smc pentax-f 35-70mm f3.5-4.5

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This is the second of the lenses that came with my ill-fated acquisition of two Pentax autofocus film bodies (See : Tamron AF Aspherical LD 28-200mm f3.8-5.6).

I rather like it. It’s small, light and pretty sharp throughout. Like the Tamron it’s a bit ‘plasticky’, but still feels well made and reliable. I found the colors to bit a bit flat, but nothing that a little extra contrast and saturation couldn’t cure

The zoom range is a little awkward. Because of the crop factor it’s around 52-105mm so you completely lose the wide end. The tele end provides a useful range for portraits though.

It’s not the fastest lens I’ve ever come across, but then again it’s far from being the slowest too. Autofocus is reputed to be good, but since I’ve only used manual focus (on a Sony NEX 5n) I’m unable to comment.

When I was editing the pictures I realized that something was different. At first I didn’t know what it was, but after a while I figured out that for some reason I’d set the camera for jpg rather than RAW (which is what I always use). It was now too late to do anything about it (I wasn’t going to go back and take all the pictures again) so I’ll just have to live with the lack of flexibility that comes from editing jpegs.

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For more pictures taken with this lens see:

Picture of lens taken with a Sony A77 II and Tamron A18 AF 18-250mm f3.5-6.3. Pictures of flowers taken with smc pentax-f 35-70mm f3.5-4.5 on a Sony NEX 5n.

Tamron AF Aspherical LD 28-200mm f3.8-5.6

by Posted in Flowers, Nature, Tamron AF Aspherical LD 28-200mm f3.8-5.6 Leave a comment
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In an earlier post (See: A couple of Pentax autofocus SLRs) I mentioned that I had acquired a couple of inexpensive Pentax AF SLRs with lenses. The bodies were pretty much dead on arrival, but it seemed to me that the lenses were in working condition.

I was right: both of the lenses work fine. This is the first of them. I’m unable to comment on the lenses autofocus performance as I used it on a Sony NEX 5N where only manual focus was possible. Maybe in the future I’ll try it out on my one and only Pentax AF film body

It’s a typical superzoom lens. It has a useful range (28-200mm), although less useful than it might be on a crop sensor where it becomes a 35mm equivalent of around 42-300mm. You gain on the tele end, but pretty much lose all wide-angle capabilities.

It’s a bit ‘plasticky’, but nonetheless feels solid and well made. It’s fairly small and light for this kind of lens. The zoom lens on mine was a little stiff, but not too bad. With use it will probably loosen up. There’s something about the manual focus ring that I like though. I don’t know why.

Image quality if pretty much what you’d expect from a lens of this type. It’s fairly soft wide open (particularly so at the long end) but improves when you stop down and by f8 it’s OK. The lens tends to flare quite a lot when pointed towards a light source so a lens hood it definitely in order. The lens originally came with a hood, but my second hand copy didn’t include it. There’s a lot of chromatic aberration and both pincushion and barrel distortion at various points of the zoom range. Contrast seemed a little low and the colors seemed a little muted. Most of the above can easily be corrected in post production however. I shoot everything in RAW so I have to edit my pictures in any case.

Providing your expectations are not too high this is a decent enough lens. Of course to pack such a long zoom range into such a small, lightweight package requires significant compromises. What you gain in terms of convenience and ease of use you lose in terms of image quality. If you can accept these compromises then you’ll probably like this lens. If you can’t then you certainly won’t.

For me I quite like it. I spend quite a lot of my time walking the dog in the woods around where I live. For these walks I much prefer to have a single superzoom lens than to have to carry around a multitude of single focal length or shorter zoom lenses.

Below a picture shot using this lens of a lily in our garden.

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For more pictures taken with this lens see:

Taken with a Sony Nex 5N and Tamron AF Aspherical LD 28-200 f3.8-5.6

Princess De Monaco Hybrid Tea Rose

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As we are getting near to the end of Summer my wife wanted me to take some pictures of her roses, which at the moment seem to going through a new spurt of blooms.

This one is the Princess de Monaco Hybrid Tea Rose and the picture doesn’t really do it justice. It’s actually much larger than it appears – about 3 inches in diameter.

According to Edmunds’ Roses:

Introduced just after the untimely passing of Grace Kelly, it is said that she delighted in the combination of colors on this royal rose. Large, ovoid buds spiral open to reveal layer upon layer of ivory white petals edged with deep, cerise pink. Compact plants present the large, classically formed blooms on stems perfect for cutting. The dark green, glossy foliage is exceptionally disease resistant making this rose perfect for the garden, bouquets and the showbench. Flower Size: 4″, Fragrance: Moderate fruity, Hybridizer: Meilland, 1984

Taken with Nikon D80 and 35-80mm f4-5.6 D.