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35-70mm macro

FAT8BIKER
Posted 24/01/2012 - 22:44 Link
Hi all
Are all the following the same lens under different names.
Viviter/Miranda/Cosina/Ricoh/Sicor/Clubman and finaly Prinzflex 35-70mm macro. There is a shed load on ebay at the moment some as low as £10.
So are any of them any good. just to try macro at a low price.

Regards
Dave
stub
Posted 24/01/2012 - 23:29 Link
Bought a Pentax smc version, last week for a tenner. They are nice little lenses. Manual focus. Not true macro lens but close focusing. Obvisiosly equal to 52 - 105mm on digital. Great little lenses and cant go wrong at very little money.
K-1Gripped K-1 ungripped K-5ii K7 Various lenses

Stuart..
johnriley
Posted 25/01/2012 - 00:02 Link
FAT8BIKER, there were many lens manufacturers who produced "own brand" lenses for shops and chains of shops. Some are the same, some are different. Quality varies from poor to excellent....
Best regards, John
JAK
Posted 25/01/2012 - 00:14 Link
FAT8BIKER wrote:
are any of them any good.

A Pentax f4 one is excellent.

John
John K
johnriley
Posted 25/01/2012 - 00:19 Link
JAK is probably referring to the SMC Pentax-A 35-70mm f4, which is indeed an excellent lens. It has continuous focusing down to a magnification of 1:4, not macro as such bit still impressively close.
Best regards, John
JAK
Posted 25/01/2012 - 00:41 Link
Yes indeed.

John
John K
Horst
Posted 12/03/2012 - 11:38 Link
I bought a SMC 35-70F lens a week ago in a secondhand shop for $AU35.-
I had a look at some revievs on the Internet. Most revievs where in favour, but most the complaynts where about the mechanical part. Some said the focussing ring was to sloppy, others complaine bout the plastic feel. The lens I bought feels fine and has no slop anywhere, Agreed, the feel when changing aperture is not very smooth. But none of the Pentax lenses since the Spotmatic days are as smooth anymore. I have a 50mm f1.4 Super Takumar which is super smooth both on focus and aperture settings.
I found the Little 35-70 lens very nice to use. Set on A. The autofocus was extremly fast and accurate.
I've made a series of pictures at a country market, then in the city area and some closeup of flowers. At home some portraits of the grandchildren. I found the results great. Very sharp right to the edges. My favourite f-stops are 5.6 and 8
I could not detect any flair. I used a lens hood, of course.
Alltogether, I think this is a great lens. Easy to use and I like the focal lenngt too. Has anybody used the F lens?
Regards, Horst
Edited by Horst: 12/03/2012 - 11:51
TylerD
Posted 22/03/2012 - 08:30 Link
JAK wrote:
FAT8BIKER wrote:
are any of them any good.

A Pentax f4 one is excellent.

John

Hello, I've just bought a K-5 with the kit lens, I wonder how the quality of photographs produced using the 35-70 would compare?
sterretje
Posted 22/03/2012 - 12:29 Link
Quote:

the 35-70

There are a few 35-70mm lenses (M, A, F) in the (past) Pentax line-up. Maybe you can be more specific.

I don't have any of them, so can't compare or comment.
Pentax K10D + Vivitar 55/2.8 macro + Super Takumar 55/1.8 + SuperMultiCoated Takumar 85/1.8 + SuperMultiCoated Takumar 135/3.5 + SuperMultiCoated Takumar 200/4 + Super Takumar 300/4
Pentax K100D + DA18-55ALII + DA55-300
Pentax K5 + FA31Ltd + M50/1.7 + DFA100WR + M120/2.8 (+ DA18-55WR at occasion)
Edited by sterretje: 22/03/2012 - 12:31
TylerD
Posted 22/03/2012 - 22:07 Link
sterretje wrote:
Quote:

the 35-70

There are a few 35-70mm lenses (M, A, F) in the (past) Pentax line-up. Maybe you can be more specific.

I don't have any of them, so can't compare or comment.

Its the SMC Pentax-A 35-70mm f4 I was thinking of
JAK
Posted 22/03/2012 - 22:28 Link
Optically I think it equals either of the current 35mm's (the f2.4 DA & f2.8 Macro limited) and the 70mm limited (though of course it's not as fast.) It betters the DA 17-70 significantly, though lacks the wider zoom range. That's some claim but I compare my lenses by taking a photo of a house number down the road and enlarge it in camera as much as it will go and compare the images. No, I can't believe it either! Contrast and colour rendition is good too.

Its only downside is that the focussing ring is at the front and rotates so it makes using a polariser more tricky.

I was expecting it to be a rubbish lens that I'd want to pass on quickly as it came with a cheap second hand P30, but truly far from it.

John
John K
Edited by JAK: 22/03/2012 - 22:32
TylerD
Posted 23/03/2012 - 01:45 Link
JAK wrote:
Optically I think it equals either of the current 35mm's (the f2.4 DA & f2.8 Macro limited) and the 70mm limited (though of course it's not as fast.) It betters the DA 17-70 significantly, though lacks the wider zoom range. That's some claim but I compare my lenses by taking a photo of a house number down the road and enlarge it in camera as much as it will go and compare the images. No, I can't believe it either! Contrast and colour rendition is good too.

Its only downside is that the focussing ring is at the front and rotates so it makes using a polariser more tricky.

I was expecting it to be a rubbish lens that I'd want to pass on quickly as it came with a cheap second hand P30, but truly far from it.

John

Thanks John, appreciate the advice. There was one for sale second hand on ebay , have just gone ahead and bought it
JAK
Posted 23/03/2012 - 14:04 Link
Yes I'd noticed that one. Trust it's good.

Mine came in a collection of bits where I'd noticed an A 28 f2.8 which I was after along with a P-30, filters etc so was a bit of a surprise bonus given most zooms that came with cameras in lieu of a 50mm standard lens often seemed to be a bit of a let down. I didn't expect to want to keep it and now its made it difficult to decide which lenses to take out with me!

Be interested to hear your opinion of it.

John
John K
JAK
Posted 07/04/2012 - 23:02 Link
Well I presume you have it now and am still curious to know your opinion it?

John
John K

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