Here at last! - DA* 60-250

The A*300 f2.8 makes any body look tiny on the back end!

The new body is smaller in most dimensions but is about as tall as the K20D, take a look at the bottom right shot




I suspect that with the new grip it will be very handleable with large lenses.

Mine arrived today and its looking very good, can also confirm the Tamron 1.4x MC4 tc works fine with it.

Couple of shots, both wide open at f4 250mm.





Excuse the dogs nose, stupid mutt stuck his nose in some poison ivy

Hi folks, following on from an earlier post in this thread here's Part II

Now some pics using K10D of some more suitable targets for comparison, as these were from a w/e in London. All are handheld, although most are taken with elbows resting on a wall so reasonably well braced imho.

There's 70mm, 200mm, 250mm and 60mm here, generally a full scene pic first with a little usm followed by 100% crops at f4/4.5/5.6 then a sharpened 100pc f4. Ones at 100pc with sharpening have used silkypix exaggerate sharpening setting simply to see what level of detail might be extractable in principle. I have not attempted to balance noise reduction vs sharpening (you’ll see what I mean for the ISO560 shots)

I’m still getting to know “bigger bertha” which is my wife’s nickname for the lens – big bertha being the DA*200, goodness knows what she might call the sigma50-500 – probably bazooka or the like

Overall so far I’m quite pleased with my purchase, IQ is fairly even compared across f4, f4.5 and f5.6 and from what I’ve seen long and short ends don’t seem to be significantly different to the mid range which is good. I have the feeling the long end of the lens is a touch sharper than the short end, but that's an average subjective view.

I would welcome your comments, especially how my shots at 60&70mm compare to your copy of the lens. How is yours doing ?

I recently had a chance to do some comparison shots at 200mm vs the DA*200. Once I’ve double checked the focus adjustment for the 200mm lens I’ll post some up. Next on the list is DA60to20 vs F70to210.

Nearly 70mm focal length at f4/4.5/5.6 – all look pretty similar to me
full scene (with usm100_0p8_6):
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/70mm/IMGP2349_67mm_f40_1500th_ISO140_noI.jpg[/IMG]
67mm_f4.0_1500th_ISO140
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/70mm/IMGP2349_67mm_f40_1500th_ISO140_100.jpg[/IMG]
67mm_f4.5_1000th_ISO140
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/70mm/IMGP2350_67mm_f45_1000th_ISO140_100.jpg[/IMG]
67mm_f5.6_750th_ISO140
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/70mm/IMGP2351_67mm_f56_750th_ISO140_100p.jpg[/IMG]

now a sharpened example at f4
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/70mmsharpened/IMGP2349_67mm_f40_1500th_ISO140_100.jpg[/IMG]


200mm f4, f6.7 – f4 compares favourably to f6.7.
full scene (with usm150_0p8_6):
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/200mm/IMGP2336_200mm_f40_1000th_ISO100_no.jpg[/IMG]
200mm_f4.0_1000th_ISO100 100pc
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/200mm/IMGP2336_200mm_f40_1000th_ISO100_10.jpg[/IMG]
200mm_f67_750th_ISO140 100pc
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/200mm/IMGP2335_200mm_f67_750th_ISO140_100.jpg[/IMG]
f4 sharpened
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/200mmsharpened/IMGP2336_200mm_f40_1000th_ISO100_10.jpg[/IMG]

250mm f4/4.5/5.6 – all look similar to me, f5.6 would seem to have a fraction more detail, but remember all handheld
full scene with usm 150_0p8_6
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/250mm/IMGP2337_250mm_f40_1000th_ISO100_no.jpg[/IMG]
250mm_f40_1000th_ISO100
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/250mm/IMGP2337_250mm_f40_1000th_ISO100_ce.jpg[/IMG]
250mm_f45_750th_ISO100
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/250mm/IMGP2338_250mm_f45_750th_ISO100_cen.jpg[/IMG]
250mm_f56_750th_ISO140
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/250mm/IMGP2339_250mm_f56_750th_ISO140_cen.jpg[/IMG]
again f4 sharpened :
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/250mmsharpened/IMGP2337_250mm_f40_1000th_ISO100_ce.jpg[/IMG]

near sunset so these are taken using ISO 560
60mm at f4/4.5/5.6 – all look similar to me,
full scene (with usm150_0p8_6):
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/60mm/IMGP2422_60mm_f40_180th_ISO560_fcc7.jpg[/IMG]
f4_180th_ISO560 100pc
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/60mm/IMGP2422_60mm_f40_180th_ISO560_100p.jpg[/IMG]
60mm_f4.5_180th_ISO560 100pc
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/60mm/IMGP2423_60mm_f45_180th_ISO560_100p.jpg[/IMG]
60mm_f5.6_125th_ISO560 100pc
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/60mm/IMGP2424_60mm_f56_125th_ISO560_100p.jpg[/IMG]
f4 might be slightly softer at 60mm but can still be sharpened somewhat as shown below.
[IMG]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250snaps/60mmsharpened/IMGP2422_60mm_f40_180th_ISO560_100p.jpg[/IMG]

oh, btw, I did some focus test charts to confirm whether the simple checks taking pics of the wine bottle was in the right ballpark

For 250mm See http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250focuscharts/250mm/

For 60mm see http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb217/k10dbucket/DA60to250focuscharts/60mm/

If empty have a look later , I’ll try and post them soon.

At 250mm +120um seems good to me, confirming the earlier test shots with the wine bottle. At 60mm focal length 120um seems to give slight BF and 140um is either OK or slight FF. Given that all the 60mm tests are v.close to min focusing distance for the lens I’m inclined to err towards the 250mm results and stay at 120um adjustment (thank goodness it’s not wildly different across the range !)

Well I've just paid for one of these lens after getting my hands on one when the guys from Pentax were at Cambrian Photography in Colwyn Bay yesterday. I must admit I'm impressed.

Can't wait to actually get mine next week.

hope you enjoy yours

I see its up to £899 at SRS now.

A word of warning for all you wealthy chaps with bid lenses

http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/61354-looks-like-i-wil...

Jim

Think of the leverage on the mount. Such a combination should be picked up or supported by the lens, not the body, and needs to be handled with care with any body.

I don't know what the actual weight limit is for a lens to be safe on a K20D, but that would be interesting. I'll guess that Pentax know.

The heaviest K-mount lens that Pentax have made is the A*1200/8 at a whisker over 8.5kg. I'd be very suprised if the mount on any Pentax SLR/DSLR would break with a lens lighter than this attached (the DA*60-250 is a mere 1040g making it a featherweight in comparison).

I am always very careful with the camera when the Bigma is connected, it always feels like its way to heavy for the mount. I always carry it by the lens, never by the strap, but even that still feels weird.

Holy Moly! That's gotta be a heart stopping moment, seeing the mount missing and still attached to the lens.

I have the Sigma 120-400mm and carry the combo using a strap attached to the tripod mount (there's a strap supplied with the lens) then slung over the shoulder. Having smaller girly hands I can quite comfortably carry the combo around by the tripod mount foot as well so I never have the camera supporting the weight of the lens. I wouldn't even think about transporting the camera with that lens attached. A lesson for us all there.

Ouch - that's not a terribly pleasant experience. It is indeed a lesson for us all.

At least he's got a second body to fall back on (not that that's any consolation really)

Let's hope not too hard if hes already broken one