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Spotmatic
Joined: 18 Aug 2008 Posts: 4045 Location: Netherlands
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 5:42 pm Post subject: SMC Pentax-A* 1:4 300mm |
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Spotmatic wrote:
Just received a mint copy of the SMC Pentax-A* 1:4 300mm, exchanged for my SMC Pentax-DA* 55mm f/1.4 SDM. Yes, I swapped an AF lens for a MF lens
It does not feature ED glass, but from what I've seen on the web it's very good optically. And apart from the big front element it's actually quite short, so it easily fits in my normal photo bag.
_________________ Peter - Moderator
Pentax K-5 + Pentax 645 + Canon 5D + Bessa RF 10,5cm Heliar, and a 'little' bag full of MF lenses. The lens list is * here *.
My fast 80s: Asahi-Kogaku Takumar 83mm f/1.9 - Super-Takumar 85mm f/1.9 - FA 77mm f/1.8 Limited - Cyclop 85/1.5 (Helios-40 innards) - Komura 80mm f/1.8 - Meyer Görlitz Primoplan 7,5cm 1:1.9 - Carl Zeiss Jena 80mm f/1.8 Pancolar - Canon 85mm f/1.8 S.S.C. - Canon 85mm f/1.2 S.S.C. Aspherical |
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Laurence
Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 4809 Location: Western Washington State
Expire: 2016-06-19
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:48 pm Post subject: |
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Laurence wrote:
I've actually seen an enlarged image taken with the 300/4 at a library show. The image
was pretty large, and yet the crispness was TRULY evident, even in the corners. I hope
this lens gives you the same results. Would love to hear and see how it works for you. _________________
Assent, and you are sane;
Demur,—you ’re straightway dangerous,
And handled with a chain.
Emily Dickinson
Cameras and Lenses in Use:
Yashica Mat 124 w/ Yashinon 80/3.5,
CV Apo-Lanthar 90/3.5SL, (Thank you Klaus),
Pentax 645,
Flek 50,
Pentax-A 150
Pentax-A 120 Macro
Voigtlander Vitomatic I w/Color Skopar 50/2.8
Konica TC and zoom lenses (thanks Carsten)
Contax AX
Yashica ML 50/2
Yashica ML 35/2.8
Carl Zeiss Contax 50/1.4
Tamron Adaptall SP 17/3.5
Tamron Adaptall 28/2.5
Tamron Adaptall SP 300/2.8 LD (IF)
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Spotmatic
Joined: 18 Aug 2008 Posts: 4045 Location: Netherlands
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:12 pm Post subject: |
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Spotmatic wrote:
Thanks Laurence! Are you sure it was the K-mount version of this lens? There is also the A* 645 300mm f/4 so I'll ask you just in case _________________ Peter - Moderator
Pentax K-5 + Pentax 645 + Canon 5D + Bessa RF 10,5cm Heliar, and a 'little' bag full of MF lenses. The lens list is * here *.
My fast 80s: Asahi-Kogaku Takumar 83mm f/1.9 - Super-Takumar 85mm f/1.9 - FA 77mm f/1.8 Limited - Cyclop 85/1.5 (Helios-40 innards) - Komura 80mm f/1.8 - Meyer Görlitz Primoplan 7,5cm 1:1.9 - Carl Zeiss Jena 80mm f/1.8 Pancolar - Canon 85mm f/1.8 S.S.C. - Canon 85mm f/1.2 S.S.C. Aspherical |
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Attila
Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 57839 Location: Hungary
Expire: 2021-11-18
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:28 pm Post subject: |
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Attila wrote:
Congrats! Great design , very short and seems not so heavy also. _________________ -------------------------------
Items on sale on Ebay
Sony NEX-7 Carl Zeiss Planar 85mm f1.4, Minolta MD 35mm f1.8, Konica 135mm f2.5, Minolta MD 50mm f1.2, Minolta MD 250mm f5.6, Carl Zeiss Sonnar 180mm f2.8
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luisalegria
Joined: 07 Mar 2008 Posts: 6627 Location: San Francisco, USA
Expire: 2018-01-18
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:06 pm Post subject: |
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luisalegria wrote:
Very, very small for the spec.
Not cheap either, sadly for me. _________________ I like Pentax DSLR's, Exaktas, M42 bodies of all kinds, strange and cheap Japanese lenses, and am dabbling in medium format/Speed Graphic work. |
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Spotmatic
Joined: 18 Aug 2008 Posts: 4045 Location: Netherlands
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:43 pm Post subject: |
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Spotmatic wrote:
Thanks!
BTW, Pentax never claimed it but based on the star designation and its very short design I and a few others suspect that the lens actually uses ED elements. It's also fairly unresponsive to CA and PF. What do you think? _________________ Peter - Moderator
Pentax K-5 + Pentax 645 + Canon 5D + Bessa RF 10,5cm Heliar, and a 'little' bag full of MF lenses. The lens list is * here *.
My fast 80s: Asahi-Kogaku Takumar 83mm f/1.9 - Super-Takumar 85mm f/1.9 - FA 77mm f/1.8 Limited - Cyclop 85/1.5 (Helios-40 innards) - Komura 80mm f/1.8 - Meyer Görlitz Primoplan 7,5cm 1:1.9 - Carl Zeiss Jena 80mm f/1.8 Pancolar - Canon 85mm f/1.8 S.S.C. - Canon 85mm f/1.2 S.S.C. Aspherical |
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Laurence
Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 4809 Location: Western Washington State
Expire: 2016-06-19
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:57 pm Post subject: |
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Laurence wrote:
Spotmatic wrote: |
Thanks Laurence! Are you sure it was the K-mount version of this lens? There is also the A* 645 300mm f/4 so I'll ask you just in case |
He was using it on one of the Pentax DSLRs...I THINK it was a K5 model, a fairly new model.
