Pentax-A* 300mm f4

One of Pentax's legendary A* lenses, this 300mm f/4 is raved about all over the internet and here on this site. It takes great quality photos and is amazingly small for what it can do! I'm selling this one for £435 plus postage (insured/signed for probably be best) or collection in London is also possible.

some reviews of the lens here:
www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/SMC-Pentax-A-Star-300mm-F4-Lens.html

various random people's pics here:
http://www.pbase.com/cameras/pentax/smc_pa_300_4

I'm including the original metal screw on front lens cover and a regular normal pentax rear lens cover.

several pics of the lens and taken with by me this week are here:
http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa109/davidxgreen/Pentax%20300mm%20f4/

and below:

[IMG]http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa109/davidxgreen/Pentax%20300mm%20f4/300mmf4_1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa109/davidxgreen/Pentax%20300mm%20f4/300mmf4_2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa109/davidxgreen/Pentax%20300mm%20f4/300mmf4_8.jpg[/IMG]

more pics of this specific lens and shots taken with it in the gallery below on request I've got lots more:

Also the original lens case as shown in the pics is included

[IMG]http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa109/davidxgreen/Pentax%20300mm%20f4/300mmf4_5.jpg[/IMG]

nice thing to buy yourself on a sunday...

Now on ebay here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Legendary-Pentax-A-300mm-f4-beautiful-condition-/330520129...

will give special consideration to best offers if you mention you saw it here on pentax user!! (honestly)

I'm surprised that you haven't had any interest in a superb performing lens like this I still use mine rather than the DA* 300mm because the image is about 11% bigger. Best of Luck on ebay

"I'm surprised that you haven't had any interest"

IMO many owners of all types of items are simply asking too high prices bearing in mind the state of many peoples finances.

£435 was a low price for this lens and in any case there weren't any offers. Pentax will no doubt see that 300mm+ lenses just aren't selling and take this into account when they decide on what new glass to manufacture.

sold for £425 to a happy alaskan!

Just wondering, why is the image bigger. They are both 300mm lenses after all ?

Cheers,

/Ian

When Amateur Photographer Magazine tested the 300mm A* it was 315mm at infinity, so longer to start with plus being a non-IF design the lens gets longer as you focus closer. I've checked it several times and at about 6M it's 11% bigger in terms of image size than the DA*300mm and F*300mm I've no idea what their true focal length is at infinity?

In other words if your sneaking up on a bird and get to 6M with the A* you would have to get to 5.5M with the DA*300mm to get the same image size.

The 4M closest focus can be a problem, but a 6-12mm extension tube cures it.

Lens works well with the Pentax 1.7x and at f/5.6 - f/8 is very close to the DA* in terms of sharpness on same size images. So it's actually sharper because of the bigger image size.

I suppose the close focus of 4M isn't quite as bad as it sounds,
because the image size is probably the same as the DA* at 3.6M