Pentax HD D FA* 70-200mm f/2.8 ED DC AW Review

HD PENTAX-D FA* 70-200mm f/2.8 ED DC AW Handling and Features

The Pentax-D FA* 70-200mm f/2.8 ED DC AW lens is one of the Star designated lenses in the range. These lenses are intended to represent the pinnacle of quality, so expectations will be high.

This lens is undoubtedly an impressive bit of kit, a hefty chunk of glass and metal with an impeccable quality of finish. The bayonet hood adds to that impression, a fairly long petal design that bayonets cleanly and easily into position. There is a removable section in the hood to enable polarising filters and the like to be rotated without removing it from the lens. This is a very simple and useful idea.

The very wide zooming ring is firmer in action that the other new lenses, but still smooth in operation.

Closer to the camera body is the manual focus ring, which is also wider than the other new lenses. The action is again firmer, but still very smooth. The Quick Shift clutch mechanism allows manual focus adjustments whilst using AF, and this time there are some alternative modes of operation provided. There is a three position switch. QFS/A allows manual tweaks after the AF has locked on. QFS/M allows manual adjustment even during the AF process. MF is the setting for manual focus.

The second lens switch is a focus range limiter, giving the choice of the full range, 1.2 – 4m or 4m to infinity. This can be useful where subject matter falls within a particular range, preventing the lens from trying to find focus over the whole available distance. The focus setting can be seen on the distance scale, behind a clear plastic window.

There is a substantial tripod handle that is removable if required. It also allows for rotation of the lens, so that when on a tripod the camera can be rotated for landscape or portrait format at will.

The lens has the latest HD (High Definition) multi-coating, plus an SP (Super-Protect) coating on the front element to repel water, grease and dirt. In addition, there is an Aero Bright Coating II layer, which is a form of nano crystal technology. The combination of this with the HD multi-coating promises unequalled resistance to flare.

The crisp and efficient DC motor drives the AF system and is quiet, fast and reliable.

The 70-200mm is designated as an AW (All Weather) lens, implying a superior form of weather resistance compared to the WR lenses. There are a total of 13 seals in the lens to achieve resistance to water, dust, splashes and mist.

Optical construction is 19 elements in 16 groups. There are 4 Super Low Dispersion glass elements, 2 ED (Extra Low Dispersion) elements and 2 Super ED glass elements. The latter Super ED elements have properties similar to fluorite and enhance the control of chromatic aberration. The diaphragm has nine rounded blades, which helps to improve bokeh, the smoothness of the out of focus areas. This is a constant aperture zoom, with a bright f/2.8 maximum aperture, so it is ideal for lower light levels and for calculating flash levels manually.

Closest focusing distance is a useful 1.2m (3.9 feet), a magnification of 0.13x. The filter thread takes 77mm filters. Finally, the lens weighs 1755g on its own, 1835g with hood and 2030g with hood and tripod handle.

70-200mm on 35mm-format equates to 107-307mm on APS-C, and this lens can, of course, be used on all the previous crop sensor Pentax DSLRs. For older cameras, the AF system needs a K10D (with firmware 1.3) or later, otherwise it will be manual focus only. This means that all Pentax bodies from the last few years will be fully compatible.

Although this is quite a heavy lens, it balances well on the K-1 body and presents no handling issues. Pentax lenses are generally very easy and hassle-free to use and this is no exception.

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