After making do with only 2 'so-so' quality lenses for the first 5 years after going digital I have somehow managed to accumulate 6 new lenses in the past year. In my defence most have been purchased second hand or as ex store demo stock, but I'm beginning to think I have a problem. My wife is quite certain that I do. The latest addition to my stable is a Pentax DA* 300mm/F4.0, that I picked up cheaply to use for sports. I tried to explain to my wife that I'd actually saved us $500 because of the deal I got, but she couldn't seem to understand that. Go figure!
Anyhow, here's a couple of 100% crop images from the lens, both shot wide open. No editing other than RAW to JPEG conversion and resize. I think I'm going to enjoy this lens. :)
Very nice for 1:1! That is a definite advantage of using a Pentax, you have such a wide selection of used lenses and compatibility with everything they have made in the film days.
I think i may be heading that way as well. I've become extremely taken with old MF Nikon lenses recently. I just love the feel of them, the sound they make, and i really enjoy manual focus anyway. My Free Study was taken with a 'dusty optics' Nikon 135mm 2.8 ai i picked up for £20. I love it.
(wide open) here's an unedited crop which is perfectly fine and sharp for my purposes.
There is something about the images it produces that i really love but can't quite put my finger on. The bokeh and out of focus areas are just really pleasing to me i guess. Here's a couple of snapshots of some ducks i took...
(f2.8-some slight curves) (unedited-f6.7)
I recently got the 24-70 2.8G-ED and i have to say that i have far more fun with this £20 lens. I far prefer primes to zooms anyway and i only got the 24-70 as it was a great price to sell onwards. I'm almost thinking of selling it, and my d300 and other dx lenses, getting a d700 and just sticking to a set of primes, af and mf. There are some situations where auto focus is so handy though (fast moving toddlers being one of them).
