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Shooting the beautiful American SW with the DA* 50-135mm.

Started May 18, 2021 | Discussions
manual_focus Senior Member • Posts: 1,515
Shooting the beautiful American SW with the DA* 50-135mm.
17

Spent this spring exploring the deserts and canyonlands of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Texas and brought my K3-II with the DA* 50-135mm, the DA 20-40mm Limited, and the DA* 11-18mm. By far the lens I used most was the optically excellent DA*50-135mm. Yes, the AF motor has been replaced and I get the occasional weird electrical glitches with this lens but nothing that keeps it from capturing the image. This lens desperately needs to be redone incorporating the latest AF motor technologies.

I'm posting seven images which I hope show the range of what this lens can do and they are not meant to be "artistic" per se.. Many of them are full size. I strongly recommend using a good polarizing filter when shooting in the American SW. It truly enhances the images, especially the colors and contrast.

Enjoy

Balanced Rock at Arches NP. Full size shows the level of detail/resolution the lens is capable of for subject matter that is relatively close (~50 m away).

La Sal Mtns. from Arches NP. Full size shows the level of detail/resolution/DOF the lens is capable of for subject matter that is far away (~25 miles away).

A10 Warthog flying inside Organ Pipe Cactus NM just above the ridgelines. Had to shoot fast as it was over in less than 60 secs. A true point and shoot capture.

West of Marfa, TX are these billboards by the side of Hwy 90 in memory of the movie "Giant" which was filmed right here. in 1955. From left to right, Rock Hudson driving the caddy, James Dean in his third movie, and the 24 yr. old Elizabeth Taylor. (A five image pano). Whose says you can't do wide angle with a telephoto?

Marfa Courthouse, Good image to see how the lens does architecturally.

Shiprock, NM. Shot in the afternoon from the North on Hwy. 64 under poor light conditions (heavy overcast). Most images I've seen of Shiprock are taken from either the South or East of Shiprock which require shooting in the morning.

Waiting for the sun to go down so we could see the famous Marfa Lights. Shot straight into the setting sun.

Pentax K-3 II Pentax smc DA* 50-135mm F2.8 ED (IF) SDM
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PentUp
PentUp Veteran Member • Posts: 4,188
Re: Shooting the beautiful American SW with the DA* 50-135mm.

Beautiful indeed

 PentUp's gear list:PentUp's gear list
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T Evergreen Regular Member • Posts: 158
Re: Shooting the beautiful American SW with the DA* 50-135mm.
1

Very nice, indeed.  But, the "caddy" is a '51 Ford.

TomWret
TomWret Veteran Member • Posts: 4,692
Re: Shooting the beautiful American SW with the DA* 50-135mm.

Striking images...good job.

Tom W

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tassosDA Contributing Member • Posts: 510
Re: Shooting the beautiful American SW with the DA* 50-135mm.

Nicely done! I hope too that Pentax will replace the old sdm on the 50-135 with a new ,faster and more reliable motor...

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OP manual_focus Senior Member • Posts: 1,515
Re: Shooting the beautiful American SW with the DA* 50-135mm.

T Evergreen wrote:

Very nice, indeed. But, the "caddy" is a '51 Ford.

They made them big back then! Thanks 😊.

robbo d Veteran Member • Posts: 3,884
Re: Shooting the beautiful American SW with the DA* 50-135mm.
1

manual_focus wrote:

Spent this spring exploring the deserts and canyonlands of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Texas and brought my K3-II with the DA* 50-135mm, the DA 20-40mm Limited, and the DA* 11-18mm. By far the lens I used most was the optically excellent DA*50-135mm. Yes, the AF motor has been replaced and I get the occasional weird electrical glitches with this lens but nothing that keeps it from capturing the image. This lens desperately needs to be redone incorporating the latest AF motor technologies.

I'm posting seven images which I hope show the range of what this lens can do and they are not meant to be "artistic" per se.. Many of them are full size. I strongly recommend using a good polarizing filter when shooting in the American SW. It truly enhances the images, especially the colors and contrast.

Enjoy

Nice images!!

The 50-135 was a flawed genius. Incredible optics but that SDM was slow, broke down and occasionally froze up my k3 at weddings....

To refresh that lens would be a good option for Pentax

PentUp
PentUp Veteran Member • Posts: 4,188
Re: Shooting the beautiful American SW with the DA* 50-135mm.

robbo d wrote:

The 50-135 was a flawed genius

To refresh that lens would be a good option for Pentax

Indeed!

 PentUp's gear list:PentUp's gear list
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ300 Canon G7 X II Pentax K-x Pentax K-5 II Pentax K-50 +12 more
kriztian Senior Member • Posts: 1,449
Re: Shooting the beautiful American SW with the DA* 50-135mm.

Very fine, thanks for posting

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kriztian

OP manual_focus Senior Member • Posts: 1,515
Re: Shooting the beautiful American SW with the DA* 50-135mm.

robbo d wrote:

manual_focus wrote:

Spent this spring exploring the deserts and canyonlands of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Texas and brought my K3-II with the DA* 50-135mm, the DA 20-40mm Limited, and the DA* 11-18mm. By far the lens I used most was the optically excellent DA*50-135mm. Yes, the AF motor has been replaced and I get the occasional weird electrical glitches with this lens but nothing that keeps it from capturing the image. This lens desperately needs to be redone incorporating the latest AF motor technologies.

I'm posting seven images which I hope show the range of what this lens can do and they are not meant to be "artistic" per se.. Many of them are full size. I strongly recommend using a good polarizing filter when shooting in the American SW. It truly enhances the images, especially the colors and contrast.

Enjoy

Nice images!!

The 50-135 was a flawed genius. Incredible optics but that SDM was slow, broke down and occasionally froze up my k3 at weddings....

To refresh that lens would be a good option for Pentax

Yes, I don't know how many times I've pull the battery to unfreeze my K3ii. Luckily I'm not on the clock and have the time.

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