Pentax SMC DA* 300mm f/4.0 ED (IF) SDM : Specifications and Opinions

Reviews

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The following opinions have been automatically translated with Google Translate.

Ferronsnicola

sent on 15 Luglio 2021

Pros: Sharpness, construction, overall image quality, size and weight

Cons: Autofocus, lack af limiter, autofocus, autofocus

Opinion: The lens is fantastic, very sharp, I had it for more than a year between 2017 and 2018, I still remember how much I could crop without worries ... Even the colors, the blurry and any other optical feature are really at the TOP, too bad for the engine af... it made me sell all the Pentax kit from despair, wildlife being my favorite genre. I got to try another one recently and the autofocus (on the same machine, the k3) worked better, but always in hiccups...

Ruggio

sent on 12 Aprile 2020

Pros: Sharpness, construction, tropicalization

Cons: Missing stabilizer

Opinion: I say that I am passionate about landscape and naturalistic photos and that my opinion comes from these kinds of use. The clearest lens ever had. Well built, robust and interperie-resistant. Sharp to TA and becomes a razor already from f4.5. Used on both KP and K1-II. On FF sensor we have sharpness up to 100% of the photo. It lacks stabilizer but thanks to the stabilized machine bodies I managed to shoot anyway at 1/200 freehand getting sharp photos. Nice blurry and discreet AF. One of the best purchases ever made.

Erinobecherini

sent on 22 Marzo 2019

Pros: Sharpness, blur, color, price

Cons: Nothing

Opinion: I consider it one of the best lenses ever built by Pentax, I have had the opportunity to try it for years and it is still a lens from which I can not separate myself. Simply because it is of truly excellent quality. It also Works properly on the K-1 and is multichangeable although it has to be used in this case, but they are in this, crop mode for not vigneting. Another point in its favor is that compared to the new Octice full frame is less heavy and cumbersome, not a feather but portable without problems.

Stefano Banda

sent on 28 Aprile 2016

Pros: Exemplary sharpness, excellent construction, tropicalized, excellent value for money

Cons: Autofocus not up to par

Opinion: I have this optics relatively recently but I have already tried it in different situations (birdlife, panoramas, car races), and I can only say it well. In particular I was surprised by the sharpness, very good already at full opening and that becomes a blade closing by a stop. It doesn't get much worse by closing at most but its top is around f/4.5 - f/5.6. Very few chromatic aberrations, and only at f/4 in high contrast zones, easily eliminated in post-production. Another positive thing is the construction: robust, well-balanced, infuses safety and immediately gives the impression of an object made to last, and the fact that it is protected from dust and splashes of water only confirms this impression. The lampshade (with the comfortable window to rotate the polarizer without disassembling it) and the bracket for the tripod are also well made. Then it is not too heavy and the handling is not bad at all. Of course, grafted on the K-3 you get to almost 2 kg of stuff and for the long sessions I recommend at least one monopod. The color rendering is very natural. The main flaw is the autofocus, not up to the other great features of the lens. It is very precise and hooks the subject well, but struggles enough to follow it if it is in rapid motion. In track races, in some cases I found manual focus on one point more effective and wait for the car to pass by. Perhaps an AF limiter would at least partially solve this problem, which is quite typical of the SDM. There is good that, at least my specimen, does not suffer absolutely from front or back-focus. I took it out of the box, grafted it on to both the K-3 and the K-S2, and found it was perfect enough. So apart from the autofocus, I think it's a really good lens, which I highly recommend. It's worth every penny of its price.

Alemt09

sent on 21 Aprile 2016

Pros: flawless construction, sharpness, color rendering

Cons: for me no

Opinion: I wanted so much this fixed tele which is now part of my kit. I have not tried optics of other brands, but this Pentax DA * is close to perfection. Sturdy, solid, great quality. Worth all the money that it costs. It 's like giving doping to my Kr: it allows me to do sports and aviofauna photos that give me a lot of satisfaction. The lack of an AF limiter can not find it very uncomfortable and the speed AF good judge (I will update the review to the change of the main unit). F4 max is fine in every situation in which you use this external lens (according to my opinion). The fineness of the produced pictures do not even need to dwell. Combined with a camera body type k3 I think is phenomenal.

