[Blue]

I was a bit unclear. A sealed normal (28-35mm) prime was what I meant. I understand that making one isn't very high on the list of priorities for Pentax but one can hope. It just seems a bit strange that there is DA* 55 but no DA* "normal".

Updating the FA31 or FA35 with weather sealing would definately do the trick.

That part of the lens line up was probably impacted by the "take over" by Hoya and the 4 years in limbo with them followed by the past 1+ year with Ricoh. Make no bones about it, the Hoya take over was hostile. Hoya made an earlier attempt that was battled off but the last one was done with an "agreement" hammered out.

[Pheo]

You would think they could modify their current primes to WR pretty easily, less moving parts. But maybe that's just me! And what do i know about lens design

Mind you any company has limited resources. You can't ask for FF, new flashes, revised lower end body etc etc and expect it all

[JayX2A]

Is the Sigma a lot better than the 35mm f2.4. Want around this focus length and these are only two in my budget.

[Pheo]

Is the Sigma a lot better than the 35mm f2.4. Want around this focus length and these are only two in my budget.

It depends what you want to shoot. The Sigma is great at subject isolation, so is a fab lens for portraits at the short end, anything where you want to throw the other parts of the photo out of the mind of the viewer, due to the 3D effect.

The DA 35mm f2.4 is also an excellent lens, very sharp across the frame, and more of an all rounder, plus pentax colours. Plus for me, a lot cheaper! I enjoyed this lens a lot in the short time that I had it, and its significantly smaller than the Sigma too.

Do you need the speed is the other key question?

[JayX2A]

Well it will probably be used for more portraits and indoors rather than general purpose. Colours/size not an issue, just want a decent prime!

[Pheo]

30mm is short for a portrait lens - any particular reason for wanting this length?

[JayX2A]

Mainly because I will be using it indoors a fair bit for more close up work of animals. 50mm may be a bit too long for this.

[Edgar_in_Indy]

30mm is short for a portrait lens - any particular reason for wanting this length?

Although It's not a traditional focal length for portraits, I have had a lot of success using it for portraits, even close ups. I posted a couple examples of this on the first page of this thread. I think part of what makes it so usable as a portrait lens is the very large aperture. Even though it's not a long lens, the large aperture still allows you to get good separation between your subject and the background. And it's really great for taking half or 3/4 or full body shots with the subject's environment visible around them.

Although a portrait lens would ideally be a bit longer, I have found that 30mm is the perfect compromise between a portrait lens and a general purpose lens. That's why the 30mm has become my most-used lens. It's wide enough that it's still useful indoors and in tighter spaces, but it's also long enough to take nice portraits of a single subject when that's what you want. And with the large aperture, you rarely need a flash to get a sharp picture.

Here's a few informal shots I took at a birthday my girls were invited to last Saturday. The party was at an indoor "fun zone" (go karts, games, etc), so the lighting was not great, so having a large aperture was very important. With the Pentax 35mm 2.4 I would have had to raise the ISO in order to still get sharp shots. As you can see, the shots range from capturing a group, to capturing a single person close-up.

[kswong_00]

Mainly because I will be using it indoors a fair bit for more close up work of animals. 50mm may be a bit too long for this.

i don't think you will be getting bad indoor portrait picture with a sharp copy of sigma 30. I have one and i use it for taking photo of my less than one year old baby every weekend. It's a fun lens.

[SyncGuy]

Although It's not a traditional focal length for portraits, I have had a lot of success using it for portraits, even close ups. I posted a couple examples of this on the first page of this thread. I think part of what makes it so usable as a portrait lens is the very large aperture. Even though it's not a long lens, the large aperture still allows you to get good separation between your subject and the background. And it's really great for taking half or 3/4 or full body shots with the subject's environment visible around them.

Although a portrait lens would ideally be a bit longer, I have found that 30mm is the perfect compromise between a portrait lens and a general purpose lens. That's why the 30mm has become my most-used lens. It's wide enough that it's still useful indoors and in tighter spaces, but it's also long enough to take nice portraits of a single subject when that's what you want. And with the large aperture, you rarely need a flash to get a sharp picture.

Here's a few informal shots I took at a birthday my girls were invited to last Saturday. The party was at an indoor "fun zone" (go karts, games, etc), so the lighting was not great, so having a large aperture was very important. With the Pentax 35mm 2.4 I would have had to raise the ISO in order to still get sharp shots. As you can see, the shots range from capturing a group, to capturing a single person close-up.

So i suppose now this news would be exciting for you? Coz i am!

Sorry for x-posting from another thread but i've just came across something:

Art | SIGMA 30mm F1.4 DC HSM | SIGMA GLOBAL VISION

Yep, apparently Sigma re-did this lens into a beauty, with claims of improvement in optics (i hope.. even though i heard it's good enough..)
But in general, the supposedly new one sure looks BEAUTIFUL!! And oh, with that new AF-adjustment via USB function.

MFD seems to be @ 30cm now(for those who dislike this for the current version)
Aspherical element added (perhaps improving the complaint of border softness for the current version?)

Looks like i'm holding back to buy the current version and aim for this one!

*Then again, let's hope they put it out in K-mount too.

On a side note,

Just curious why do you kinda restrict your ISO to 500?
Looking at my friend's K-30, with the K5 sensor in it can handle up to ISO 6400 comfortably, even 12800 i believe.

[JayX2A]

New lens looks good. I imagine that will cost a hell of a lot being part of their art range. I can get current one for £250.

[Sandy Hancock]

Has anyone tried to use the lens in a club/concert setting?

No, but I've used the FA31 quite a bit, and it rocks.

[yusuf]

So i suppose now this news would be exciting for you? Coz i am!

Sorry for x-posting from another thread but i've just came across something:

Art | SIGMA 30mm F1.4 DC HSM | SIGMA GLOBAL VISION

Yep, apparently Sigma re-did this lens into a beauty, with claims of improvement in optics (i hope.. even though i heard it's good enough..)
But in general, the supposedly new one sure looks BEAUTIFUL!! And oh, with that new AF-adjustment via USB function.

Probably that's the reason for recent deals at B&H and now at Amazon (for $406). Also, looks better than the current version.

[JayX2A]

I'm not excited as will be way out my price range I imagine!

[snake]

I honestly believe most people don't understand that the K-5/K-30/K-01 have been made with high ISO handling in mind because they're coming off compacts and don't understand ISO and other differences between an APS camera and a small-sensored compact.

I mean, I was talking to some guy some months ago that calls himself a "photographer" because he blew like $10k on a 5DII kit and lenses and just shoots his awful stuff in auto and jpeg and "doesn't believe in anything that doesn't come directly out of the camera". He was once telling me that he "never shoots over ISO 1000 anyhow", but meanwhile, among other problems there, his album's EXIF data is full of ISO3200 and above shots in daylight, as his metering is set up all wrong.

So i suppose now this news would be exciting for you? Coz i am!

Sorry for x-posting from another thread but i've just came across something:

Art | SIGMA 30mm F1.4 DC HSM | SIGMA GLOBAL VISION

Yep, apparently Sigma re-did this lens into a beauty, with claims of improvement in optics (i hope.. even though i heard it's good enough..)
But in general, the supposedly new one sure looks BEAUTIFUL!! And oh, with that new AF-adjustment via USB function.

MFD seems to be @ 30cm now(for those who dislike this for the current version)
Aspherical element added (perhaps improving the complaint of border softness for the current version?)

Looks like i'm holding back to buy the current version and aim for this one!

*Then again, let's hope they put it out in K-mount too.

On a side note,

Just curious why do you kinda restrict your ISO to 500?
Looking at my friend's K-30, with the K5 sensor in it can handle up to ISO 6400 comfortably, even 12800 i believe.