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HD Pentax D FA 28-105

Algernon
Posted 23/09/2016 - 15:40 Link
Using the Sunny 16 rule the exposure is spot-on. One shot looks slightly too dark the other slightly too light. I don't think you need to worry about it.

Wide open metering is not a very good idea especially with a f/1.4 lens, but it sells cameras. Stopdown metering Spotmatic style is much more accurate.

--
Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi
JAK
Posted 23/09/2016 - 16:00 Link
They both meter the same way Algi and the difference is consistent. If there was an adjustment to tun the 28-105 down half a stop I'd do so. It's metering the scene OK (as both lenses gave the same reading) but not translating that reading through to set the f stop correctly. It seems it isn't closing the lens quite enough. I do worry about it as when cheaper optics perform better one wonders if it is worth purchasing the newest and supposedly the best. My Sigma 24-60 gives good exposures as does my FA-J 18-35 using exactly the same exposure method.
It's just the 28-105 that consistently over exposes. On that scene it gets away with it, just. But on more contrasty scenes it doesn't and burns out the highlights. I can lighten an image in PP if need be, but darkening a burned out one one can make things look rather awry.
Why buy the latest and supposedly the best if older more affordable lenses perform the task better?
John K
johnriley
Posted 23/09/2016 - 16:47 Link
If it's consistent, it's predictable and doesn't seem much of a problem. Incidentally, even if the camera indicates 1/800s the actual shutter speed might be something close, such as, say, 1/760s or 1/820s.

Given that every image is given a quick tweak in Photoshop it should be fine.
Best regards, John
RobL
Posted 23/09/2016 - 17:27 Link
Isn't it the camera that determines exposure not the lens? I am finding a similar issue with the 15-30 mm, but wonder whether there is a wider dynamic range and greater clarity from these new lenses causing the images to appear brighter.
JAK
Posted 23/09/2016 - 17:33 Link
Thanks John. I'll see what Ricoh and SRS say. It shouldn't be necessary to have to tweak every image in Photoshop due to consistent over exposure, though I realise one can! When in a hurry it is easy to forget the lens really requires dialling in under exposure each time. Had it been half a stop under exposure it wouldn't be so much of an issue (though it might if used for negative film.)
All I can say about it is that when I first tried the lens after the lens arrived it consistently burnt out the skies whereas my other lenses didn't, or nothing like as much. Couple that with most of the shots I've seen taken with one on the K-1 in sunny conditions published on the web also look over exposed!

If the batch of lenses has had a manufacturing defect or an incorrect electrical setting issue Ricoh need to put the matter right, so its best to try and sort it out while the lens is still new rather than regret not doing so at a later date. Perhaps Ricoh are not even aware of this, though you'd think they would be.
Even an old F 28-80 that came with a film body for £5 at a boot sale gives me better exposures on the K-1, just a shame it's bad for chromatic aberration! I'm surprised you didn't pick up on this in the review of it, though if you always dial in -0.3EV as per your comment earlier you've possibly got the exposure closer to what it should be. But you shouldn't normally have to do that as the starting point.

When one sets the camera settings memory to return EV compensation to default (zero) each time the camera is turned off it is easy after getting the first shot right to forget to adjust it for subsequent images. In any event, this isn't a budget brand X lens after all!
John K
JAK
Posted 23/09/2016 - 17:41 Link
RobL wrote:
Isn't it the camera that determines exposure not the lens? I am finding a similar issue with the 15-30 mm, but wonder whether there is a wider dynamic range and greater clarity from these new lenses causing the images to appear brighter.

Yes, the camera determines the exposure setting. The body should then should deliver the correct speed, the lens should set the correct aperture.
In my comparison shots the camera determined the exposure was identical for both of them. But the delivery was not the same. It seems the aperture requires further stopping down to what it is actually doing. If the light transmission is different, it should be allowed for in the electronics in the lens.

If only there was a little accessible potentiometer on the lens one could tweak to adjust it!
John K
Edited by JAK: 23/09/2016 - 17:43
Algernon
Posted 23/09/2016 - 17:50 Link
The top Pentax photographers nearly always apply some correction.

One of my favourites usually applies -0.3 or (more usually ) -0.7 on either a K-3 or K-1 and he doesn't apply much adjustment afterwards plus he uses Silkypix which is the bought version of the Pentax software see .....

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3984202

--
Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi
JAK
Posted 23/09/2016 - 18:10 Link
Yes, no problem with that. But it's good to know you're starting off point before adjusting it. On a bright sunny day it isn't always easy to see what's on the screen after taking the shot (and it might be too late to repeat it.) If one lens you're using gives you what you expect and the other doesn't, it is a recipe for getting 'off' exposures. The thing is though, the camera is reporting what can be considered to be correct exposure but the lens isn't delivering that! Swapping lenses will lead to unintended results.
I know it isn't a huge difference but it is a difference non the less.

The lenses used in the linked article are not the current FF DFA lenses so on the basis my APSC DFA's are fine too, that system will work as the photographer appreciates a reliable starting point.
John K
Edited by JAK: 23/09/2016 - 18:16

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