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Chris, I think you may be right, the zooms are not tack sharp wide open I am told. The 45-85 I just got is sharp at 45mm but need to stop down at longer lengths.Pradeep, I'm liking the 35 FA more than the A right now.
I've a 300mm F4 FA arriving tomorrow, if you're after a 300mm I'll be selling my A version shortly (as long as the FA version is razor sharp like my current version is). Depends on your weight and AF needs of course.
I shot a wedding over the weekend with the Z too. Whilst I really like the image quality the zoom lenses are a little slow to attain focus for me and at 4.5 a little too soft (relative to the primes) so I'll be using primes almost exclusively now.
Good times. I sold my Hasselblad btw, took a few months though and there's a lot of them on ebay at the moment, more than I've ever seen.
That shot with the 35mm FA of my dog I posted was from a deliberate underexposure:
I'm glad you're happy with your choice Pradeep. If I were going to Africa, I'd take the 400mm FA; it's excellent and not very heavy.
A tip I just discovered (perhaps because this is my first use of live view): with the 645Z in live and focus peaking, using the optical DOF preview on the shutter allows you to see the DOF with peaking and no dimming.
Tom
Thanks Peter. Yes, I do love Andy's work, he has been using a Phase One kit lately alongside his Nikon gear.Beautiful images Pradeep!
Are you familiar with Andy Bigg's work? I think you'll enjoy it.
Andy Biggs Photo Safaris
Peter
There must be a reason for it, no?I have picked almost every lens bc they are so darn cheap compared to the other systems.
Older designs without leaf shutters (with a couple exceptions) and no pretentious brand surcharge.There must be a reason for it, no?
Hi Joe,The eBay seller is located in Japan. ...And with careful and patient shopping, there are lens bargains to be had. That's my two cents.
I would be worried to purchase from Hong Kong to be honest. I was burned before, not from Hong Kong though, with purchasing goods outside Europe. Ordered stuff from OWC for my Mac and kabooom, the UPS man collected a hefty import duty or would not release the goods to me. It would also bother me that I could not get a world wide warranty, instead of shipping to Hong Kong in case something is faulty. I saw the three years option, and I might be too suspicious, but to be safe I would suggest to investigate all this with Pentax directly. Do they recognise this three years warranty upgrade? Is the dealer known to them, stuff like that. This deal with refunding of import taxes is kinda strange to me and raises some red flags. I hope you don't get burned there!!At the moment, this VAT Free guarantee only applies to orders shipped to Australia, France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
Thank you Nick. Yes, I am enjoying this camera a lot. What with the weather getting warmer here in NY it has been a lot of fun.Hey Pradeep!
Great to see the "z" has fired your passion to shoot. Mine too. I've vaguely intended to do a follow-up review, but mostly I'm too busy shooting. I have picked almost every lens bc they are so darn cheap compared to the other systems. I've not bothered with the 90mm bc it is just too big and the VR is silly, imho, and the price is too high. But I would be all over a new 45-90mm, which I think is on the roadmap. The existing 45-85 is, as you say, surprisingly good for the price, but not superb wide-open on the longer end. The 80-160 is very unit-dependent in my experience, though it is never stellar at 160 - much better at 150mm.
I like the 300f5.6 but regret selling the 300FA f4 when I sold the 645D.
The 35mm is superb - I actually slightly prefer the feel of the "A". Version.
And yes, the FA120 macro is the most ridiculous lens for the price.
Cheers!
- N.