Originally posted by MSL Well with apologies if this hijacks the thread, but you are prompting me to ask a question I've had on my mind for a while.
Are there any other Pentax lenses that have optics of similar quality to the limited, or that even come reasonably close without breaking the budget?
I would say that the DA 40 comes pretty close to the FA 43, although the latter has its distinct advantages. I have a DA70 and am darn happy with that, too, although I will allow that the FA 77 might be better as I haven't tried it. And certainly the old manual lenses like the K 28/3.5, the K 35/3.5, the M 50/1.7 have outstanding optics and construction as well, provided you can work with their limitations.
To the OP, I would say grab it. If after using it for a while, you don't find it worth it, you can certainly sell it without losing much. If you do find it worth the price, you can sell other lenses to make up! That is what I did, and even though I ended up selling mine I would still recommend the course of action.