Pentax a 70 210 f4 review

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I was both excited and reserved to try this lens. At one side, it's an 80's zoom, not a prime time for zoom, but on the other hand, it was getting really good reviews online. My experience is somewhere in the middle.

It's a beautiful, well designed one-touch, slide to zoom and turn to focus, lens of epic proportions, with a nice build-in hood. To get to a fast F4 across the whole zoom range, zoom lenses of this time had to be big, until more compact lenses were designsed. My Sony camera almost disappears next to it. Yes, it's large and heavy with a lot of solid metal. The weight of the barrel alone seems to cause a lot of zoom creep with many users. I did not really had that problem, unless I held the lens completely vertical. Both zoom and aperture were extremely smooth, almost as fresh out of production.

This lens is capable of being very sharp, but when using large apertures, it does show some problems with sharpness and severe purple color fringing. So as long as you remain a few steps away from open aperture, and avoid maximum zoom, the quality is excellent. However, due to the size and weight, it's really hard to focus properly (manually of course) when using it handheld, resulting in a high percentage of wasted pictures. It should be used on a tripod, but as it does not have a tripod attachment on the lens itself, and lacks the space to put on a lens collar, you have the mount the camera itself on the tripod. And this lens is just to heavy to be carried by the camera mount alone, again resulting in less stability, and therefore less sharpness. So, capable of good quality, but not practical in usage. I prefer a more modern zoom design that is more compact and has less weight.

From online reviews, it seems this lens really shines when being used for close-up photography, especially with 8 blades giving potential for a smooth Bokeh. I did not have the opportunity to try it out on my walks as it is getting a little late in the year for flowers. So, a good excuse to take this lens out again in the summer for some Flower Power.

To combat partial reflection, Pentax developed chemical coatings for the lens surfaces with minimum light loss. SMC is "a remarkable seven-layer lens coating process that cuts the reflection ratio down to just 0.2% per lens surface. The result is a dramatic improvement in both color fidelity and brightness and the elimination of flare and ghost images."

SMC was patented and first applied in 1971, when Pentax was still making screw mount equipment. The multi-coated lens lines changed from Takumar and Super-Takumar to Super-Multi-Coated Takumar and later on to SMC Takumar. SMC Pentax was used for the newly introduced K-mount lenses. Pentax's SMC is still today considered as one of the best lens coatings on the market.

The weight is a fairly modest 819g or 859g with the hood attached. This is, as mentioned above, less than half the weight of its f/2.8 big brother and the lens sits well and balances well on the K-1 or K-1 II full-frame DSLRs. If one of the APS-C format crop sensor DSLRs is used the “35mm-format equivalent” field of view becomes 107-322mm. The lens still balances well even on the smaller camera bodies.

The zoom ring is at the front of the lens and has no effect on the overall length of the lens. There are clear and accurate markings of 70mm, 100mm, 135mm and 210mm. Even in 2020, the marking of 135mm reveals a photographic heritage that harks back to the Leica rangefinder cameras, a seemingly illogical length that is the tipping point beyond which rangefinders were no longer accurate enough and the SLR was better for focusing accuracy. AF, of course, renders this somewhat academic, but the focal length still lingers on. The zoom action is smooth and positive.

Behind the zoom ring, a small plastic window reveals the focus scale, clearly marked in both feet and metres. There is no provision for depth of field scales with this design of zoom. We then come to the manual focus ring, which is fully usable in both AF and MF settings via Pentax's QuickShift system. The grip we take on the lens needs to take account of the focusing being live during AF, otherwise with fingers on the zoom control we could catch the MF ring accidentally. This is a consequence of the wide MF ring being closer to the camera body, but with the right technique in holding then, this should not be a major problem. Focusing is down to 0.95m, or 3.1 feet, giving a maximum magnification of 0.32x. The close focusing is very useful and especially so at 210mm which gives huge potential for close shooting from a good working distance, so ideal perhaps for insects and small creatures.

There are two lens switches, the AF/MF one being self-explanatory and the limiter limiting the AF focusing range to 2m to infinity. AF is via an SDM motor, silent and fast in operation and a huge advance on the original SDM system. There is no hunting and the AF is not only crisp but also accurate.

Optical construction is 20 elements in 14 groups. The diaphragm has 9 rounded blades, which offer a circular aperture from f/4 to f/9.5. Lens coatings are the new Pentax HD (High Definition) multi-coating, offering even better flare suppression than the previous SMC coatings. The front element has a Fluorine SP (Super Protect) coating to repel dust, moisture and grease. The lens is also weather-resistant, one of the most advantageous improvements to lenses in general in the past few years.

The well-made metal lens mount is designated KAF 4, indicating that there is an electromatic diaphragm. This means that some earlier Pentax bodies will not be able to stop down the lens, but all recent ones will be fine. The Ricoh website has a list of compatible bodies.

There are rarely any handling quirks with Pentax cameras and lenses, which are straightforward and slick in operation. The lens is a great example of a well designed and highly functional photographic tool.

HD Pentax-D FA 70-210mm f/4 ED SDM WR Performance

First the resolution figures, and at 70mm central sharpness is very good from f/4 all the way through to f/22, only becoming really affected by diffraction at f/32 which is just fair. The edges are very good from f/4 to f/16, good at f/22 and fair at f/32.

At 100mm, sharpness centrally is very good from f/4 to f/22 and good at f/32. The edges are very good from f/4 to f/16, good at f/22 and fair at f/32.

