SMC Pentax DA* 200mm f/2.8 ED[IF] SDM Review

By Carl Weese

We all know what long lenses are for. To "reach out" to distant subjects and "bring them closer." Except, this isn't really so. A lens that is long for a given format simply isolates a small detail of the view in front of the camera (called the "angle of view," in this case a narrow one), when compared to a lens of normal length. Of course this does mean that you can fill the frame with a relatively small subject from a relatively long distance. This is vital for photographers who want to make pictures of subjects that are difficult to approach closely, like wildlife or sports action. Since I don't tend to photograph those subjects, and since I like to work up close to the people and things I do photograph, I work almost exclusively with normal or moderate wide angle lenses.

However, there's another use for long lenses, which is to photograph a perfectly ordinary, approachable, subject from an unusually distant position. This does some really interesting things to the look of a subject, and to the way it relates visually with foreground and/or background elements.

Spring Trees, Kent, Connecticut

While I seldom use moderately long lenses (sometimes called "portrait length"), I've always had a soft spot for a really long but hand-hold-able lens along the lines of a 300mm ƒ/2.8 for 35mm film format. So, some weeks ago when the Pentax elves from Golden, Colorado, asked if I'd like to try out their newly introduced 200mm ƒ/2.8 (for APS-C sensor size), I jumped at the chance.

Power Lines, Torrington, Connecticut

The first thing I noticed out of the box was that the build quality and materials of this DA* (say "dee-ay-star") lens is first rate, seemingly in the same league as their "Limited" lens line. The next thing I noticed was how a lens of this type really makes the APS-C sensor format shine. This is a hefty amalgam of glass and mechanicals, but compared to the equivalent 300mm ƒ/2.8 lens I had years ago for my film Nikon cameras, this lens is diminutive. It fits easily into any tall compartment/section of a typical shoulder bag. Also, while they certainly aren't giving it away, the cost is a fraction of what an equivalent lens for "full frame" or FX format will set you back. I think that's important because it means that someone with tastes similar to mine just might be able to find room in the budget to acquire this lens while the expenditure for its "full-frame" avatar would simply not be justifiable for a lens you use only once in a while.

This is the first Pentax "SDM" lens I've had a chance to use. That's their term for high-tech motor-in-the-lens autofocus technology. So the second thing I noticed about this lens was that the focus mechanism is so fast it's startling. There's no way I could possibly spin the manual focus ring and move those big pieces of glass that fast, much less stop on a dime at the correct distance. Even so, another nice thing is that a lens this long and this fast is really easy to focus manually, even in an APS-C viewfinder. Believe it or not, there are plenty of situations where I really prefer to focus manually and the relative difficulty of doing this with short, slow, lenses is perhaps my biggest gripe with the APS-C format. As with all recent Pentax digital lenses, if the camera is set to single AF you can instantly go manual—for a single shot—simply by twisting the manual focus ring, without having to throw any AF-to-MF switches. The lens features IF (Internal Focusing) so in either auto or manual focus the lens shows no external change, neither in length nor rotation, as you focus through the range.

The third thing I noticed was a problem with this particular sample of the lens: a major front focus error. At a distance of ten yards or so the plane of focus is off by a couple of feet. It was obvious the moment I looked at my first test exposures on a monitor. Luckily, my K20D has the feature of user-accessible AF correction for individual lens types. Luckily again, the entire amount of available correction was just enough to set the camera/lens system perfectly. But to use AF on any Pentax prior to the K20D, this particular lens would have to go straight back for service.

With that, let's get to my only other negative comment on this lens, which is that it sometimes displays more flare than I'd like to see, despite its well-designed deep lens hood (which reverses for storage). This is a little tricky to analyze because the pictures we tend to make with a lens this long can pack a lot of air between the photographer and the subject. Spring and early summer in New England are not known for crystal-clear atmospheric conditions, and compressed haze can look a lot like flare. But it became clear to me that in very bright conditions, and especially if brilliantly lighted objects are in a deeply out of focus background, the overall image can be degraded by non-imaging flare density. Often this can be quickly remedied with a liberal application of the Contrast and Black sliders in ACR, but it's a problem that could once in a while ruin a potentially good picture. I doubt that this is a sample problem but more likely results from less than ideal suppression of internal reflections by the lens coatings.

