least choose, to afford.
Today, if I saw one for sale for the price of a decent dinner out I'd snap it up but I know it would be based on nostalgia rather than potential results versus today's lens options. Just a way to pay respect to the older gear. (Yeah, I've got a few livin' out their (or my?) days in retirement.)
A large part of my pleasure in photography is in appreciating the marvelous workmanship that went into the equipment of the 1960-1980 era. This one would be nice to have on the shelf even if it never saw a DSLR body -- and it might well be thankful for that too. The 7-rating is simply to make it 'invisible' as a user lens. I haven't seen one to price it in a quarter century.
H2
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