135mm sees the sharpness centrally as very good from f/4 to f/16, good at f/22 and fair at f/32. The edges are good at f/4 and f/5.6, very good at f/8 and f/11, good at f/16 and f/22 and fair at f/32.

At 210mm, central sharpness is good at f/4, very good from f/8 to f/16, good at f/22 and fair at f/32. The edges are fair at f/4, good at f/5.6 and f/8, very good at f/11, good at f/16 and fair at f/22 and f/32.

Performance is actually very similar to the f/2.8 version, perhaps just a whisker below in terms of sharpness, but still notable for its evenness from centre to edge and its character. The resolution isn't the highest ever recorded, but it is very good and it retains the indefinable quality that Pentax lenses show in general. That is where the balance of lens properties lies and is part of the lens maker's art, going beyond having just the ability to separate black and white lines on a photographic chart. Very few of us spend our lives shooting test charts.

Pentax HD Pentax-D FA 70-210mm f/4 ED SDM WR MTF Charts

How to read our MTF charts

The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges.

The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution and sharpness as LW/PH and is described in detail above. The taller the column, the better the lens performance.

For this review, the lens was tested on aPentax K-1 II using Imatest.

CA (Chromatic Aberration) is very well handled, even with the in-camera corrections switched off. Central CA is extremely low, and although there is some edge fringing it is far less than many other zoom lenses and can be corrected in software if desired.

Pentax HD Pentax-D FA 70-210mm f/4 ED SDM WR Chromatic Aberration Charts

How to read our CA charts

Chromatic aberration (CA) is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software.

Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost

For this review, the lens was tested on a Pentax K-1 II using Imatest.

Distortion is also very low for a zoom lens, showing -1.18% barrel at 70mm, +0.38% Pincushion at 100mm, +1.11% pincushion at 135mm and +1.57% pincushion at 210mm.

Bokeh, the quality of the out of focus areas, is very smooth and ideal for portraiture or any other application where smooth gradation is wanted in the out of focus areas.

The new Pentax HD coating does its job well and there is virtually no sign of flare even in quite difficult conditions such as strong backlighting.

Aperture 70mm 100mm 135mm 210mm f/4 -1.4 -0.9 -1.3 -1.3 f/5.6 -1.2 -0.7 -1.1 -1.1 f/8 -1.1 -0.6 -1 -1 f/11 -1 -0.6 -0.9 -0.9 f/16 -1 -0.6 -0.9 -0.9 f/22 -1 -0.5 -0.9 -0.9 f/32 -0.9 -0.5 -0.9 -0.9

Vignetting is modest and is not particularly obvious in most images.

Pentax HD Pentax-D FA 70-210mm f/4 ED SDM WR Sample Photos

Pentax HD Pentax-D FA 70-210mm f/4 ED SDM WR Aperture range

Value For Money

The HD Pentax-D FA 70-210mm f/4 ED SDM WR lens is priced at £1199. The alternative for Pentax users is the HD Pentax-D FA* 70-200mm f/2.8 ED DC AW lens at £1699. This latter price is somewhat lower than the introductory one, so the f/4 lens may, of course, settle in time. For now, it offers a saving in cost of £500.

There being no other Pentax options, to gauge value for money we could look at the costs that other marques pay for similar optics:

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 ED VR, £1349 Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS II USM, £1299 Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM, £999 Sony FE 70-200mm f/4G OSS, £1149 Tamron 70-210mm f/4 Di VC USD, £549

Compared to what the cost would be of a similar marque lens with shake reduction, the Pentax does look good value for money.

HD Pentax-D FA 70-210mm f/4 ED SDM WR Verdict

There has been a tendency for many lenses to get bigger and heavier and it is a welcome change to have a smaller, lighter and less costly option. Although we sacrifice one stop with the f/4 maximum aperture, for many applications this is not really a problem. Current cameras have excellent high ISO performance, and this can more than make up for a slightly slower aperture. We do of course lose out on depth of field control and for some, this will mean the f/2.8 lens will be the one of choice, but where this is not an issue the f/4 versions will offer a trimmer product that is less onerous to carry around, provided of course that there is no penalty in terms of performance.

The f/2.8 lens is actually one of Pentax's star range of superior optics, but in fact, this f/4 version is not very far behind. The figures for resolution are very slightly lower, but the difference is not a deal-breaker by any means. It is even possible to make satisfactory images at f/32 where, although diffraction will certainly take the edge off the fine detail, if depth of field is the main requirement then it is a good thing that the smallest aperture is available.

Of course, what we can't measure is that indefinable “something” that makes an image glow and this lens does have some of that quality. It can't be given a quantity, but I can say that the Pentax-D FA 70-210mm f/4 ED SDM WR lens is now on my own shopping list and it comes Highly Recommended.

What do letters mean for Pentax lenses?

DA: like FAJ, but optimized for digital bodies and covering the image circle of the reduced-size digital sensor. D FA: like FA, but the optics are optimized for both film and digital. DA L: like DA, but featuring a very light construction, thus optimally paired with very compact and light bodies like the K-m.

What is a Pentax FA lens?

SMC Pentax-FA lenses have fixed focal lengths and can be used with both Film and Digital Pentax SLRs. They cover the full-frame 24x36mm image circle. Auto-focus. Auto-aperture (aperture ring available) Select lenses feature Power Zoom.