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I agree with you that the 28-45 sample I tested may be de-centered a bit, as I have also seen others posting razor sharp corners of that lens. However, if you look into the official website of Pentax, you would find similar test results of soft corners. I can only conclude that there could be some variance between samples, or possibly the field curvature is more severe when you focus close.I have to say, there appears to be something a bit off with the Pentax 28-45mm performance here. I own this kit and have never seen it looking anywhere near as mushy as some of these at the edges. Mine is razor sharp right to the edges and corners. Sure, I'd expect a Rodenstock prime to beat it, but I'm not exaggerating when I say its the best zoom I have ever used by quite a margin. There can be some curvature at the long end, but I have thousands of pin sharp frames where the edges are all but indistinguishable from the centre. I literally haven't a single frame that looks as bad as some of those on display here. What the cause is I don't know, but I'd urge people considering the Pentax & 28-45mm not to take this comparison as indicative of performance. Mine does a fine impression of a Zeiss ZM or Leica prime on my Leica M, only at 51MP. I was simply staggered when I ran the first tests to ensure it was well-centred.
For ultimate performance, great primes and lots of MP is always going to win, but there are many reasons to prefer one system over the other.
One over the other? Sorry, I just don't understand ... What is this 'over' or 'or' word?? There is no 'or' on this forum, just 'and' :ROTFL:For ultimate performance, great primes and lots of MP is always going to win, but there are many reasons to prefer one system over the other.
I know.. I am seriously eyeing that kit.... Ugh. Dante.... is that you?Btw, that Pentax GAS in a box looks excellent at B&H. I could see them selling those easily.
Bryan, you know that you want, no, need it!I know.. I am seriously eyeing that kit.... Ugh. Dante.... is that you?
I know that feeling. Last time it happened to me was in the spring when I was on a long weekend shoot, and I only had the DF+ with me (I wanted to travel light.... ) , and it kept locking up to the point where the entire weekend was not enjoyable and my images suffered because I was so on edge. A month later, I no longer owned the DF or the lenses.If if I weren't so embedded into Phase One gear I'd seriously consider the Pentax as the grown up DSLR. Just been shooting my DF+ again tonight and I seriously HATE the f'ing thing when it locks up. Great when it works but then it lulls you into a false sense of security and then WHAAM! Or rather ... Nothing.
Graham, along those lines, we cannot wait for you to start the thread on your replacement tech cam purchase....for starters, the 90HRW should be replaced with the 90HRSWOne over the other? Sorry, I just don't understand ... What is this 'over' or 'or' word?? There is no 'or' on this forum, just 'and' :ROTFL:
Ken/Don, how am I doing?
Btw, that Pentax GAS in a box looks excellent at B&H. I could see them selling those easily.
I have to agree with turtle, my version of the 28-45mm is never as soft as your examples. Perhaps there is some variation in samples of the lens. I note the Ricoh image you linked was taken at f/9 and the corner crop appears to be no more than a few feet from the lens; likely outside or near the DOF range.I agree with you that the 28-45 sample I tested may be de-centered a bit, as I have also seen others posting razor sharp corners of that lens. However, if you look into the official website of Pentax, you would find similar test results of soft corners. I can only conclude that there could be some variance between samples, or possibly the field curvature is more severe when you focus close.
Link to the sample image at Pentax's official website
100% crop of bottom right corner:
View attachment 114509
You know you want to do it Ken....Christmas is 1 month away!:thumbs:Nice kit, all in a ready to go hard side case. Pentax took notice of Phase's packaging :ROTFL:
Smart offering by Pentax, making it 'easy' putting a good base kit all together. This year has been way too expensive already---this would be a kick-*** camera to convert to full spectrum/IR. I certainly can't justify a wide spectrum or Achromatic MFDB.
ken
Still, for this official sample image (grabbed from Pentax official website) I find it hard to believe why Region A is inside DoF while Region B is outside DoF, if not for field curvature or soft corner (or bad copy).I note the Ricoh image you linked was taken at f/9 and the corner crop appears to be no more than a few feet from the lens; likely outside or near the DOF range.
At least without a side-by-side comparison against a technical camera, this looks good enough (if the noise is not due to over-sharpening).A corner crop from my sample. Handheld at 1/125.
corner crop: