Hin's Photo Corner

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I bought the DA* 16-50 used a while ago and I have not taken it out for shooting until recent weekends. At first I find it average to good but the wide pictures at 16mm doesn't impress me. The weight and size is well balanced but I prefer something lighter and smaller. My opinion changes towards the positive side once I engage it in wet and cold weather in Yosemite over the Martin Luther King holiday as the weather protection ease my mind in shooting and my confidence with the zoom helps me in the shooting. All the following are shot with my long lost buddy in K-5 and DA* 16-50 and I have a few with WR DFA 100mm f/2.8 macro to share later on.
















I am surprised to see other talking about the negative on the flare handling of DA* 16-50 and I am bit bumped when I see the distracting flare on the back of my newly found friend Daniel P. who shot 8x10 with an Ebony. We had a short chat on his camera and the film he was using with x-ray type of 8x10 film sheet and he does his own film development. He told me the process in developing bigger film is way easier than those with the 135 or 645 films. We exchanged contact information and I tag the photo for him in Flickr and he asks about my Pentax and I did praise my Pentax and humbly admit some needed improvement over its AF especially in tracking and indoor. K-5 II(s) and K-3 after are perhaps better and much improved with AF. My K-5 is great in most cases but I struggle indoor quite often not able to obtain AF lock in dimly lit scenes while my other cameras have less a problem in AF-S in the dark or AF-C with tracking.











What do you all think? I love the DA* 16-50 performance in the shoot. The gripes are on its 16mm performance along with flare handling. I think I can get used to its heavier weight. I am also thinking of adding one lighter zoom with choices in Sigma 17-70 f/2.8-4.0, DA 16-85 or DA 18-135 as a compliment to the DA* zoom, or perhaps the DA 20-40. Any critiques to pictures and gear thoughts are very welcome.

I got the DA zoom as a replacement for my previous zoom with Tamron 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro 1:2 zoom. I have been missing my old Tamron zoom for its lightweight, good image quality and surprisingly good close up at 1:2. The DA zoom is priced higher as in two times the cost of Tamron Zoom and it is without the close up in Tamron zoom. In terms of build quality, the Pentax DA zoom is better especially in the zoom ring that is tight and unlike the Tamron zoom, the zoom position pretty much stays in place reliably.

Both zooms share the quality of sharp images and good to use in traveling with single zoom lens that cover the long end needs while my short ends are covered with primes. The DA zoom has another positive advantage in not fringing which I have a difficult time with the Tamron zoom.

Purple Fringing has always been bothering me. When I see a scene with interesting lighting, I always don't remember a thing about CA/purple fringing in the result image. I can't see it coming upon review of the images at the scene. I should have known better. I have various Tamron zooms and though some of them are my favorite, they are not immune to purple fringing and CA. Many people rely on post processing to clean them up. I rather not have them in the first place. I have used both Tamron and Sigma zooms and primes in various focal lengths, I seem to get much less from Sigma. It begs the question why I have more from the Tamron brand. I am planning in a distant future to upgrade my zoom to the latest Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 and I surely hope it does better than other Tamrons in terms of CA control. And I hope there is better alternative in the Pentax Brand with similar pricing. The Pentax DA* 60-250mm f/4.0 will be ideal but it is out of my comfort zoom for pricing.
For some pictures, I can have my quick fix in turning it into a black and white photograph but i can't do it to all photos as the color in the sunset in the reflection is what I want to capture in the scene.




Related:

• Purple Fringe with Tamron 70-300mm Di LD Macro
  
• Tamron 75-250mm f/3.8-4.5 adaptall-2 104A
• Tamron SP 70-210mm f/3.5 adaptall-2 19AH
• Tamron SP 80-200mm f/2.8 adaptall-2 30A
• Hin's Camera Gear

Impressions & Notes

• My version is a manual focus lens with SD label for the glass and it comes with 'A' aperture
• Lens is well built in all metal. The Plastic hood is a bit flimsy but works reasonably well.
• Lens has a built in tripod that can be removed.
  
• Lens is a bit heavy but I find it hand-holdable.
  
• I can't get satisfactory sharp pictures in wide open aperture. Test shots in f/5.6 to f/8.0 seem to do fine in sharpness. More tests are needed to be sure.
  
• I have had high expectation on this zoom lens. While I am happy with IQ and color when stopped down, I feel a bit disappointed on its performance wide open.
  
• Color and sharpness are good when stopped down.
• Zoom ring and focusing ring are good in operation
• I find IQ at 200mm and 150mm seem to vary by noticeable difference on sharpness.
• At f/2.8, I find the need to dial in +1/3 and +2/3 Ev.
  

Related:

• Circus and Baseball with Tokina AT-X SD 80-200mmm f/2.8
• Y! Music Event with Kate Earl
  
• Tamron SP 70-210mm f/3.5 adaptall (19AH)
• Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm first three versions
• Kiron 70-150mm f/3.8 with doubler
• Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8
  
• Hin's Camera Gear
  

I took the Sigma lens out for a family trip in Japanese Tea Garden. The sigma satisfy my occasional need for wide angle and it is a great family outing zoom lens covering the most critical focal length in one lens and with a 1:2.3 close up. I call it my best walk-around lens.

