40mm 135 FF Shootout: EF 40 Vs FA 43 Vs FA645 45

Above Left to Right: Canon EF 40/2.8 STM, Pentax FA645 45/2.8, Pentax FA 43/1.9 Limited; Tested on a Canon 5D3 135 Full Frame Body. (Remark: Both Pentax lenses of mine were made in Japan.)

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/RiceHigh/library/5Ds/40mm_Shootout?sort=4&page=1

Apertures from f/2.8 to f/11 were tested per lens, at nearly the same time and for the same infinity scene. Of course the image settings in the camera were kept the same.

Original full-size pictures are available for download in each individual picture page. So, go measurebate yourself for all the differences! Feedbacks are welcome for your findings, if any! :-D

Modding a K Body into a R Mount One

Watch this Video for how to do it:-

http://you.video.sina.com.cn/b/102350636-2028510075.html

Via: Sina Weibo (all in Chinese, aka "micro blog").

Wow, what a workmanship! :-o  Now, all the Leica lenses of that user can be mounted directly without any adaptor needed.
 
Nonetheless, I think the use of a Leica-R to Pentax-K adaptor (widely available) is still preferable, which is simple, not destructive and most importantly, K-mount lenses can still be mounted and used, unless that user decided not to use any K-mount lenses on his Pentax DSLR anymore! :-(

A "New" Pentax FF Rumour

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3491706

"Two friends who work at an authorized Pentax dealer told me that there would be a full frame Pentax released by this Halloween. Apparently, the Pentax reps that they are in contact with have passed on the inside information, and they also said that third party lens manufacturers are quietly working on a beginning lens lineup. My friend's exact words were, "the full frame that is coming is going to completely out do all the other FFs from the other manufacturers""

Well, how is the new camera related to the Halloween? Is it something that will be really horrible? :-o Lol.. ;-p And, as for something that will out-do the existing offers, I have no doubt for that! Actually Pentax had successfully achieved that for many times in the past! For instance, the K-01 out-did all the other mirrorless bodies for being both the largest and heaviest! And the Q out-did all the others for having the smallest sensor for an ILDC and thus in the overall size and weight, as a result!

So, the future of Pentax is really Bright then and let's wait for the Halloween! :-D

Ricoh GR-ize the "Pentax" MX-1

With this latest accessory for the MX-1 (made by 3rd party), the DC will become GR alike featuring an automated lens cover and lens shade two in one:-

http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20130517_599805.html
(in Japanese)



The price of this add-on accessory is at 2,480 Japanese Yens (about US$25 as at today).

Nevertheless, it is almost ascertained that the MX-1 is an OEM product that made in Indonesia anyway. So, it is not a product with true Pentax nor Ricoh gene as neither has any production facility nor any factory over there. In fact, the MX-1 shares the same lens and optical design as the old Olympus XZ-1.

Telescope Lens, Lens Telescope! :-o

We all knew that with the DA560, Pentax had given us a telescope as the camera lens! The results are rather unsatisfactory as various reviews and samples have revealed and shown! >:-(

On the other hand, as a well-known and "infamous" "anti-Pentax" Pentax user and guy, what I had to do is of course in the opposite direction than Pentax! As a result, I decided to use Pentax lenses as telescope and what I needed is this Chinese-made (US)$65 converter! :-D


(Above: The (glass?) Prisms of the converter can be seen from the mount side; and most of the lens elements are multi-coated - the quality of the coatings is not bad.)

I then put some of my "obsolete" K-mount lenses and tried. This is one of the very first K-mount Sigma AF lenses that I purchased back to 1988 at about $130:-




Now, what I have is 7X to 21X zoom telescope with my 70-210mm zoom which was originally meant to be a camera lens!

Manual Focusing is very easy as this adaptor has not much light loss and is very bright by itself. It is good for lenses at F4 or slower, though, as the "eyepiece" seems to suffer more with some kinds of aberrations at larger apertures.

In fact, I have not used my this lens for a long time for taking photographs as it comes no close to any SMC Pentax zooms in colour rendition and flare resistance! It is tack sharp, though, even it is wide opened, and through out the whole zoom range! But then the colours it produced scare me every time when I used it, no matter with films or when it was put on DSLRs! :-(

After all, the results are really great! I can safely tell that it is not different from a $1000 telescope with that high image quality that delivered but with the cost of $65 only! I like also the push-pull zoom mechanism of my this lens (which is a rare design for an AF lens) which is very convenient to be used for this specific application and with MF needed at the same time. In addition, this telescope has another special feature of letting the user to stop down the aperture when the viewing scene is just too bright, which is very useful IMHO and protects the eye! And, the magnified image could be even sharper when the lens is stopped down! :-D

Furthermore, this accessory could also be used to inspect the IQ of a lens at the image centre, which is another great news for measurebators like me! I can see that some of my lenses have more purple fringing than others after magnified and some lenses needed to be stopped down more and some required less before the IQ is the best. I am sure that this is yet another very nice feature of it!