Giuseppe Taverna

sent on 27 Febbraio 2016

Pros: Sharpness, construction, light weight.

Cons: limiter AF

Opinion: I have this telephoto in 2013, I often use, usually freehand, accommodating stalking, it takes up little space in the backpack in the mountains and its weight is not a problem. To be a f4 yield is magnificent. The thick they match the doubler Pentax 1.4x by using it to shed to small birds with excellent results. Excellent quality / price ratio.

Phil3rd

sent on 01 Maggio 2015

Pros: sharpness, bokeh, three-dimensionality, tropicalization, construction

Cons: no limiter AF.

Opinion: nothing to say, the lens excellent, optically the best 300 f4, has no weaknesses, is nothing short of sensational, leave it to f4 or close to a stop is almost identical, lens spaziale.rnla building is really embarrassing, from a sense of solidity sometimes awkward, construction is proportional to the optical quality, on another level, also because of the tropicalization AW (all weather) which makes it usable in any situazione.rnil bokeh is mellow, really ottimo.rnl'autofocus is very good, not as ipervelove certain lens L series, but really good, if it was aided by a stroke limiter af But perhaps you would not know the difference so "much" .rnrnlente spectacular.

Ares982

sent on 15 Maggio 2014

Pros: Risolvenza wide open, construction and weather sealing, compactness, weight

Cons: lack of fire limiter

Opinion: I think this lens is the daughter of a long history of excellent 300/4 Pentax started in with the series F *, and I think this lens will be the best specimen failed. Constructively is a small masterpiece of strength and compactness, lightweight but solid, made of metal. Optically that mean? Sharpest wide open with a peak very slightly greater than 5.6 in the MTF, but not recognizable to the monitor; bokeh sweet and pleasant, never intrusive and always creamy and chromatically beautiful. The colors are saturated and returned hot, never seen anything like it. The micro-contrast is good and the lens an incisive character on the first floor. It has excellent macro capabilities, and I think with an achromatic doublet can still improve. And 'free from chromatic aberrations, and has a good resistance to flare. The autofocus is quiet and fast enough to photograph birds in flight, it would have been useful, however, a focus limiter. Optics flawless, fun and great value.

Aiki76

sent on 25 Marzo 2014

Pros: Risolvenza at the top, excellent build quality, the complete absence of aberrations, weather sealed

Cons: it is said that the autofocus is not fast

Opinion: The optical quality of this objective is indisputable, has A resolution and an overall control of all aberrations truly at the top, is weather sealed and has an impeccable build quality (it is made entirely of metal). RnDal my point of view, the ultrasonic autofocus is quite sufficient, and used with K5, it is just slower than the Canon 400/5.6 L USM Canon 7D.rnE used on 'just released the multiplier, also tropicalizzatto, which solves the limitations encountered with the autofocus with the Kenko 1.4 x (we'll see how it behaves in terms of risolvenza)

Conti Cristiano

sent on 04 Luglio 2013

Pros: Sharpness - sealed

Cons: AF a bit 'slow, lack limiter

Opinion: Great tele convenient also used to "free hand." I hope that Pentax put into production by 2013 dedicated multiplier (even if they are years that Pentaxiani expect it) given the fact that the department canvases, Pentax does not offer much choice. In addition to the 300 Da, in fact, move to the new DA 560 has dimensions that in my opinion a bit 'too generous.

Lucaben

sent on 30 Maggio 2012

Pros: Sharpness Spectacular

Cons: AF did not live

Opinion: How sharpness and risolvenza is fantastic. Surprisingly sharp even with the multiplier Kenko 1.5x SHQ .Dipende also from the fact that this lens is constituted by a group of only eight optical lenses. I realized even tweak some macro photos from a distance with this light combined with the multiplier mentioned above. It's really a shame that a lens has so crisp 's AF so slow and does not have the limiter, it would have been really fantastic and complete perspective. Unfortunately with the moltiplicaotre the AF becomes even more slow and unstable. Hopefully in the new multiplier estimates for 2013.rnVorrei add that the various tests that are in the network are not quite reliable because, I think that in terms of risolvenza / sharpness of the Pentax is sharper than their Nikon that I possess today.