Although the new 300mm seems a good idea at first, there are several things about it that I am not too thrilled about. This 3x lens will be used for landscapes, some wildlife and portraits on occasion. On my 300 Takumar, the f/45 stop is really necessary for DOF in landscape work. Diffraction is not a problem because the aperture is only at 6.6mm. Pentax should have asked the current users for their opinion before the design phase started. The other negative is price. How many 400mm ED lenses do we see out there? Not many. The reason is that the price prevents purchases. The 300ED may suffer the same problem. I'm sure it's sharp at f/4 but it doesn't do me much good if I can't afford one. BTW, the 300 Takumar is quite sharp at f/5.6 SR

-- Steve Rasmussen (srasmuss@flash.net), December 22, 1999

Answers

Patrick, the internal focus is a good thing because it prevents dust from getting inside the barrel. The tripod mount on the lens barrel is also an improvement that will reduce shutter shake softness. Going to ED glass is a mistake because it increases the price beyond what most can afford. They should have kept the five element design and just corrected for four colors(superachromatic) or even five. This would require a redesign using different glass of course. The old design was corrected for blue, red and yellow. The degree of color correction required on a 300mm is far less than what is necessary on a 600mm to prevent fringing. This is why I feel ED is a mistake for the 300. I did send Pentax an email concerning the 300 but got no response. SR

-- Steve Rasmussen (srasmuss@flash.net), December 29, 1999.

Steve, I've read on other forums the new 300 will be internal focus. My current lenses are 45, 105, 165LS and 600 so the 300 would be a logical final addition (unless you can talk Pentax into making the 35 rectalinear).

-- Patrick Drennon (sierraengineering@worldnet.att.net), December 29, 1999.

Introduction is getting closer and I suspect it will be shown at PMA next month. Pentax Canada has it listed on their regular 67 lenses lineup @ http://www.pentaxcanada.ca/eng/products/6x7lenses.html

-- Garrett Adams (gadams@jps.net), January 09, 2000.