Centon lenses

[jonathan_underwood]

Hi

 

I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with the Centon 28-70 and

70-210 zoom lenses available in the UK. Are these good lenses for the

price ? They seem to have the same design as the minolta MD

equivalent?

 

Thanks

jonathan

[art_haykin]

I've not heard of Centon, but they sound, repeat SOUND like one of scores of re-branded lenses made by a few Japanese optical houses. Also, what is the price for new?

[jonathan_underwood]

Well, they're rebranded Seagull lenses, made in china, www.camerachina.com.

 

Lens prices in the UK:

50mm f1.7 £32.50

28-70mm £76.90

70-210mm f3.4-4.8 £76.90

 

They come with pentax K mounts, or Minolta MD mounts. This comapny sell reproductions of the Minolta X-370s called a Centon DF-300, and the Pentax K1000, called a Centon K100. They also do other things such as a K200 and K400 whih have added features. The cameras are supposed to be very good purchases, but I have no idea about the lenses, hence the question :)

[h._p.]

For what it's worth, I believe that one of the magazines said that they're based on Tamron designs. If that's the case, then they should be reasonable in theory but you may be up against quality control problems. Ask your local Jessop if they'll let you have a week's return privileges. I think the managers have a fair amount of leeway on such matters.

[40mm]

I don't know the zooms you mention, but I once, briefly, had a Centon 500mm mirror lens. I was poor and it was cheap. Unfortunately, the results were appallingly bad. As in 'seriously unable to render anything even vaguely sharp on a 4x6' bad. I could see the slides were soft even without a loupe. I got about UKP40 for it on trade-in, if I recall correctly, and thought that was generous.

[Brian]

For the new price of a Centon lens you should be able to get a used Minolta lens. I've never used Centon lenses but, without being too unkind to them, I don't expect them to be as good as the Minolta equivalents. The Minolta MD zoom 70-210mm f4 is one of the best in that focal length.

[paul_williams3]

It looks like a few people are giving a bit of advice without actually having any experience of this kit. I have a Centon K100 and both the 28-70mm and 70-210mm lenses. I didn't buy until I'd done a good deal of research. Firstly, let me point out that I am a beginner to SLR photography and wanted a fully manual camera to "learn the art". The K100 body is excellent, with a beautiful movement, and feels lovely and solid. As far as I am aware, it is as you say a Pentax K1000 rebadged, but I believe it is actually made by the people who made the original Pentax. Rather surprisingly the biggies like Pentax and Nikon etc are only built for export and are built rather cheaply by Chinese manufacturers - apparently. To all intents and purposes the K100 IS a Pentax K1000. I have had some bloomin' good pictures off it considering I'm only learning.

 

As for the lenses - well what can you expect for 80 quid. So they might not be up to the standard of some of the more common lenses out there, but at a fraction of the cost who's to complain. I have used both lenses extensively and got some good results, some bad - but that's photography. Don't forget that it is all manual - including the focus. If you have less than perfect eyesight like me, then it is sometimes hit and miss as to whether you've got a pin sharp focus. Trial and error will prevail and you'll soon get the hang of it. I personally find I get a better focus using the microprisms rather than the split ring.

 

The only criticism I have is that the 28-70mm lens has no depth of field markers. Not a problem for distance work, but considering it's got a macro mode, it's a bit annoying, but not a big problem.

 

I think the best advice is to go into Jessops, have a chat to the sales guys, ask for a demo, and if you're still not sure investigate whether you can return them if you're not happy. But at the end of the day, for the price I think they're a bargain.

 

I can't answer for the mirror lens as I've never used one, but I know it has had good reviews in some of the popular photo mags.

 

Hope that's some help.

[john_toon]

Hi,

 

I don't have a clue what other people must be doing wrong, since I have the 70-210mm zoom lens and have got some fantastic results used with my Pentax P30 SLR. No problems whatsoever with image sharpness, DOF, or overall quality; the results I've got with this are certainly of equal quality to the pictures I've got using my smaller 28-80mm Pentax zoom lens, a lens which is well regarded for its quality (as are pretty much all Pentax lenses for that matter).

 

This Centon lens is wonderfully smooth with a nice action, very comfortable, with an excellent grip. I think it represents excellent value for money.

 

Sure, the lenses are fully manual, which is entirely fine by me; don't blame the lens if you can't get sharp pictures, blame your technique!

 

John.

[david_robinson7]

I use a Centon DF-300 Camera with the Centon 50mm f1.8 MD lens and I think that this lens is superb. It gives pin-sharp images, even at full aperture, is very light and easy to handle. It would be very interesting to compare it to the Minolta equivalent; my guess is that they would be identical, but not in price!

[emma_howes]

Centon is Jessops own brand!! - I work for a photo dept in a sixth form college and we use centon k100 cameras coz they're cheap and pretty sturdy! They are reasonably priced, average quality and for more info your best bet is to speak to Jessops or go to www.jessops.com

[emmanouel_pateros]

Well I have a ricoh kr-10, pentax p30, centon k200, cosina exakta HS-10 and zenit 122k in the k-mount. The centon is a crap camera, the same is the ricoh and imagine that ricoh is the most advanced technologically. The centon lense 28-70 is just acceptable compared to the pentax and ricoh lenses and the russian lense helios 44k-4. These cameras mirror the technological skill of the chinese.When you touch them you feel you handle a japanese camera but it is crap. You never know when the shutter will fire and in what speed. The b-setting sometimes works sometimes fires as 1/125. The camera sometimes turn on and sometimes is turned off by herself. Well I believe that of these cameras the most reliable and easily available new is the russian zenit122k. If I had to shoot a wedding I will pick up this camera because it is MECHANICAL and forget about ricoh and centon and all these. The best camera in k-mount is the pentax k1000 and the early cosina clones which are mechanical, cheap and reach the speed of 1/2000. I like the cosina because it meters the light without stopping down the lens. That is a really serious advantage over the zenit. The zenit has a very good lens zeiss biotar copy that cannot be beaten by ricoh lenses and centon recycled glass lenses. It is simple. The only drawback is tha the zenit cannot run faster than 1/500 and has low flash sync speed. But who cares. I have used the 1/1000 2 times in my life and I have never used the 1/2000 in the cosina.