It does look soft, but I don't think the kit lens was out of focus. I took several shots and they all look the same. All of them looked properly focussed in the split-image screen I have in the K200D and all had focus confirmation. In any case, at f/8 with an object distance of around 9ft, there's something like 3ft depth of field - so it's very unlikely that the image was OOF.

To the best of my knowledge, the K200D/18-55mm kit lens neither front nor back focusses significantly - I have checked it previously, though not in the last few months.
I took all the shots as RAW and processed them in ACR6.2 with the default sharpening and no processing in PSE8 other than cropping and resizing.

I agree that the test is not especially discriminating - but for the 35-70 at f/5.6 to be clearly sharper than the kit lens at f/8 is promising. I would be extremely surprised if the F 35-70 at 50mm and any aperture is the equal of the Pentax-M or XR Rikenon 50mm f/1.7 at f/4 where they are pretty much at their sharpest. If we get some dry weather any time soon ....... maybe I'll find out.

Andrew

The knock on the door around 3:30pm today was a ParcelForce driver delivering a F 35-70mm that I bought on Friday from SRS.

My initial impressions are that it is good. I've only managed some limited testing indoors using flash, but even so, the 35-70 seems to be significantly better than the 18-55mm ALII kit lens, at the same apertures, at a focal length of 50mm. In fact, the 35-70 at f4 is at least as good (very close) as the 18-55 at f5.6 - and at f5.6 is at least as good as the 18-55 kit lens at f8. The 35-70 at f8 is clearly better than the 18-55, which was quite a surprise and suggests that it might be close to some 50mm primes. I can see this lens spending quite some time on my K200D.

These are crops from a photo of the back of The Highway Code from a distance of about 3m. On the right is the 18-55mm kit lens at f8. On the left is F 35-70 at f5.6. Interesting ....



Whilst I take your point about macro settings on the F 35-70, I'm one of those weird folks who quite likes using extension tubes with manual focus primes. By comparison, the 35-70 "macro" seems a breeze.

Sigma 24/2.8
Chinon 28/2.8
Kenlock 28/2.8
Pentax 50/1.7 M
Rikenon 50/2
XR Rikenon 50/1.7
Vivitar 200/4.5 (Komine)
XR Rikenon 300/4,5 APO
Tamron 400/7.5
Pentax 35-70/3.5 F (soon)
Sigma 28/70 Epsilon
Tokina 28-70/4
Rikenon P 35-70/3.5
Pentax 75-150/4 M
Pentax 100-300/4.7 FA

Only the 18-55mm ALII kit lens that isn't .... most used are the Sigma, Chinon and Pentax primes (more than 80%), followed by the 18-55mm kit, 75-150 and 100-300

Andrew

Isn't she a member of Oldham Photographic Society, which is a different club?

Andrew

No, I'm not a member of a camera club - but I have been wondering about whether to join Oldham Camera Club. They meet just a little over a mile from my home. Do we have any members on here?

Andrew

Along with the F28-80 (I missed the SRS one - sold overnight!), the F35-70 has to be an option. I'd probably have bought one or t'other before now if I had been really convinced that they would be as sharp as the kit lens at their common focal lengths - and not be plagued with fringing or CA.

Ideally, I'm looking for a walkaround lens that covers most of the range covered by the kit lens at the wide end and carries on up to 70mm or 80mm. Maybe I should stop being so mean and buy myself a DA 17-70 or whatever for Christmas.

Andrew

Heh heh, yes I did see that. I think the photo could have changed and some reviews pre-date the current one.

Apart from a (very ordinary) Kenlock Mc Tor 28mm f2.8 that I bought for about 9 pence off Ebay, the 18-55mm kit lens is definitely not better (if better means higher resolution) than the half a dozen manual primes that I tested it against at f5.6. It is, though, excellent at f8. I'd bet that it would be hard or impossible to distinguish between it and anything else at that aperture and beyond due to the limiting effect of diffraction.

I see that SRS have a SMC-F 28-80mm f3.5-4.5 for sale at £29. Might be worth a pop ...

Andrew

I've been looking for a golden oldie that goes longer than the Pentax 18-55mm kit lens & have picked up one or two off Fleabay with not much success. All of them, so far, have been consigned to the top of the wardrobe after testing - Rikenon 35-70mm f3.5-4.5, Sigma 28-70mm f3.5-4.5, Pentax SMC A 35-80mm f4-5.6 and most recently a Tokina 28-70mm f4.

I have yet to find one that, at 28mm or 35mm, f5.6 cuts the mustard when compared to the 18-55mm ALII kit lens. The best of those above is the Tokina, but it's got a little fungus that I need to deal with - once I've discovered how to take it to bits.

You've highlighted a lens I have yet to try, the SMC F 28-80mm f3.5-4.5. Oddly, the reviews on the "other" site don't suggest that it's any better than some that I've tried already - though a MTF test score of 3.3 on the Photodo site suggest that it might be. Your sample photos do look OK, but so (probably) would any of the lenses I've already tried, at that size. I think I'll keep an eye open for the SMC F version ....

Andrew

As a rule, the green hexagon comes on and stays on if the split screen suggests that a shot is in focus, which I guess is what you would expect if everything is working OK. For me, the big advantage of the split screen is not that is makes focussing more accurate - but that it makes it much faster to achieve accurate focus with a manual lens.

Andrew

I have a Pentax M 50mm f1.7 which is fine, so I have no particular wish to buy one of the Chinon 50's. I do, however, have Chinon 28mm f2.8 (of which there are many variants) and it's pretty much as sharp as anything I have.

Andrew