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Zeealex

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(images not locally referenced)
So Bought a lens from ebay, which i thought was a pretty good bargain... not sure what you guys think

untitled_by_zeealex-d91gut0.jpg
It's an SMC pentax 80-200mm f4.5 M lens, roughly 35 years old. got it for £20 expecting a very poor condition lens, but the only gripe to report was the case it came in was damaged. Otherwise the lens is clean and functions almost perfectly.

I needed a lens with a longer focal length, there's only so far pentax kit lens can take you! XD

anyway, I put it through its paces at no other place than the zoo!

it's manual focus only, that and the lens got a little mucky and i hadn't realised so please excuse any slight blurriness


anyway here's three images, i do have more, but it's late, I'll post them tomorrow:

untitled_by_zeealex-d91gumv.jpg

untitled_by_zeealex-d91gvv0.jpg

untitled_1_by_zeealex-d91gwgl.jpg


so, decent purchase?
any tips for manual focusing? just so we're clear, my focus bleeper is absolutely useless.
 

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Tom Mann

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Looks like you landed a beautiful lens! It's amazing that people are gettting rid of old glass for prices like that when it can produce beautiful pix. But you never know -- sometimes lenses like that are put up for sale when a long-time photographer spouse dies.

With respect to your question about focusing technique, what body are you using? Often, the focus confirmation system doesn't work on slow lenses (ie, with widest f-numbers greater than f4 or so.

Tom M
 

Tom Mann

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PS - Nice pix. I especially like the bokeh (ie, the nice smooth quality of the out of focus highlights) in your first picture.
 

Zeealex

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oh hey, I didnt realise I had any responses to this! sorry!

yeah, the lens was in practically perfect condition, the seller asmitted that they didnt know much about the lens or what to look for, so that would leave me to think its either been inherited or found in the shed or something.

I'm using a pentax K-r body, its got some errors though, primarily the firmware being buggy, it crashes a lot and doesnt always recognise my memory card first time.

the focus confirmation system did seem to be incorrect, I took a photo that was supposedly in focus and it was quite blurred. I think it was a ratio of 4:1 in terms of non focused shots vs focused shots ...ish


as for the Bokeh, yes I completely agree! its something this lens was known for. it was a really really good plus, finally getting photos of the lions at the zoo with no gates in the foreground. and the bokeh really helps to.add depth and vibrance to the image.

I think me and this lens are gonna get along juuust fine
 

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