[Kguru]

Anyway, what's the diff between the Black and the Silver?
Thanks

One thing certain with a silver is it's guaranteed to be an old series; a black may be old may be new series. The new series use lead-free glass which is less potent optically than leaded glass, if a certain person on ebay can be believed.

Back to what makes a Ltd lense special, feel free to shoot me down in flame but I'd say its colour resolution (as opposed to just sharpness resolution). To illustrate the point, the older Walt Disney animated movies look decidedly 2-D because colours are monotone whereas current animated movies look 3-D thanks to clever colour shading. The finer steps in gradual changes enable more discrete colour shades used in describing an item thus making it more 3-D; that's what I believe the Ltd lenses are more capable of than normal lenses.

---

Last edited by Kguru; 11-27-2007 at 10:58 PM.

[txbonds]

The silver lenses would be sweet if the K10D or other cameras came in dual tone. Would be really nice if there were actual metal DSLR's like the film cameras back in the day. Imagine a fairly small DSLR in silver, with black grip wrapping and the matching silver limited.

However, on the Black K10D I thought the Black Limited looked nicer, so that's why I chose black. hmmmmmm......... Wonder what is coming out in January. Will we get some nostalgic looking bodies? Could be interesting.

[Peter Zack]

I think I would have bought one of these had they released it. It was the 50th anniversary of the Asahi Pentax name. Would have looked great with the silver versions.

[txbonds]

I think I would have bought one of these had they released it. It was the 50th anniversary of the Asahi Pentax name. Would have looked great with the silver versions.

Yeah, that's pretty sweet. Would look nice with either black or silver lenses, but looks really nice with the silver ones. Heck, they could even start a line of silver DA's and I bet they would sell well with that. I even appreciate the Asahi Pentax name being on them, and the Takumar name being on the lenses.

[Finn]

Do I take it that all of you who have answered so far ARE owners of either of these lenses...care to post your own comparision shots.

Not sure what I'd be comparing to, but here are a few from the FA31 and FA43 Limiteds that illustrate the three-dimensionality to which I was referring:

FA31, 1/500 @ f/2.8, ISO 400:


FA31, 1/2000 @ f/2.8, ISO 400:


FA43, 1/30 @ f/1.9, ISO 800:

[Lance B]

I've heard people talk about these lenses but,

What makes a Pentax star lense a star lense?
What makes a Pentax Limited lense a Limited lense?

It may interest you to read this article about the Limited lenses:
sm-02-05-02

As for this belief that the Limited lenses are nothing special... bollocks!

The * lenses are branded this as they are the premium lenses of that particular group from Pentax. In other words, the FA* zooms are the premium lenses that Pentax make and the FA* primes are the premium lenses that Pentax make.

The Limiteds are like the * lenses, but are made by hand, have that "retro" look to them, are all metal construction and have a certain "look" to their image quality. It is difficult to explain the "look" that these lenses convey, but they do have it I can assure you.