Hi Gareth - absolutely agree with you for most MF primes, but the Tamron 500mm can be a pig to focus when you don't have a nice bright full frame viewfinder! At f8 the viewfinder isn't exactly bright, and the depth of field is miniscule. I find the camera does a better job than me most of the time with this particular lens, but I don't bother with catch in focus when using more "normal" primes, for the reasons you state.

Cheers,

Jon

Oops sorry, absolutely right. Other than that, I think the rest of what I posted still stands though! And to whet your appetite, here's one of my Tamron shots:





Jon

For a single aperture lens such as the Tamron mirror, there is no need to enable the aperture ring (there isn't one) and the viewfinder will always read f-- whatever you do.

However, you can still use the camera in Av mode, and it will meter in any case (the same as it would with a normal lens when it is wide open, which effectively is what the Tamron always is). You may find a little bit of exposure compensation may be required, so check the histograms etc after you've taken a few test images.

I have one of these lenses and they are capable of very good results when used with care. A few hints (sorry if this is all old hat):

(1) always use the lens hood in order to maximise contrast with mirror lens

(2) shoot RAW not JPEG to give best file to work with afterwards

(3) avoid scenes with bright highlights close to your subject/in the background - as these are the ones that are most likely to give you the characteristically busy mirror lens donut bokeh

(4) do not be tempted to hand hold it unless you are very steady! I know it is small and compact but your percentage of truly sharp shots will not be great unless you up the ISO to get fast shutter speeds.... not something you really want to do with the K-7

(5) instead, I recommend using it with a lightweight monopod, and leave the shake reduction switched on. This works for me very well - down to about 1/125 second at a push - with a Manfrotto Modo monopod that cost around £20

(6) the "catch in focus" feature that Pentax (and Nikon) offers, can be very handy with the mirror lens - as long as your subject is in the centre of the frame (more likely with a very long lens than with a wide angle). For this to work, you need to ignore Cardiff Gareth's advice above!! Instead, leave the camera in AF and the lens marginally out of focus before taking the shot. Next, press the shutter and then very slowly fine tune the focus of the lens.... as soon as you get it bang on, the camera will take the shot.

Hope this lot helps. Many people give up on mirror lenses, and they certainly have their quirks and drawbacks. But used carefully and with the right subject matter (which basically means "not moving" and "not close to anything that might cause nasty bokeh"), they can really deliver. And there is nothing else to compete at anything near the same price.

Cheers,

Jon

"You can't set the aperture from the body of the MZM, hence lenses without an aperture ring (such as the DA 40 ltd) can only be used in shutter priority of program mode, not manual mode or aperture priority (or rather - in those two modes it can only be used wide open at f2.8 )"

Thanks for the clarification. In which case either the Voigtlander or the 43mm FA Ltd make more sense than DA Ltd for MZM users....

I have a very nice one - you have a PM.

Jon

It works the same as any Pentax A lens, as the Voigtlander has all the electrical connections to enable aperture setting from the body, for cameras that support that.

And sorry, I know this is a Pentax site, but the Voigtlander is in a different league from the 40/2.8 PKM pancake.

If you go much wider than 30mm, then getting a very fast lens is likely to be almost impossible - especially given that wide angles tend to be used more for landscape in any case and there is little need for them to be super-fast.

Your most obvious choices are probably the 21mm DA Ltd or Voigtlander 20mm Color Skopar, but they aren't faster than fast zooms and the difference in image quality from a decent zoom may be negligible too (however, they are much smaller).

Bump for a great standard prime in as-new condition. Offers close to the asking price considered.

Cheers,

Jon

In my view there are only two downsides to this lens:

(1) it is MF only, which is not to everyone's taste.
(2) it's a rather odd focal length on APS-C. But if 40mm is what does it for you, then it's an absolute gem.

Actually, I ended up getting another one after selling it first time around. I'm not convinced about the focal length on APS-C but it makes a superb portrait lens with an adapter for m4/3. The ability to use it on occasion with my Pentax is a useful bonus.

Yes - good as the ist cameras were at the time, it would be better to look for a K100D - image stabilisation and better JPEG processing.

The K100D Super adds a not-terribly-effective sensor cleaning function (but better than not having it) as well as support for the more expensive SDM lenses.

Both the K100D and K100D Super probably give you the best JPEG processing that any manufacturer managed to get out of that Sony 6MP sensor(the same one used by Nikon at the time) - which means it is very good indeed.

If using a blower brush every now and again to keep the sensor clean does not phase you, and if you don't see yourself buying any DA* lenses in the foreseeable future, the K100D would be worth considering, although the Super would be worth spending an extra few quid on.

Just to complicate matters, if you find a K200D at similar prices, go for it - it's a significant upgrade.