Online auction snipers and nikon lenses

[Joe P]

James,

P/S: Can you see any fine examples of the Pentax SMC-A 100/2.8 macro in your neck of the woods? I'd even consider paying a finder's fee.

My neck of the woods is pretty small these days. I'm back in Canada, living in a city of about 100k, so I no longer have easy access to stock typically found in those huge US camera stores like B&H and KEH. But if I see a 100mm f/2.8, I'll give ya da signal.

Joe

 

[James]

Thanks, Joe. Only the manual focus SMC-A Macro will do, not the garden variety 100/2.8, OK?

James

P/S: Canada is still pretty huge compared to Middle Earth, but I know what you mean.

 

[James]

... when the aperture is set wide open on this lens, I have noticed I 'lose' some of the focusing ability, i.e. I can go fully on the focus ring and only just be in focus. As I move down the aperture focus becomes more 'forgiving'.

Gary,

The other thing to note too is that most lenses are NOT at their sharpest (focus notwithstanding) at full aperture. Many require to be stopped down for best optical performance. My Pentax SMC-A 50/1.4 is super-fast, but produces the sharpest images when stopped down to f2.8 or smaller.

James

 

[Joe P]

James,

Thanks, Joe. Only the manual focus SMC-A Macro will do, not the garden variety 100/2.8, OK?

Gotcha. If I see a macro, I'll fire off a PM to let you know. But don't hold your breath. Macros are fairly rare here and I suspect that Pentax ones are even rarer.

Joe

 

[Heath]

Gary

It could be worth getting yourself a monopod for when you're out walking. It won't provide a solid base like a tripod, so it's not suitable for long exposures, but it will provide a stable support for hand held shooting and remove a lot of camera shake, so you can use longer exposure times than you would otherwise get away with. They're particularly useful for stabalising your camera when using long lenses. You can get monopods that fold up to a pretty small size and are lightweight, so they're much easier to carry than a tripod. As well as being useful, they're also pretty cheap.

Heath