[Alex645]

The Best Pentax prime?
a) The one youʻve been waiting to buy.
b) The one used the most on your camera. (For me, itʻs the SMC Pentax-A 75mm f/2.8 on my 645).
c) Ken Rockwell has yet to tell us.

[Madaboutpix]

Pentax is all about telephoto lenses.

Another conclusion that I find hard to accept. While there is no doubt that Pentax has produced and is producing wonderful telephoto primes, their wide-angle lenses are certainly no slouches either. They may not hit the ceiling in terms of corner sharpness, which is so much harder to achieve at such wide angle in the first place, but their rendering can be exquisite, despite them being super-compact. The DA15 is easily the most satisfying wide-angle prime I've ever used. To my knowledge, Pentax has also been a pioneering maker of highly regarded fisheye lenses.

[mattb123]

Here are my favorites on each format (except Q which I do not have).

Crop: DA 15/4 Limited
FF: FA 77/1.8 Limited
645: A 35/3.5

If I had the FA version of that 35 I might pick that but I'm only going off personal experience so this is filtered by what I own.

[Madaboutpix]

The Best Pentax prime?
a) The one youʻve been waiting to buy.
b) The one used the most on your camera. (For me, itʻs the SMC Pentax-A 75mm f/2.8 on my 645).
c) Ken Rockwell has yet to tell us.

Wisely spoken. For me that would translate as
a) DFA100 Macro WR
b) DA50 (recently, at least)

As for c), how would a snake-oil seller (forgive me) like him know? While he has occasionally praised Pentax primes, that may be more of a coincidence, and not so much an indication of a deep understanding of what makes lenses truly great. But appreciate your irony.

[jimr-pdx]

Definitely the k 17/4 fisheye sorry no experience with most of the others..

[pres589]

Aren't those 50 f2's usually nearly free?

I've come to the conclusion lately that, until I can rationalize the purchase of the DA*55, the DA50 1.8 that I have now is probably the best 50ish mm portrait prime available to me and my crop DSLR. I think that really says something for the cost to quality ratio of the thing and just ignore the features and materials used to build the thing.

[aslyfox]

of the Pentax primes I own:

SMC Pentax-DA 40mm F2.8 XS

smc Pentax-DA 1.8 50 mm

smc Pentax-D FA 2.8 100 mm macro

the one I use the most is the 100 mm macro followed by the 40 mm XS

so I will put my vote, for what it is worth, for the D FA 100 mm macro

a " short " telephoto plus macro ability

---------- Post added 10-10-17 at 12:55 ----------

Aren't those 50 f2's usually nearly free?

I've come to the conclusion lately that, until I can rationalize the purchase of the DA*55, the DA50 1.8 that I have now is probably the best 50ish mm portrait prime available to me and my crop DSLR. I think that really says something for the cost to quality ratio of the thing and just ignore the features and materials used to build the thing.

based on the forum's " in depth review " the DA 50 mm is the " niftiest of the fifty " lenses

"Pentax 50mm Prime Lens Shootout Conclusion

We started this review asking the question; which of the three fifty’s was the nifty fifty? Taking into consideration the factors that were reviewed, the Pentax DA 50mm F1.8 is the niftiest of the fifty’s. Although the lens did not blow the competition away, it did hold its own against the D FA 50mm F2.8 and the FA 50mm F1.4 both which cost more . . . "


Read more at: Pentax 50mm Prime Lens Shootout Review - Conclusion | PentaxForums.com Reviews

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Last edited by aslyfox; 10-10-2017 at 01:36 PM.

[gofour3]

This is also going to depend on the camera you are using. A specific Pentax prime lens is going to have slightly different results if it's used on a film, APC-S, FF or third party body.

Phil.

[pres589]

of the Pentax primes I own:

SMC Pentax-DA 40mm F2.8 XS

smc Pentax-DA 1.8 50 mm

smc Pentax-D FA 2.8 100 mm macro

the one I use the most is the 100 mm macro followed by the 40 mm XS

so I will put my vote, for what it is worth, for the D Fa 100 mm macro

a " short " telephoto plus macro ability

---------- Post added 10-10-17 at 12:55 ----------



based on the forum's " in depth review " the DA 50 mm is the " niftiest of the fifty " lenses

"Pentax 50mm Prime Lens Shootout Conclusion

We started this review asking the question; which of the three fifty’s was the nifty fifty? Taking into consideration the factors that were reviewed, the Pentax DA 50mm F1.8 is the niftiest of the fifty’s. Although the lens did not blow the competition away, it did hold its own against the D FA 50mm F2.8 and the FA 50mm F1.4 both which cost more . . . "


Read more at: Pentax 50mm Prime Lens Shootout Review - Conclusion | PentaxForums.com Reviews

Yes, based on my experience with the M50 1.4, I think the DA50 1.8 is going to be a much better all around lens than what the traditional Pentax 50 1.4's can offer. It's always a compromise and this one seems to be working well for me.

[SpecialK]

... the serious part is whether the rating system works, and if not, how it can be made better.

I've never seen a poll that was correctly worded to avoid ambiguity or other issues. And, "average" on the scale of 1-10, would be about a 5 not an 8. And, as mentioned, answers are mostly subjective, so there is that divergence. Further, one lens might be great at certain things and poor in others, so there is that complication.

Bottom line, polls can be fun but they are mostly inconclusive.

[BarryE]

Adam ran a poll, according to the wisdom of the forum, it's the 77 ltd. with the 31 ltd in second.

I think this was pre K-1. I wonder how it would be now with these FA limiteds being used on a modern, digital FF sensor ? I can't recall if/where the D-FA 50 f2.8 macro came out then, but for value it splits the 77 and 31 and is better in several ways, on FF - in my opinion. Maybe a re-run with FF in mind might throw up a different result ...? Maybe a currently available versus any lens option in the survey, might help potential lens buyers ...

[Na Horuk]

That's an interesting look at things and I really appreciate it!
I don't fully agree though, because of the problem of subjectivity. The argument is that with a large number of reviews, you lose the problem of subjectivity (because people who give irrationally low/high ratings get drowned out, people who paid exceptionally low/high price for lens get drowned out). This is not entirely true because many of those lenses have very few reviews. Or the lens appeals to a certain kind of person, who gives the lens a biased review.
The other issue is that the user reviews already take price into account to some extent. Dividing it by price once more adds another bias.
But it is a good analysis, opens interesting discussion. I know lots of people on these forums love their Pentax telephoto primes and take stunning photos with them. Pentax could focus more on this, though I think it already did so with the 50-250, 300, 560, 70-200, 150-450 and 55-300. Plenty of telephoto options

[Ascencio]

I think the last poll was done before the K-1 was released. Would be nice to repeat based on full frame performance.

[leekil]

In my experience no prime is the best. You lose images because of their inherent inflexibility. It can't be the best if it costs you images. It's the best because of the images you get with it. Others who work in more controlled environments may thing differently.

Or on the flip side, if you need to take photo as quickly a possible, a zoom might cost you images because you might not be zoomed appropriately when you bring the camera to your eye.

It's also definitely the case that many people might not regard a particular lens as "the best" if it is a focal length they don't use. Like I typically use shorter focal lengths and not 300mm, 400mm, or even greater.

[Alex645]

Here are my favorites on each format (except Q which I do not have).

Crop: DA 15/4 Limited
FF: FA 77/1.8 Limited
645: A 35/3.5

If I had the FA version of that 35 I might pick that but I'm only going off personal experience so this is filtered by what I own.

For sure the 645 A 35mm f/3.5 is a gem. It has the biggest WOW factor and is easily my #2.