Btw, I also tried this with my beloved F*300/4.5 lens, which I found the optimal apertures starts from f/5.6 to f/11 something (but not smaller). Well, I have a tripod mount for this 30X telescope, too, which at this high magnification is a very useful feature then (the FA*300 does not have one.):-



(Gear Picture via Original Blog Post Here.)

Last but not least, adding an 1.4X TC to this combo which made up a 42X telescope which I also tried and the IQ was found to be acceptable. All in all, it is really funny but yet useful to adapt all different lenses of mine like this. This story tells us once again that for most of the time innovative ideas and clever minds produce great products that can sell and high tech is not always needed! :-o

Pentax Imaginations - Too Many but Nothing Ever Happened!

These are the recent imaginations:-

1. Pentax K-02 with an OVF:-



Via Mirrorless Rumors

But I think a $15 hotshoe-mounted external OVF will do the job anyway, see this of mine:-



Btw, last time I polled, there should not be a K-02 anyway, as it is almost well known that the "line" was killed.

2. A Pentax 135 Full Frame, see this weekend humour by the PB, which is well written:-

http://www.thephoblographer.com/2013/05/11/weekend-humor-pentax-finally-enters-the-full-frame-market/

This is actually not a pure joke. Many of those statements were actually told officially by the senior Pentax officials in their previous interviews, quite recently or before! >:-[

New DA560 Test Review: "Disappointed"!

http://bbs.dgtle.com/thread-148282-1-1.html
(in Simplified Chinese)

The reviewer writes that he is rather disappointed about the IQ and usability of this expensive lens of Pentax. Purple fringing is obvious, stopping down is the only mean for better resolution, but then at f/8 using a lens with this long focal is actually impractical and rather difficult to use. The author also writes that this focal is indeed odd and not so useful. AF of this lens is fast enough, though, but the author doesn't think that good AF is meaningful when the IQ and usability of the lens is low.


Related:-

DA560 Lens Review Published at PF

Pentax UK Summer Rebate

http://www.pentax.co.uk/cashback


Related:-

Pentax (US) Lens Prices are Up Again! >:-(

I've Cropped My Pentax 645 Lenses Myself, in 1.6X! :-o

Since an original 645 lens when put onto an 135 FF body is cropped only 1.6X, I have decided to do this! :-o :-)



I suppose the degrade in IQ (in particular, the resolving power of the 645 lenses) would not be too much as this is exactly what Pentax has been doing/forcing us to do exactly the same thing with more or less the same crop ratio for all those K-mount film lenses of us when they are put onto *any* Pentax K-mount DSLR that was ever produced up till now! >:-[

Btw, the 645D is cropped in 1.3X on the original 120 FF format. So, this 0.3X difference could actually cost a lot, which I am not going to pay for that difference for that much anyway!

Consider also that the pixel pitch sizes of my 5D3 and the 645D are close enough, I suppose my FA645 lenses should be good enough to out-resolve the sensor at pixel level. :-)

Of course, for the overall resolution of the whole picture frame, the 645D still wins, i.e., 40MP over 22/24MP of the current 135 FF digital bodies which have the similar pixel sizes. Actually, this is what the line pairs per picture height or width (LP/PH or LP/PW) figure is going to tell.

Sample photos would follow.. The IQ of those old FA645 lenses on 5D3 is really impressive!


Related:-

What is/are the Meaning(s) of a Cropped Digital System Now?

Comparison of Sensor Specs - 645D Against Others

This is What the Limited Lenses Should be Put Onto!

DIY: Adapting the Pentax FA*85/1.4 onto the Cantax K-5D Mark III

TIPA Awards 2013

http://www.tipa.com/english/XXIII_tipa_awards_2013.php

"The annual meeting of the Technical Image Press Association to vote for the best photographic and imaging products in 2013 was held on 20 April 2013 in Hong Kong.

This year at the TIPA General Assembly 27 member magazines and the Camera Journal Press Club (CJPC) of Japan voted for the best product in each category. The General Assembly selected the best photo and imaging products in 2013 in 40 categories.

TIPA has member magazines from nine European countries plus Australia, Canada, China, South Africa and the USA."

Amongst those numerous awards, Pentax (and Ricoh) was and is awarded nothing!

This is expected because if you were one of the judges, what Pentax product would you select for the last year? The rather moderately updated K-5II/s? The (Olympus?) OEMed MX-1? A Tamron rebadged "DA"18-270 lens? The new 645 90mm Macro lens? Or actually what is the other real new Pentax stuff that was really produced by Pentax? I just can't recall and remember anything else!

In contrast, at least the Pentax Optio WG-2 was TIPA awarded in 2012, although this was just the only Pentax award last year.