[Greenneck]

So I went in to buy it, knowing I really wanted it. Wasn't stopped buy the lens element issue it had under $470 out the door. They described it as a lens coating error, to me it looks like its under the front element and and has that rainbow oily look when tilting it under light. Looking through shots with it from today, I honestly don't know what affect if any it has on image quality. I have 14 days to return it if I figure out it hurts my images more than we expected. Im including a link to a few shots of the lens, as well as a pano I shot before sunset. I suspect this lens will have more lens flare coming from the right side of the lens and I wanted to shoot the pano to try and demonstrate the lens flare as I rotated around the sun. It may not be the best way to determine the quality but I would greatly appreciate input from anyone who has this lens. 31mm lens

[maw]

So I went in to buy it, knowing I really wanted it.

I wanted to buy it two years ago, but for various reasons I also postponed the purchase. I ordered it (new) 10 days ago and will arrive tomorrow with DHL,
I bought it, at the best price. The history of purple fringing is not a story, because all lenses more or less in certain circumstances suffer those who more or less,chromatic aberrations.

Look at the review on Photozone

Compared with the Pentax Da 35mm macro limited

and see how much aberrations are limited. One thing is not limited, the price.

[Sandy Hancock]

I have two copies of the FA31, and I can't really tell the difference between their outputs. Neither would be lenses I chose for shooting into the sun.
In your pano, the images to the right look terrific, so I wouldn't worry too much.

But I wouldn't sell your 35 Limited

Note to self: I really must get around to putting my AIV black copy on the market....

[HYS]

Just willing to add, the 35mm has its fair share of purple fringing, so I don't think the 31will be that much worse.

An example with 31 Ltd ... Here I tryed to remove the PF with DCU5.

Attached Images

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[RobA_Oz]

It does mask at infinity focus. Even with the hood fully retracted the lens barrel takes significant nips out of the corners.
Even at close focus the image quality in the peripheries drops off dramatically beyond the APS-C image circle.

It's a great lens, but most certainly a crop lens.

Interesting, because the 35/2.8 Limited was one of the first lenses I tried with the K-1, and I was certain mine didn't mask at infinity with the hood off, so I must go back and check. The FA31, though, is so good (for most subjects) that it tends to be on the K-1 a lot of the time. Nonetheless, the vignetting means shooting in square format on the K-1 is safer.

[Greenneck]

I have two copies of the FA31, and I can't really tell the difference between their outputs. Neither would be lenses I chose for shooting into the sun.
In your pano, the images to the right look terrific, so I wouldn't worry too much.

But I wouldn't sell your 35 Limited

Note to self: I really must get around to putting my AIV black copy on the market....

They pretty much turned out how I expected them to in that pano, I just wanted someone else to tell me I didn’t make a mistake buying my blemished copy so thank you
I have two justifications for keeping the 35, I don’t like to bother with trying to sell things and I don’t have a recplament macro... yet

An example with 31 Ltd ... Here I tryed to remove the PF with DCU5.

Saw some similar results with mine today... don’t honestly remember my zoom glass having issues like this hopefully I’ll learn to enjoy the purple haze

[Greenneck]

Anyone have some lens testing suggestions I should try out? I've shot with this lens on a couple occasions now and and I am running into pretty strong purple/teal and green edges around highlights. Granted Ive been shooting pretty much mid afternoon in hard light but it does not seem to be doing well shooting anything back light/ towards the sun at all. My da 35 macro has been used to shoot back light subjects and towards the sun with vary usable shots as has my DA* 16-50.
I want to like this lens but Im not seeing a reason people say its so much better than the da 35 2.8 macro...

[monochrome]

FWIW, I would readily sell my KP and every other APSC lens I own - even the SMC DA15/4 - but I would keep the DA35 Macro and shoot in crop mode on K1 if it came down to that. Of course i’m keeping the FA31 as well.

[bdery]

I have the chance to pick up a used fa 31mm for under $500 at a local shop

I'd buy it and if I didn't like it I'd resell it.

You'd lose the macro capabilities of your 25 but you say you don't use it.

Will I be able to zoom in enough to see that on the camera?

It's there, automatically corrected in-camera nowadays, Lightroom and other editing programs also can remove it automatically. Not an issue.

[RobA_Oz]

It does mask at infinity focus. Even with the hood fully retracted the lens barrel takes significant nips out of the corners.
Even at close focus the image quality in the peripheries drops off dramatically beyond the APS-C image circle.

It's a great lens, but most certainly a crop lens.

I've finally got around to checking my DA35 Macro on the K-1, at full-frame and with the hood fully retracted. Below are two versions of the same photo, the first of which is with no vignette removal, and the second with maximum removal in Camera RAW. As you'll see, there is no actual clipping of the corners. Excuse the lack of pictorial quality – I shot the frame through my loungeroom window because it was a chilly day outside!

[Sandy Hancock]

Taken just now.
Focus on infinity, hood fully retracted, even light source (my computer screen). First image is stopped right down to f/22, second is wide open.

[redcat]

Did you get it already ? The FA 31 !!!