Back to fun stuff:

Poppies, Washington, Connecticut

These poppies at a friend's wildflower garden could have been photographed with any normal, or macro, or short-tele lens, but there's something really different about making such a narrow-angle view from a couple yards away with the 300mm-equivalent focal length. As with the other illustrations here, the shot was hand held. I set the controls for C(ontinuous)AF and Auto-Select and just watched as the system snapped the focus point around when I changed framing.

I was curious how auto-everything-AF would handle "action" and took the lens to a couple of parades. Obviously, the auto-select mechanism will sometimes choose the "wrong" focus point, meaning simply "not what I would have chosen." But for the most part it seemed quite clever, generally favoring closer objects in the scene but without obstinately grabbing for the nearest possible point. Given that the mechanism is faster and more decisive than I can be turning the focus ring myself, I suspect in terms of general average success rate the camera would beat me with moving subjects, despite sometimes picking the wrong focus point. I also tried using S(ingle)AF with S(elective) focus point. On the Pentax you can move the selected point around with the navigation buttons on the camera back. So, for example, as you spot a potential picture and realize the part you want to focus is left of, and below, center, you can thumb the West and South navigation buttons as you aim and the lens will snap-to on the selected spot as you half-squeeze the shutter release. With enough practice, I think I could learn to use this approach well enough to beat the auto-everything success rate. You can see some of these trials over at my Working Pictures blog archives [May 28, June 4].

Memorial Day, Naugatuck, Connecticut

This was a situation where I was glad that manual focus is so smooth and decisive with the D* 200mm ƒ/2.8. Auto-select AF would have been hopelessly confused by all the figures in the foreground, and the sergeant's face did not fall at any of the 11 AF points the way I wanted to frame the picture. On top of that, since she was not standing at attention, she wasn't holding perfectly still, while everyone else was moving around a lot. Manual focus was the simplest way to get the shot. It's worth noting that the file is extremely clean and flare-free despite the harsh overhead sunlight. It takes much worse conditions than this to bring on the flare mentioned earlier.

I haven't said anything to answer the perennial question "but how sharp is it?" Well, earlier this week I delivered two pictures graphically similar to the one at the top of this post, prints interpolated up to 16x24" image area. The response, from a client looking at them right up close, from reading distance, was, "look at the detail!" It's sharp enough.

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Carl's website 
Working Pictures
WPII

Comments

[Andy Farrell]

Hi Carl,

If you get the chance to use the DA☆ 50-135mm, would you be able to comment on that lens' and the 200mm's relative focus speeds? I really like my 50-135 but AF speed is definitely not one of its strengths (on a K10D - perhaps it's faster on a K20D).

Also, how does the DA☆ 200mm perform for shooting headshots? I find that 135mm is generally tight enough that I don't have to get uncomfortably close, but a bit more distance between me and the subject could produce interesting results.

[Miserere]

Carl, thanks for the mini-review. But one thing, don't forget the 'A'. It's not the D*, it's the DA*.

Little things like this matter to us Pentaxians :-)

Oh, and where do I have to sign to have the Colorado Elves send *ME* a lens to test...?

[Eolake]

Funny thing: a Danish photographer, Mogens G. Stryhn, in the seventies famously declared the 300mm lens to be his "normal lens".

He liked to photograph against strong light, and often used his car to shoot through as a lens hood.

His most famous book is called "Cultural Emperialism" (Kulturemperialisme) and he claimed that it was a strong statement about letting the third world be itself instead of making it into Europe. However, as far as I could see the book actually contained simply very competent and pretty pictures of people and places.

At an event I was at, a speaker had briefly mentioned the The Golden Section, and when Mogens later spoke, he very sarcastically mentioned it when he saw a Golden Section in one of his own pictures. Clearly a person who defines himself as much about what he's against as about what he's for.

