i currently go everywhere with the DA40 (i on rare occasions substitute my 50mm SMC Tak macro or my 50mm M 1.4) - it consistently feels too long (occasionally i back into a wall trying to take in the whole scene) and doesn't focus nearly close enough (i find myself flirting with the limits of its closest focusing distance and then cropping or pulling out my diopters and trying again). the FA43 would make one of these issues worse and wouldn't improve on the other nearly enough (when i am wandering around with my Macro-Takumar, i occasionally find myself leaning against its minimum distance too). my basic style of photography is based on the fact that i see the world with my eyes, which offer a normal-lens-type perspective and a pretty damn close nearest focusing distance - most days, i just want myc amera to see with me - so i expect the same performance from it. i don't plan to use my DA35 (due to arrive early next week) at 1:1 very often, but knowing that it'll go that close is insurance - it's a promise that i can lean in as close as i feel safe and the optics won't be the limiting factor. it's true that it's a bit on the slow side - i'll have to wait and see how sharp it is wide open to see how much a care. after all, the FA43 and most fast 50s famously have rather underwhelming sharpness wide open, in which case i can live wihtout those most of the time.
now, if i shot more film (or, hypothetically, full-frame), the FA43 would be a pretty hard-to-refuse proposition with its perfect wide-standard focal length, but on DX it sounds too long to see with my eyes and too short for portraits or distance shooting.
from what i've read, the DA35 is for people like me, who want a lense that will do everything they ask their eyes to do, and do it well, but needn't do much else - we don't want a lense with a memorable effect, we want a lense that we can forget is there so we can focus on what we see. it sounds like you're looking for something else (which is fine - there's not one god-given right way to do this) and so, unsurprisingly, you've been disappointed.
Last edited by q10; 05-08-2008 at 09:46 PM.