My Favorite Lens: Pentax FA 77mm Limited
By TOUGEFC in Favorite Lenses on Oct 22, 2011
Many people already know what my favorite lens is, and its not hard to guess either, all one has to do is look at my photostream and sets and see what lens dominates them all!
I love everything about this lens, the focal length, the build, size, how it renders skin tones and portraits, its deadly sharp wide open. It can be used for just about anything. I use it more than any other lens in my collection, I mainly use it for taking candids and portraits, and I use it to shoot weddings too, heck I almost shot a whole wedding with just the FA77!
Its a lens that never fails too deliver.
I even bought it to my own wedding!
All shot at f/1.8.
My Favorite Lens: the Pentax DA 18-250mm
By hcc in Favorite Lenses on Oct 22, 2011
What's your favorite lens?
My favourite lens is the DA18/250mm. Manufactured by Tamron, it was sold also as Tamron 18-250mm. The lens is a great performer over the focal length range. It i very well-liked by Pentaxians including professionals. The lens is in fact considered by many as one of the best all-around lenses across all brands icl. Canikons, Oly & Co.
While no longer manufactured, the DA18-250mm/Tamron 18-250mm can be found quite regularly on the 2nd hand market. See the Pentax Marketplace, KEH, and Adorama (Used equipment).
Why is it your favorite lens?
The DA18-250mm is my fav lens because of its flexibility and focal length range, its decent IQ over the focal length range and its compactness. I owned 2 megazooms P&S before buying by K-7 and the DA18-250mm is the ideal lens to replace my megazooms. With a 12x (18-250mm range), it is the perfect all-around zoom, and I get some great shots with it. I love the compactness. Mounted on the K-7, it fits nicely into a small toploader bag.
In addition of its versatility, the lens is very sturdy and has been used by several Pentaxians in harsh weather. For example in the snow, in mud, rain, sand,... I shoot often in foul weather including wind storms on the coasts, subtropical rainstorms, muddy and dirty conditions.
The lens has two weaknesses: zoom creep and low light. The zoom creep can be very simply solved. The low light conditions are challenging for most zoom lenses and I often complement my DA18-250mm by a fast prime (VL58mm f1.4 in my case) for dusk and dawn.
What do you use it for?
Anything. Especially when I travel interstate and overseas, I need to carry a small luggage and the DA18-250mm mounted on the K-7 is the perfect all-in-one combo.
I like the versatility of the length which focal length range covers both wide angel (18mm) and tele (250mm). As such I use the lens for landscape, actions (waves, surfers, birds in flight, aircrafts, cars), family shooting, ...
How often do you use it?
The DA18-250mm has been used for nearly 70% of all my K-7 shots, and nearly 95% of all my overseas shots.
When I need to travel with one body+lens combo, the DA18-250mm is my first choice. I have a small top-loader bag to carry my K-7 + DA18-250mm combo, together with the battery charger, a cleaning cloth, a wipe and a spare memory card. Easy to carry.
Did you buy it over any other lenses?
The DA18-250mm was my first lens. I bought my K-7 new (body only) and the DA18-250mm was my first and only lens for a few months. Today, I would do the same: get the DA18-250mm was my first lens ahed of any other lens.
As such I see my DA18-250mm as my best lens investement
My Favorite Lens: the Pentax FA 43mm Limited
By Ash in Favorite Lenses on Oct 22, 2011
I'm torn between three lenses for this title of 'favourite lens', namely the Pentax FA 100 f/2.8 macro, the FA 43 f/1.9 Limited and the Tamron 70-200 f/2.8, but since portraiture is my favourite genre, it is only fitting I choose the lens that does this genre justice for me...
Prior to the purchase of this little gem, I wondered how much better portraiture could truly be than what I'd already been producing with the FA 50 f/1.4 lens. I was well pleased with the FA 50's ability to thro backgrounds out of focus pleasantly, but felt the colours, contrast and texture rendition of subjects could have done with a boost. Enter the FA 43 f/1.9 Limited.
It surprised me with how striking the results turned out for such a small and 'slower' lens. As opposed to the FA 50 f/1.4, it is sharp and has very little loss of overall image quality when used wide open. Love at first shot. Now it's a go to lens for reasons even beyond its size and IQ.
Practical and amazing images every exposure.
A very special, and legendary lens.
FA 43 Ltd at f/2
FA 43 Ltd at f/4.5
FA 43 Ltd at f/5.6
Post by forum member Chex
This, out of my line up of lenses is a no brainer! Hands down it's my FA 43mm Ltd for it's decent speed, unparalleled sharpness (especially @ f4) and amazing FA-LTD rendering. I usually end up using this for everything from portraiture to landcapes and Pano's and long exposure shooting, even water drop photography! This lens spends the most time on my K-5 by far, probably 60 % of all my K-5's shots or more. It's simply hard to beat its tack sharp resolution and the way it renders it's images. Those are things you sure can't "fix" in PP work!
I was lucky to pick this lens up PERIOD, when my K-5 order came in, my 18-135 rainy day lens did not come in at the same time. So the shop owners father (and former shop owner) came down and brought down his 43ltd he was willing to part with since he moved to a Nikon FF (he still won't tell me what other goodies he has in Pentax). So I gladly picked it up that day and have been thankful ever since... sure I could have grabbed a SMC tak 50mm f1.7 or 55mm f1.8 to at least have a lens to play with, but I'd done my homework on the base Pentax lens lineup thanks to this forum! So now between this, my SMC Tak 28mm f3.5 and my Tamron adaptall 23B (60-300mm), I'm covered until my budget allows.. FA 77 might be my "next favorite lens" when I get one.. insatiable LBA!
My Favorite Lens: the Pentax DA* 16-50mm Limited
By RossCo in Favorite Lenses on Oct 22, 2011
My favourite lens is my DA* 16-50. I carry it everywhere. It is sharp and has fantastic colour.
I use it for landscapes, and travel photography and it is my carry around lens. Sometimes I even take pictures of people with it.
I use it almost every day.
I bought it over the kit lens, and the DA 17-70mm and the DA 16-45mm because I wanted a faster lens.
My Favorite Lens: the Pentax DA 21mm Limited
By bdery in Favorite Lenses on Oct 22, 2011
When I think about that question, the lens that always comes to mind is the DA21 Limited.
It's not my most-used lens. It's not my sharpest even though it's close. It doesn't have the smoothest bokeh. It's not my widest nor my longest lens. It's not my fastest lens.
But the colours, oh the colours! The colours I get when using this lens are amazing. It seems to expand the dynamic range of my camera somehow. I can always spot the pictures taken with that lens without looking at the EXIF data. It just has that little something.
The focal length and size also make it a formidable lens to carry if I can't/don't want to bring multiple lenses. The AF is extremely reliable and fast (especially for an f3.2 lens) and the quick-shift, even though seldom used, if a neat feature. The aesthetics of the lens are also up there with the best.
The lens gets used for general (and especially low-light) walkarounds, for landscapes and often for night panoramas. Sometimes I use it for wide studio views but it's almost too sharp for this use. It makes a great low-light team with the F50 f1,7 and if needed the DFA 100 WR macro.
I now have a very well balanced kit, with excellent lenses covering various purposes. But the DA21 Limited is probably the one I look at the most lovingly.
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