Unless someone can point me to some astronomical MTF scores wide open, it's just like any other lens where it's always going to be sharper a few stops down. While it may be sharper than other lenses wide open, by the way the posts keep piling up here, you'd think it was sharper at 1.4 than the 43ltd at f4.
Even if you say 200% of it's 260% price increase over the FA is for the weather sealing, it still isn't a 60% overall sharper lens than the FA. Considering it's only for an APS sensor, $650 is way overpriced, IMO. Especially when you can get a Canon 50 f1.4 for $400 and a Nikon G 50mm lens for $464, and both can be utilized in Full Frame.
And still you messure sharpness like you would pay for it linear. You could pay 500% more to just get 5% better sharpness if you need that extra sharpness.
And how on earth would you compare a lens at f4.0 with a lens at f1.4. Yes, the DA*55 would be sharper because you would have a black picture with the FA43LTD at 3 stop slower apparture. :P
Why not compare them at the same fstop. otherwise it makes no sense does it ? How sharp is the 43 LTD at f1.4?? oh right, it doesnt do that. (a lens thats more expencive than the DA*55 here in sweden by 150$)
And still you messure sharpness like you would pay for it linear. You could pay 500% more to just get 5% better sharpness if you need that extra sharpness.
And how on earth would you compare a lens at f4.0 with a lens at f1.4. Yes, the DA*55 would be sharper because you would have a black picture with the FA43LTD at 3 stop slower apparture. :P
Why not compare them at the same fstop. otherwise it makes no sense does it ? How sharp is the 43 LTD at f1.4?? oh right, it doesnt do that. (a lens thats more expencive than the DA*55 here in sweden by 150$)
I guess that site hasn't tested the FA50 yet. Look at the 3 user reviews for the 55. All three mention issues with AF. Not fun for lens that price to have such issues. I'm really surprised to see 3 reviews there, as no one has reviewed it on Amazon, Adorama, or B and H. That tells me that not a lot of these are being sold. The 3 reviews we do have are all bad!
Then, if you check our 3 reviews here, 1 out of the 3 mentions slow AF.
That's 8 out of 10 reviews I've seen that criticize the AF on this lens. Most people do mention that it's sharp at f 1.4. There seems to be varying opinions on whether bokeh is better, the same, or not as good as the FA50.
So, the two big pluses of this lens are the sharpness wide open, and weathersealing. Everyone has to decide if they want those two features for the extra money, and sacrifice dealing with it's AF issues. If you don't use your camera in foul weather and don't shoot wide open, one would be hard to justify this lens, especially if you're picky about your lens' autofocus abilities.
Last edited by K-9; 08-09-2009 at 10:00 AM.
Reason: typo
The same AF issues have been noticed with the new Nikon 50. This is because they make the focus longer from infinity to closefocus to increase accuracy.
And as stated many times before, how often to you go from infinity to closefocus. When you focus from different subjects at different distances the focus is snappy and precise.
So, the two big pluses of this lens are the sharpness wide open, and weathersealing. Everyone has to decide if they want those two features for the extra money, and sacrifice dealing with it's AF issues. If you don't use your camera in foul weather and don't shoot wide open, one would be hard to justify this lens, especially if you're picky about your lens' autofocus abilities.
Wouldnt it be hard to justify the FA50/1.4 if you dont shoot wide open too? And maby stick with the kit lens.
The same AF issues have been noticed with the new Nikon 50. This is because they make the focus longer from infinity to closefocus to increase accuracy.
And as stated many times before, how often to you go from infinity to closefocus. When you focus from different subjects at different distances the focus is snappy and precise.
Wouldnt it be hard to justify the FA50/1.4 if you dont shoot wide open too? And maby stick with the kit lens.
Exactly
It has been mentioned in other threads that "all lenses" are just about equal at the 'sweet spot' F8, so I could argue the fact that if you were primarily a landscape shooter where F8-F16 is the norm ,why bother with a Ltd lens, save a ton of $$$ and just shoot with the kit lens??
Reading this thread, now I can see clearly what's happening... so let me tell you the whole story.
Recently (a few years ago) some evil martian power has silently taken the control on our sweet and beloved Pentax free world. This evil martian power is called Hoya and their weapon (a flying machine spitting green pieces of paper) was simply unstoppable. Once they have taken the control, they've begun to pick all the inhabitants of the old Pentax free world (the pentaxians) one by one. They kidnapp them silently during the night and they re-write their brains. Once they are re-written, the pentaxians start to act bizzarly. What has been reported is that you can see some green glow in their eyes and they shoot all their pictures with wide opened lenses for no apparent reason. Yet, the most frigthening is that sentence they keep repeating endlessly : "Now fair price is evil, we need more price increase; fair price is evil , we need more price increase because overpriced goods is what is good".
If you are a pentaxian like me, you'd better watch your back because, beleive me, the invasion has begun... They are among us, it's for real. We are still a few resistants in the Pentaxworld but for how long ?
I think their pods are found in the camera department of most Walmarts, Best Buy and Fry's...often they ship pods in with your orders from Amazon, B&H and Adorama.
However, I think you are right nevertheless, as in most cases it doesn't matter how long a lens takes to go across the entire focusing range but rather how quickly it can obtain focus if it is already close.
In that sense the 55/1.4 might be even quicker than the FA 50/1.4?
However, I think you are right nevertheless, as in most cases it doesn't matter how long a lens takes to go across the entire focusing range but rather how quickly it can obtain focus if it is already close.
In that sense the 55/1.4 might be even quicker than the FA 50/1.4?
When I compared the two lenses, I found that the 55 was able to secure focus just as fast on a moving subject as the FA50 when shooting with the K-7. This was the final nail in the FA50's coffin for me.
