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| Outdoor scene - Pentax DA 40mm vs DA 18-55mm vs DA 70mm lenses with Pentax K10D | |||
To compare real-life performance we shot the same scene with the Pentax 40mm, 18-55mm and 70mm lenses within moments of each other using a Pentax K10D in Aperture Priority mode. The 18-55mm was zoomed to 55mm for this test and all lens apertures set to f8. Clearly the three lenses tested here have different focal lengths and therefore different fields of view. As such the actual crops can't be directly compared in terms of detail, but they do give an indication of how each handles the same subject matter. The image left was taken with the Pentax K10D using the DA 40mm Limited Edition lens at f8; the original JPEG measured 3.29MB.
The
crops below are presented here at 100%. |
Pentax DA 40mm f2.8 Limited Using Pentax K10D |
Pentax DA 18-55mm at 55mm Using Pentax K10D |
Pentax DA 70mm f2.4 Limited Using Pentax K10D |
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1/350, f8, 100 ISO |
1/350, f8, 100 ISO |
1/350, f8, 100 ISO |
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1/350, f8, 100 ISO |
1/350, f8, 100 ISO |
1/350, f8, 100 ISO |
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1/350, f8, 100 ISO |
1/350, f8, 100 ISO |
1/350, f8, 100 ISO |
| As explained above, the different lens focal lengths have captured progressively smaller fields of view, and hence the detail in each can't be directly compared. The crops do however show how each lens handles similar subject matter while revealing certain optical characteristics. Of the three lenses above, the 70mm Limited appears to be the sharpest, a result also shared in our Gallery pages; it's a great choice for anyone who wants an extremely compact, high quality, short telephoto lens for a Pentax DSLR. We should note our sample of the 40mm Limited lens in our tests was slightly soft in the centre when focused at infinity. |
USA readers |
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