Out and About, With and Without...

Out and About, With and Without...

...the Pentax 1.4x AW converter. The scene was Martin Mere, the lenses were the SMC Pentax-DA 55-300mm and the SMC Pentax-FA 43mm f/1.9 Limited. The new converter was used for some shots and seemed to make no visible difference to the image quality. I've no doubt that the MTF measurements would have shown a difference, but I don't usually spend much time photographing lens test charts.

The 55-300mm zoom shouldn't AF according to the specs published, the AF converter needing an f/4 lens. However, in practice it seems perfectly happy with the zoom, even at the 300mm end where the aperture is only f/5.8. It's always worth finding out if things work as the published specification is often exceeded slightly. Not always, but often.

The 43mm is interesting. It's a superb quality lens to start with, add the 1.4x converter and we have a 60mm f/2.8 lens. Add the 1.5x crop factor for the APS-C Pentax DSLRs and we have a 90mm f/2.8-equivalent lens, a totally classic lens for portraits, landscape and close sports and wildlife. It's a brilliant combination, and it works!

So let's have a look at a few examples from yesterday down at the Mere.



55-300mm, 1.4x



55-300mm, 1.4x



55-300mm, 1.4x



43mm, 1.4x



43mm, 1.4x



55-300mm



55-300mm



55-300mm

It was a good day, and today looks hopeful as well for those who can get there, the sun might even shine!