I have just had confirmation that Cayman Camera have despatched me the 300mm EDIF lens. I'll let you know how I get on, but if you would like me to do a field test with it, I'd be happy to. But someone will need to tell me how to do this!

-- Ed Hurst (BullMoo@hotmail.com), February 02, 2001

Answers

Ed, we are not that structured. Give us your impressions of the lens. Sharpness at f/4 would be important though. No need for test targets, just shoot what you normally shoot and let us know how it does. Is it affected by shutter vib?

-- Steve Rasmussen (srasmuss@flash.net), February 02, 2001.

Thanks for the input Ed. You talk about the DOF.......I can't understand why Pentax eliminated the f/45 stop. At 3x, this lens will be used for landscapes quite a bit and needs at least an f/45 and maybe even f/64. Diffraction is really not an issue because the aperture is still 6.6mm at f/45. Only having an f/32 stop on the EDIF is the main reason why I have not purchased one yet.

-- Steve Rasmussen (srasmuss@flash.net), April 10, 2001.

I've finally started to use this lens, and it is certainly a wonderful piece of glass. So far, I've never used it wide open, so I can't cope with its performance at f4. The main issue is the fact that the depth of field is wafer thin. I was expecting this to be an issue, but it's far more so than I thought! This means that I'm unlikely to find out soon what f4 is like, unless I do some special test exposures that don't matter.

No evidence of vibration problems caused by overhang - so far!

Still, if you know its limitations, seems like an excellent lens.

Ed

-- Ed Hurst (BullMoo@hotmail.com), April 10, 2001.

I meant "I can't comment on its..." rather than cope, of course!

-- Ed Hurst (BullMoo@hotmail.com), April 10, 2001.