The Courier

is out for delivery - so i am waiting, and will not go to sleep.

Again...

In the mean while, I want to highlight once again the gentle but sharp rendering of the extremely affordable mediumformat zoom, the Pentax 645 FA 150-300 mm ƒ 5.6 ED (IF) lens. Like in the photo above, on a very early morning walk along the water at Old Town of Stockholm. I love the rendering, the gentle but distinct sharpness, and how the tones are being presented.

I would never have thought that a $110 mediumformat lens would deliver on such a high level. It has a slightly "primitive" feeling when you take it in your hand - as if it is fragile. But it ain't - and as i said, it delivers more than i expected. I almost favor it over the Pentax 645 FA 400/5.6 ED (IF)

The flexibility of a zoom is of course an advantage over a fixed focal length. (Other times i like the "limitation" of a fixed focal length. Like "now do your best with that very lens "as it is". Usually i go out with only one lens.

Sample variations ?

I have read from other people, that there are lens sample variations. So, some people feel that the Pentax 400mm is sharper than the 150-300mm zoom. I feel that they are both on the same level, but in my case, the 150-300mm lens is a bit better corrected with less fringing. And perhaps ever so tiny bit sharper - albeit after later sharpening, things are more equal again.

It is somewhat easier to to handhold the zoom compared to a 400mm lens. With the latter, I have to be more careful in order to get sharp images. Here the camera sensor based stabilization helps a great deal - alone in that the image isn't shaking when you frame our motive.

The Fringer adapter does fantastic work, to enable all that automatically, and synchronous to the chosen focal length. When I used the lenses without stabilization as well with manual focus - it was almost hopeless to use.

Without the Fringer P645-GFX adapter, I wouldn't have bought any (long) Pentax 645 FA lenses !! Perhaps the Pentax 400mm lens was in hindsight unnecessary to buy - given that i shortly later bought the Fujinon GF 500/5.6 IOS lens.

Well - it's OK, done is done.