Thoughts on 50-135mm and K3iii

Spent several days in NYC and was shooting with the DA* 50-135 f/2.8 and the K3iii. It was a great place to see how the new K3iii AF system performs with the 50-135mm. The question I was seeking an answer to is, "Should the new DA* 50-135mm f/2.8 simply update the AF motor or should it also be sharper".

I did two primary series of shots. One at the Bryant Park skating rink and then on cyclists that are constantly moving in the city's bike lanes. I used an aperture of 2.8 for all the shots at Bryant Park and to compare sharpness, I also shot with the new DA* 16-50mm PLM at 50mm. To round out the series I also shot a few atmosphere shots at f/2.8 and to compare also at f/4.

After looking at the series of images I have an answer to my question which I'll share at the bottom so as not to influence anyone. I know that Pentax/Ricoh is working on new lenses that are not on the roadmap and I have to believe an update to the 50-135mm has to be one of them. Should they do a simple PLM motor update or also increase the sharpness/ IQ and raise the price and weight?

I would say the new K3iii did very well with it's new AF system. Both series were taken under poor lighting conditions and with everyone wearing a COVID mask and a hat it was very difficult to find anyone's eyes. The success rate was around two-thirds. The cyclists (and skaters?) were traveling around 5-10 mph.

Enjoy!

1) Full size crops. Top row was shot with the 50-135mm at f/2.8 at 75mm and 50mm. Bottom row was taken with the PLM 16-50mm at f/2.8 at 50mm. Grey overcast day.

DA* 50-135mm at f/2.8 at 80mm. Notice the focus point was the man in the middle. Normally the K3iii goes for the closest eyes but in this case it may have been that the eyes of the closer woman was too hard to decipher.

3) A series of three. DA* 50-135 at f/5.6 at 122.5 mm @ ~1/200 sec.

The focus point in the first image is hard to place. I almost think it is the last rider. He has the clearest eyes? For the second two images the closest eyes have it.

DA* 50-135 at f/5.6 at 122.5 mm @ 1/200 sec. Not everybody riding is a delivery person! It wasn't until the cyclists got close that they noticed me shooting. The smaller the camera setup the better.

DA* 50-135 at f/5.6 at 122.5 mm @ 1/125 sec. There were no eyes to see but the camera made a pretty good estimate of where to focus.

DA* 50-135 at f/2.8 at 107.5 mm @ 1/60 sec.

DA* 50-135mm f/4 at 90mm. Rose was ~2-3 m away with the sidewalk another 4-5 m further on.

DA* 50-135mm. Top image was at f/2.8 and the bottom at f/4. To show the change in OOF/Bokeh.

I believe they should make the new DA* 50-135mm f/2.8 as sharp as the new 16-50mm. I would pay more and accept some increase in weight to get it. I could see increasing the lens diameter to 77mm but not much more. Having a lens that is easy to handle is also very important on an APS-C camera.

Best when viewed at 'original size'.

Hi

Thanks for sharing these.  What AF settings/focus area were you using?

Thanks for the post, and it's a nice series.

Your shutter speed choices are a bit hard to understand.  I doubt anyone at the ice rink needed 1/2000, so you were leaving a lot of light on the table.  On the other hand, 1/200 is slow for a bike rider, which probably kept you from discerning how well the AF-C was nailing focus on the eyes.

I personally would like to have an updated version this lens, and I agree with your thoughts.

Adam

Yes when you try to use AFS; subjects have moved out of the focus plane by the time the shutter fires. All look pretty good to me.

Pentax should go mirrorless. Not sure why they are not considering it. Financial issues? With mirroless most AF issues will be solved and manual focus with those old vintage pentax lenses will be 10 times easier and smoother.

Staying DSLR is not a a solution. It's a dead-end. I hope Pentax are working hard on this and not telling us.

henrikbengtsson wrote:

Pentax should go mirrorless. Not sure why they are not considering it. Financial issues? With mirroless most AF issues will be solved and manual focus with those old vintage pentax lenses will be 10 times easier and smoother.

Staying DSLR is not a a solution. It's a dead-end. I hope Pentax are working hard on this and not telling us.

There's mirrorless choice enough without Pentax having to join the mix!

Manual focus with a Pentax DSLR has never been a problem for me. Just check the little green hexagon in the viewfinder … job done!

DSLR may be a dead end, but it's a unique dead end … like Leica or Hasselblad!

kypfer wrote:

henrikbengtsson wrote:

Pentax should go mirrorless. Not sure why they are not considering it. Financial issues? With mirroless most AF issues will be solved and manual focus with those old vintage pentax lenses will be 10 times easier and smoother.

Staying DSLR is not a a solution. It's a dead-end. I hope Pentax are working hard on this and not telling us.

There's mirrorless choice enough without Pentax having to join the mix!

Manual focus with a Pentax DSLR has never been a problem for me. Just check the little green hexagon in the viewfinder … job done!

DSLR may be a dead end, but it's a unique dead end … like Leica or Hasselblad!

There are many mirrorless choices for a reason. It is simply a new generation of camera technology and should not be considered as brand specific solutions. I don't know about unique dead end. Does it mean that we have to accept the fate?

My main system is Canon mirrorless and initially I wasn't sure about it. Didn't feel mature with the EOS R. But now....the tech is just lightyears ahead and I can't see any reason at all to stay DSLR these days. Pentax may call it unique or "the no 1 in the DSLR market".... simply because most have left it (or will leave it).

Unless Pentax is slowly deliberately decomissioning its camera division (I hope not) they need to go mirrorless really really soon.

I like Pentax and their solutions. I really hope they stay in business. But instead of asking for better AF performance in lenses I think we should fight for mirrlorless. Even the worst autofocusing pentax lens in the history will become reliable on mirrorless. Tis the truth!

PortrayingLife wrote:… then there's:

https://smcpentax-blogspot-com.translate.goog/2021/04/pentax-k-3-mark-iii.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US

Hard to argue against, seems to me.

Cheers… M

WOW!

I knew it was good … I just never realised how good! Those a/f tracking shots are amazing!

I really will have to get out more with mine

Upgrade the motor - yes, definately.  Updated coatings of course.  Possible go for round aperture blades if they are not there already.

Bigger, heavier more expensive for better IQ?  No.  It is more than good enough as it is even the new 16-50 PLM beats it at 50mm.  It is an APSC lens, keep it size appropriate.

Doug

henrikbengtsson wrote:

Unless Pentax is slowly deliberately decomissioning its camera division (I hope not) they need to go mirrorless really really soon.

Pentax cameras are a product of Ricoh these days. All their other divisions were pilfered by Hoya.

Frankly for better or worse Pentax is stuck with DSLR. They would have had to have gone mirrorless before Canon and Nikon did to capture enough new users to make it worthwhile.