I sold this Pentax zoom a little while ago to a forum friend of mine. I only managed to borrow it from buyer for an extra day of test shots before shipping. The focal range appeals to me as it is close to Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8.

In the short time that I used it, I kept thinking of the Pentax DA 50-200mm f/4.5-5.6 or the Pentax FA 28-105mm f/3.2-4.5. While this zoom is faster than the DA zoom, its performance is not as good as the DA zoom for walk around purpose. For one, it is heavy and AF seems slower in this lens. I have used cheaper power zoom as in Pentax FA 28-80mm f/3.5-4.7 and I like the performance of power zoom over this lens. The minimum focusing distance is longer than I get used to, I recall closer to 7 feet making it not ideal for walk around. The close up is in the far end in 135mm end that allow close up to flowers.


Test Shots





Impressions & Notes

• Overall not a bad zoom to have but there are better zooms that are lighter for walk around purpose
  
• Size is small but it is heavier than walk around alternatives
• Close up quite reasonable for flowers in the 135mm end
• AF hunts in indoor setting
  

Related:

• Pentax DA 50-200 f/4.0-5.6
• Pentax SMC FA 28-105 f/3.2-4.5
• Pentax SMC FA 28-80 f/3.5-4.7 Power Zoom
• Tamron SP 28-135mm f/4.0-4.5 Adaptall-2 28A
• Hin's Camera Gear
  

I am always in the lookout for inexpensive lens for my Pentax gear. A month agon, I even thought about selling my Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8 to save money for a 2nd system. When I was asked about my replacement, I thought long and hard and tried to avoid the question. But the closest lens in my gear that matches the focal length is this Vivitar 70-150mm f/3.8 from Kiron with two touch zoom designs. After I abandoned my idea in selling my DA* zoom, I just get a chance to try this Kiron zoom and it is found reasonably sharp like my previous version of Kiron 70-150mm f/3.8 one touch zoom ring. The size and weight is definitely bigger and heavier in this lens but the two touch zoom ring design is what I like about this lens the most.

The two touch zoom ring allow me to lock in a focal range without slight alternation and lets me concentrate on SR length accuracy, stop-down metering, and framing. The one touch zoom ring as in Pentax K 45-125mm f/4.0, Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm series, and many manual lens has a common problem in shifting the focal length upon focusing as the zoom ring is shared in both zooming and focusing.



Test Shots:








Impressions & Notes

• I like about the handling of this lens a lot, especially on the two touch zoom ring design
  
  
• The close focus on this lens is pretty decent on the use with flowers in the 70mm end
  
  
• Sharpness is very good, very similar to the other version of Vivitar 70-150mm f/3.8 with one touch zoom ring by Kiron
  
  
• Build is solid with metal barrel, a bit heavy as compared but thin in lens barrel and easy to handle
  
  
• The focus throw is about half turn and it has the loose focusing ring that I like for quickness in focusing when needed for street shooting scenes
  
  
• Constant aperture in f/3.8 is a blessing on this zoom lens
  
  
• A well pleased solid performer from Kiron that others may have ignored.

Related:

• Pentax K-x and Vivitar 70-150mm f/3.8
  
• Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8
• Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f/2.8-4.0 from Komine
• Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm series
• Pentax K 45-125mm f/4.0
• Vivitar 70-150mm f/3.8 from Kiron with one touch zoom ring
• Hin's Camera Gear
  

I find Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 very dependable and I would use it again for wedding.

Though it is not as wide as 16mm, but the range is very useful to cover the wedding, portraits, candid, and close up. It has in between 1:3 to 1:4 close up magnification. I would prefer this lens as a single lens when compared to 16-50 or other variants. Its strength is on its sharpness, very reasonable bokeh and it is quite sharp in my books for wide open shots. I pretend to be a wedding photog in my friends' wedding using Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 along with Komine 135mm f/2.8 1:2 Macro & Pentax FA 50mm f/1.4

Attempts & Approaches:

• I try to have both eyes open to track the bee movement
• Whenever I move, I point camera into bee's direction to get AF close in range to the bee
• When the bee stops, I turn to get an angle to the bee
• I try to shoot less and practice on accuracy instead of shotgunning the bee
• Avoid wasted pictures when the bees are erratic in the eating. This may be impossible as the bees are always erratic in the eating
• Tried both AF.C and manual, it is much harder to do manual on Tamron as it does not have quick-shift feature
• Try panning upon bee leaving and entering the scene
• In manual focus, I pre-focus object on same plane as the bee and the flower
  

Related:

• Going Green in Blogging
  
• Tamron 70-300 Di LD Macro f/4.0-5.6
• Tamron 70-300 Di LD Macro on Flowers
• Tamron 70-300 Di LD Macro on Birds
  
• Tamron 28-75 f/2.8
  
• Hin's Camera Gear