Larry _________________
Assent, and you are sane;
Demur,—you ’re straightway dangerous,
And handled with a chain.
Emily Dickinson
Cameras and Lenses in Use:
Yashica Mat 124 w/ Yashinon 80/3.5,
CV Apo-Lanthar 90/3.5SL, (Thank you Klaus),
Pentax 645,
Flek 50,
Pentax-A 150
Pentax-A 120 Macro
Voigtlander Vitomatic I w/Color Skopar 50/2.8
Konica TC and zoom lenses (thanks Carsten)
Contax AX
Yashica ML 50/2
Yashica ML 35/2.8
Carl Zeiss Contax 50/1.4
Tamron Adaptall SP 17/3.5
Tamron Adaptall 28/2.5
Tamron Adaptall SP 300/2.8 LD (IF)
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Willem
Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Posts: 280 Location: Netherlands
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 6:22 am Post subject: |
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Willem wrote:
Go out and use it! This is quite a rare lens, am i right? _________________
www.willemvs.wordpress.com
Canon EOS 500D, Canon Powershot SX10IS, 2 x Asahi Pentax spotmatic F, iPod touch
AF lenses:
Canon 18-55 kit lens, Canon 1.8/50mm, Canon EF 85 1.8 USM, Canon EF-S 10-22
MF lenses:
SMC Takumar 1.8/55 (2x)
S-M-C Takumars 3.5/24, 3.5/28, 3.5/35, 4/50 Macro, 4/100 Macro, 2.5/135 (v2), 4/200
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Spotmatic
Joined: 18 Aug 2008 Posts: 4045 Location: Netherlands
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 6:48 am Post subject: |
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Spotmatic wrote:
Of course I will use it, thank you!
It's not super common, but not super rare either. There are a few on eBay at the moment, mostly by the usual "golddigger shops". _________________ Peter - Moderator
Pentax K-5 + Pentax 645 + Canon 5D + Bessa RF 10,5cm Heliar, and a 'little' bag full of MF lenses. The lens list is * here *.
My fast 80s: Asahi-Kogaku Takumar 83mm f/1.9 - Super-Takumar 85mm f/1.9 - FA 77mm f/1.8 Limited - Cyclop 85/1.5 (Helios-40 innards) - Komura 80mm f/1.8 - Meyer Görlitz Primoplan 7,5cm 1:1.9 - Carl Zeiss Jena 80mm f/1.8 Pancolar - Canon 85mm f/1.8 S.S.C. - Canon 85mm f/1.2 S.S.C. Aspherical |
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Spotmatic
Joined: 18 Aug 2008 Posts: 4045 Location: Netherlands
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:02 am Post subject: |
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Spotmatic wrote:
BTW, based on this PDF documentation (with lots of K-mount lenses) the M* and A* 300mm f/4 really featured ED glass. In the case of the A* it's even part of the name as shown.
http://fockert.xs4all.nl/~pentax/catalog/05_Objectieven_Filters_Adapters.pdf _________________ Peter - Moderator
Pentax K-5 + Pentax 645 + Canon 5D + Bessa RF 10,5cm Heliar, and a 'little' bag full of MF lenses. The lens list is * here *.
My fast 80s: Asahi-Kogaku Takumar 83mm f/1.9 - Super-Takumar 85mm f/1.9 - FA 77mm f/1.8 Limited - Cyclop 85/1.5 (Helios-40 innards) - Komura 80mm f/1.8 - Meyer Görlitz Primoplan 7,5cm 1:1.9 - Carl Zeiss Jena 80mm f/1.8 Pancolar - Canon 85mm f/1.8 S.S.C. - Canon 85mm f/1.2 S.S.C. Aspherical |
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stevemark
Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 3751 Location: Switzerland
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Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2020 10:23 am Post subject: |
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stevemark wrote:
Both the Pentax M* as well as the A* 4/300mm share the same optical construction; they contain three (!) large ED lenses, as one can see in Marco Cavinas article on the lens:
http://www.marcocavina.com/articoli_fotografici/Pentax_M_300mm_4_star/00_pag.htm
Nevertheless, the lens doesn't particularly outperform other similar lenses from the same time: Neither CAs nor resolution are much better than eg the Nikkor 4.5/300mm IF-ED or the Minolta MD-II/MD-III 4.5/300mm IF.
Here's an image of the Pentax M* 4/300mm ED on the Pentax LX.
The next generation of Pentax 300mm lenses, the Pentax F* 4.5/300mm, has clearly a better CA correction, a (removable) tripod socket and, quite useful, IF with an MFD of just 2 m (vs the rather boring MFD of 4 m at the M* 4/300mm). Focusing, however, is very steep and therefore less precise, due to the AF mechanism. The F* has three large ED lenses as well.
While the M*/A* 4/300mm certainly is a very nice collectors item, i would recommend the F* 4.5/300mm for actual use, both on Pentax FF bodies as well as adapted to mirrorless FF cameras. The F* has as little CAs as contemporary 2.8/300mm lenses, but it's much smaller and lighter (1.1 kg without tripod socket). Wide open, it has a pleasant slight softness (but lots of detail); stopped down to f6.7 or f8 the contrast increases to very good levels. I know of only two vintage MF lenses with similar performance: The Canon FL 5.6/300mm Fluorite (with two fluorite lenses) and the Mamiya Sekor C 5.6/300mm. The Canons corners are less sharp at f5.6, but it has slightly less CAs; the Mamiya may be slightly better than the Pentax as well, but it is less versatile (MFD of 4 m as well, no tripod socket). _________________ www.artaphot.ch |
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