At 9/9/01 04:19 PM, Tom wrote:
So, my dilemma. Do I keep a nice OM setup for macro photography and general
photography, but sell enough to finance a decent autofocus system for
sports? I'd need a decent zoom for outdoor sports and a fast mid-length
telephoto for indoor sports. An 85/2 and a 50/1.2 for example.
Like a few other members, I have a Pentax ZX-5n system, with a Pentax FA
28~200/f3.5~5.6 (not very good), a Pentax FA 100/f3.5 Macro (OK), and a
Pentax FA 80~320/f4.5~5.6. My favorite by far is the 80~320, which I use a
lot photographing dog shows. The lens is light, but not very fast in
aperture nor AF speed... actually, Pentax is not known for the speed of its
autofocus, possibly because they have stayed with in-camera focus motors,
versus in-lens. And, as also noted, everything is pretty plastic-y. Don't
know if the new MZ-1 will be better. I can't imagine my ZX-5n surviving 10
years of moderately heavy use - I think the "wunderbrick" class of cameras
is designed fundamentally as a non-maintainable, sophisticated throw-aways.
It would be interesting to know the design lifetime (in rolls of film, say)
of current autofocus cameras.... probably scary!
You might want to look into the Contax N1 system - pricey, but solid, I
hear. And supposedly there is digital Contax coming soon that will use the
same autofocus lenses as the N1 (even though this is contrary to the
Olympus claim that lenses require different designs for CCDs versus film..).
I developed my case of Zuikoholism AFTER years with the Pentax AF, and
while I still like the Pentax for dog shoes, the Olympus is now my system
of choice for almost everything else!
Renting a couple of systems to try them out really makes sense.....
Curt
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