[normhead]

Sigma 70mm 2.8 EX DG Macro

Yes, it's very sharp. But I hate its bloated bulkiness. I hate the feel of its textured rubberized barrel. I hate the mushy feel of its manual
focus. AF, as with just about any macro, is slow, sluggish and never what I want, (in fact, it's a little puzzling why any macro should be AF).
I really should sell the lens; I have four other macros I use more frequently, (DA35/2.8, SMCA 50/2.8, Vivitar 90/2.5 & SMCA 100/4).

You should do one of these, you have a couple macros I don't.
Macro-bokeh-test - PentaxForums.com

My Sigma 70 is still one of my preferred lenses if I'm not going to have to transport it or carry it. Used it at a wedding recently, according to Tess the best images were taken with it.

[thazooo]

FA 50 1.4
Just had to have an AF 50 but tired of it quickly on the APS-C. Didn't give the right perspective for my taste.

[Eagle94VT]

The Pentax 16-50...or any 24-70 equivalent. I use the Tamron 24-70 occasionally on my Canon film camera, but it feels the same. I think its the "throw" of these lenses? Just how it feels when I zoom in and out. I replaced the 16-50 with the 20-40. Wide angle zooms and tele zooms are just fine. I've never tried the 16-85. I guess everyone settles on their favorite combinations over the years, and largely I've become a general purpose zoom + primes shooter. Interesting thread to start.

[BigMackCam]

What I'm enjoying most about this thread already (and we're only a few posts in) is the different perceptions people have for the same lenses...

Four of the lenses mentioned so far - the DA21, DA35/2.4, FA50/1.4 and Sigma 30/1.4 Art - rank amongst my personal favourites, at least so far as the modern AF glass in my own collection is concerned; whilst the HD DA20-40 that I called out is beloved of many members here, yet hasn't worked its magic for me yet.

This shows how risky it is to put too much faith in reviews, be they from test sites, the press or other forum members. Such reviews can provide useful information, but whether a lens is good, bad or average - and why - is largely down to the photographer and his / her personal tastes for field of view, rendering, contrast, colour reproduction, etc.

An enjoyable thread, this one

[RGlasel]

Any 50mm prime on APS-C.

I'll be more specific, I used the A 50 f1.7 in the first two years that I had a DSLR a lot more than I have used the DA 50 f1.8 in the four years since, even though I thought AF would make a difference. With apertures larger than f2.8 I need to manually focus and I satisfied my thin DOF curiosity by experimenting with the A lens. I don't use the DA 35 f2.4 as much as I thought I would, either, but I still pull it out of the bag if I want natural light pictures at social events or museums.

[RonHendriks1966]

That is an easy questions. I bought the 10-17 fisheye. We had a meeting at the parkinglot of a McDonald's for the exchange since we where living some space apart (the seller and me). So I made a testshot with it of the big M they have. That was a great shot! Everything after that was mehhhhhhh at best. Sold it after a year.

[gofour3]

FA20-35/4.

I like the focal range and can get good shots with it, but I just cringe every time I use it. I don't like the way it manual focuses, its handling, slow speed or cheap build.

Phil.

[ChrisPlatt]

I have little experience with plastic fantastic AF lenses,
but I have auditioned many steel and glass manual focus behemoths.

Many I cast aside quickly but there are a couple I tried long and hard to like.

SMC Pentax-A 35-105/3.5 zoom:

I had no quarrel with image quality throughout its range.
I thought this would be good for 90% of my photos.
Alas it was just too big, heavy and unwieldy to carry around.
I'd rather carry 35, 50 and 105mm lenses; together they'd probably weigh less.
Also, used with a polarizer, at 35mm it suffers very noticeable "reverse vignetting";
far more than any 35mm fixed focal length lens I have used.

Any 28mm focal length lens:

I dearly love the 35mm FOV. As many consider 50mm normal, IMO 35mm is "normal".
When a wide angle is called for 24mm is quite alright.

So what is it about 28mm that doesn't work for me?
Perhaps in my eyes it's barely wide, but usually not wide enough.

It's sad because I know I an missing out on using the many fine 28mm lenses.
FWIW I admire photos of many others who work wonders with the focal length.

Chris

[emergo]

FA 31 on APS-C. Believe me or not. Still keep it just in case I decide switching to FF one day, but do not use at all. Prefer FA* 24 or FA 43 instead.

the same for me, but it was also a matter of it's size. sure, the FL on APSC was meh, but it threw the whole camera out of balance. I'm a prime shooter who likes a compact kit. I never connected with that FA31 and sold it on.

[kaipa]

the same for me, but it was also a matter of it's size. sure, the FL on APSC was meh, but it threw the whole camera out of balance.

Absolutely.

[Scorpio71GR]

This has been a tough one. I think I will go with the lens I had the highest expectations with. I always wanted the DA*50-135 and back in 2014 I finally decided to buy one. It is one of the few lenses I purchased new and for full retail. Now I will say the 50-135 never let me down when I used it. Beautiful colours, extremely sharp, and wonderful contrast. I figured this was going to be my goto lens and for awhile it was. Then in 2015 I came across a used DA*60-250 on B&H for $250 less than I paid for the 50-135. I decided I better snag it up. Since I rarely shoot portraits and f2.8 is not terribly important to me most of the time, the 60-250 pushed the 50-135 aside. In the end the 60-250 is just a better fit for me. Had I bought the 60-250 first I probably would have never bought the 50-135.
It is interesting reading the previous posts. Before my DA*16-50 was dropped it was my most used lens. The DA21 is still my favorite choice on the K-01 and is essentially always on it. The 10-17 was my first DA lens and it is still a favorite. The DA35 gets more use now because I use it on the K-1. I have one other lens that got regulated to the drawer. My Tamron 90mm macro got usurped by the DFA 100 Macro WR. I have not used it once since getting the 100 macro.

[bdery]

This shows how risky it is to put too much faith in reviews, be they from test sites, the press or other forum members. Such reviews can provide useful information, but whether a lens is good, bad or average - and why - is largely down to the photographer and his / her personal tastes for field of view, rendering, contrast, colour reproduction, etc.

A good review (and what I try to aim for in mine) should tell you what a lens does well or poorly, and let you decide if you're ok with that. I think "user report", samples and the conclusion are the most important part of my reviews (even they though they are far from being the longest to write).

An enjoyable thread, this one

That it is for sure.

[Dartmoor Dave]

The one that I never managed to force myself to like was the DA 16-45mm. I hated the way that it got longer at wide angle, so that several times strangers accused me of zooming in on them when actually they just happened to be a part of the wide angle scene. And I never managed to get anything remotely resembling a naturalistic colour rendering out of the darn thing. I ended up giving it to a charity shop, so that at least it would do somebody some good.

[BigMackCam]

A good review (and what I try to aim for in mine) should tell you what a lens does well or poorly, and let you decide if you're ok with that.

I agree, Bernard. Even then, one can't account for everything... I've read reviews that very accurately identified undesirable properties of lenses, yet when I've shot with some of those lenses, I've clicked with them. So even with the best reviews and all relevant information presented, sometimes there's no substitute for actually trying the lens

This thread has made me want to challenge my feelings towards the DA20-40. I've just fitted it to my K-3 and intend to leave it there for a few weeks. Let's see if I can make my peace with it

[mattb123]

DA 50/1.8 is one that hasn't gotten much use from me. It's an awkward length on crop and I just usually reach for something else. I bring it traveling sometimes but typically end up carrying it more than using it.