It seems he is still active and selling his pictures and books, apparently at prices so low one wonders how he does it.

[Shadzee]

I wish you guys (Carl/Mike) would finish your K20 review.... before the current 5D rebate period ends ;-)

You know what i mean? ;-)

If there were only comparable lenses to the DA 35/macro, DA*200, DA21 LTD, FA 43 LTD, DA 70 LTD available in other mounts !!

The combination of DA21, DA35 LTD, DA*50-135, DA*200 is a KILLER kit. D700, 5D be damned.

[ttt]

i spent all day thinking about this lens and it was a pleasant surprise that you've tested it out today. just when i convinced myself i didn't need it :@

[Peter Hovmand]

Interesting ... I will try to give my tele lenses a new chance. Several years ago I did a lot of 85mm shots on Kodachrome film. It seemed to fit my way of seeing things.

(But for the last couple of years I mostly did 28mm (42mm equivalent) shots. And I love it!)

[Ray]

Thanks for that - it's really nice to see a review that concentrates on *the experience of using* the kit in question, rather than its absolute sharpness. As long as sharpness is "sufficient", the question of whether it works well in practice is rather more important. This sounds like a good'un from that perspective.

[Brian]

Great review. Being also a fan of primes I am considering this lens, the review is very helpful.

Additionaly,I have written Pentax and gotten no reply to a question I have and wondered if anyone can answer for me. Are new digital only limited lenses also weather resistant so I can safely use them in the rain with my K10 (or hopefully K20 in the future)? If not would I be putting the camera at risk, or just the lens?

[Adam Maas]

It's an excellent lens from the results I've been seeing over on the PDML, as is its sibling the DA* 300mm f4 SDM.

I'm wondering if these two lenses use ring-motor USM, as the first SDM lenses (the 16-50 and 50-135) use micro-motor SDM and aren't noted for their AF performance.

Also, sadly, there's one exception to the rule that all DA and D-FA lenses have Quick-Shift Focus (Pentax's term for full-time manual override), the DA 18-250 lacks this feature. However its also the only lens in the DA lineup which doesn't have Pentax-originated physical design. The Tokina-derived designs have Pentax-designed barrels and focusing systems. The 18-250 is a tweaked and rebadged Tamron, the only thing pentax about it is the coating).

[Carl Weese]

Andy, I've not had a chance to try the 50-135. As for the 200 for "head shots" on APS-C, it's a matter of personal preference but that would be much too long for me. It would push you far enough back to make the connection to the subject pretty tenuous. The lens can do it, mechanically, but unless your subject is a half-starved fashion model the result may not be flattering. The compression from shooting so far away "adds pounds" to anyone's appearance.

Eolake, 300 as normal? Hmmm...I wasn't aware of the Danish photographer you mention, but during the 60s 70s and later there was a style of American commercial/corporate photography that centered on really long lenses and Kodachrome film. Jay Maisel was probably the most successful practitioner and I think originated the style. But for me, a lens like this is in the "now for something completely different" category to occasionally break away from my pretty consistent wide to normal viewpoint.

[Andre]

Brian,

In Pentax land all of (and so far only) the DA* series lenses are dust and weather sealed. Pentax uses the * to mark their premium glass much like Canon's L series.

-Andre

[Miserere]

Brian, as far as I'm aware, only the DA* lenses are weather resistant, not the Ltds. But a plastic bag and a couple of rubber bands is all it takes to make any lens weather resistant :-)

[Miserere]

Brian, as far as I'm aware, only the DA* lenses are weather resistant, not the Ltds. But a plastic bag and a couple of rubber bands is all it takes to make any lens weather resistant :-)

[Michael Perham]

I find trying to use the four way controller to move the focus point a bit slow. My usual MO is to use the single central focus point to gain focus on the off center subject, and then simply recompose the picture.

[Robin Parmar]

Miserere: When you move the lens to change the center focus point you change the angle between yourself and the subject. Thus any shot with a small DOF will be put out of focus. Learn to move the focus point instead of the lens, or, as the author states, manually focus when the going gets tough.