Finally had the chance to road test this latest acquisition. A quick visit to Funan to buy some printer ink turned out to be one hell of an expensive trip. This little beauty was sitting all alone on the shelf, beckoning me to take her home. Well, just couldn't resist...
It's performance as a macro lens is well known, but I wanted to find out how it performs as a general purpose lens. So down Orchard Rd I went and ended up shooting the Cheerfest event.
Firstly, it's a beautiful lens to see and hold. The aluminium body is so smooth & sexy, the hood clicks in with a high precision feel and even the front lens cap has a better feel compared to other Pentax caps. The manual focusing is nicely weighted, ultra smooth and precise. It's light and balances beautifully on the K-7. And unlike the non WR version, the front lens barrel has no play. It fits in nice & tight.
As expected for all true macro lenses, when on autofocus, the focusing is relatively slow when changing focusing distance but once you understand its characteristics and work with it, it's manageable.
Auto focusing in low light is fast & accurate and seems similar to other pentax prime lenses - subjectively better than say the FA 50 1.4 but not as quick as the FA43.
OK. Enough words. Here are some photos by this fantastic lens. May not be my favourite lens yet but after the weekend, it is definitely among my top 3.
1.
2.
3.
More pics of the event here: The wider views are all taken with the FA43.
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=704799
It's performance as a macro lens is well known, but I wanted to find out how it performs as a general purpose lens. So down Orchard Rd I went and ended up shooting the Cheerfest event.
Firstly, it's a beautiful lens to see and hold. The aluminium body is so smooth & sexy, the hood clicks in with a high precision feel and even the front lens cap has a better feel compared to other Pentax caps. The manual focusing is nicely weighted, ultra smooth and precise. It's light and balances beautifully on the K-7. And unlike the non WR version, the front lens barrel has no play. It fits in nice & tight.
As expected for all true macro lenses, when on autofocus, the focusing is relatively slow when changing focusing distance but once you understand its characteristics and work with it, it's manageable.
Auto focusing in low light is fast & accurate and seems similar to other pentax prime lenses - subjectively better than say the FA 50 1.4 but not as quick as the FA43.
OK. Enough words. Here are some photos by this fantastic lens. May not be my favourite lens yet but after the weekend, it is definitely among my top 3.
1.
2.
3.
More pics of the event here: The wider views are all taken with the FA43.
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=704799
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