[Digitalis]

While money is indeed a factor with any purchase, I can vouch that the FA31 is worth the money.

[clackers]

there is this slight problem with the FA 31 limited

$ 900 new

used ???

Good point, Allen, I'd forgotten about his affordability request.

Some 'Poor Man's FA31 Limiteds' have been the FA35 (has been reissued with new coatings), the DA35 and the FA28 f2.8.

And of course in the Marketplace at the moment there's the 35mm Limited Macro going for $375.

[aslyfox]

Good point, Allen, I'd forgotten about his affordability request.

Some 'Poor Man's FA31 Limiteds' have been the FA35 (has been reissued with new coatings), . . . .

it looks like there is a SMC Pentax-FA 35mm F2 AL for sale in the market place for $170

I know nothing about the lens or the seller

[Sandy Hancock]

Ounce for ounce, and dollar for dollar, I would agree that the DA 35/2.8 Macro Limited is the best option. SMC or HD version - doesn't matter.

I prefer the Sigma 35/1.4 Art and FA 31/1.8 Limited, but they are outside the OP's budget brief.

[disconnekt]

If youre on a real tight budget and dont mind useing a manual focus lense, theres a Mitakon 35mm f2 for sale in the used section on B&H for $96.95 here: Used Mitakon Zhongyi Creator 35mm f/2 Lens MTKCRE35MMF2PK B&H

[johnha]

there is this slight problem with the FA 31 limited

$ 900 new

That problem is stretched a bit further in the UK £1199...

[Trickortreat]

Lately I've been considering a 30-35mm prime lens acquisition. I would use it on my K-5IIs or occasionally K10D. No plans on going FF in the future. I love my M50mm/f1.7, but want a high quality 'normal' prime lens for APS-C. I just read an interesting article about micro-contrast and 3D 'pop':
https://yannickkhong.com/blog/2016/2/8/micro-contrast-the-biggest-optical-luxury-of-the-world


His basic premise is that the more highly corrected a lens is for CA control, the more elements it will have which is great for sharpness/CA but kills 3D 'pop'. My best 3D lens is my F 100mm/f2.8 Macro. It just has 'magic' compared to my other lenses: I'm guessing good micro-contrast is the source.

So my question to y'all is this, in the 30-35mm range, what lenses would you recommend that have decent sharpness (say 8.5 and up), very good micro-contrast, and don't cost a fortune. I'm willing to trade so-so CA control for better micro-contrast if they are indeed mutually incompatible. I don't care if the lens is all manual, although auto-something would be preferable. IQ trumps convenience. It's age/era is not important if I can find a good copy. It doesn't have to be Pentax, although that too would be preferable.

Id recommend DA 35mm f2.4 al. While it cant do macro it is a really solid and lightweight lens and i havent found it performs any worse than 35 macro in real world use plus it is has a bit brighter aperture and a lot cheaper.

[bassek]

While the DA35/2.4 is a good budget option, the F28/2.8 is compact and nice too. If it's not too wide for OP.


Seb.

[Sandy Hancock]

While the DA35/2.4 is a good budget option, the F28/2.8 is compact and nice too. If it's not too wide for the OP

I can't argue with that. The F28/2.8 is a superb lens - both compact and affordable.

[fs999]

FA35/2 is my favourite city/holiday lens with my K-1, very sharp, very light and excellent in low light.
It would certainly be excellent in APS-C...

[aslyfox]

While the DA35/2.4 is a good budget option, the F28/2.8 is compact and nice too. If it's not too wide for OP.


Seb.

I do like my Kiron 28mm F2 MC, I have the rarer PKA mount:

Fast 28mm wide angle, also sold under the Vivitar marque, can be found in M42, PK and, more rarely, PKA, mounts (pic 2).

Construction; 8 elements in 8 groups
Filter Diameter: 55mm
Aperture: f2 - f16, half clicks, with DOF scale on barrel
Iris: 6 blades
CFD: 0.3m / 12"
Focus throw: ~ 120 deg rotation
Length: 5cms.
Weight: 284g / 10oz
FOV: 66 Degrees (Horizontal) on full frame.

For contemporary magazine reviews of this lens see here. [ http://www.boggys.co.uk/page50.html ]
Review by vintage lens reviews. [ https://vintagelensreviews.com/reviews/kiron-28-mm-f2-0-mc/ ]
Test on full frame sony A7R by Dan Eurrit (PF u/n OSV). [ http://www.codectest.com/2014/28mm-camera-lens-comparison-on-the-sony-a7r-first-round ]
These kirons are well known for having sticky iris's due to deterioration of the helicoid grease causing oil to get onto the blades. There is a repair article here.

Read more at: https://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/kiron-28mm-f2-mc.html#ixzz5xuBnVB2v

_______________________
the OP has a problem

lots of good lenses to consider

[ChristianRock]

I'm not sure where this thing about Sigma Art lenses not having microcontrast is coming from...

...and "3D effect" certainly has to do a lot with keeping some field curvature and also not over-correcting the lenses. I keep reading about these two things regarding lens design that would have an effect on this:

1) Lenses need a little bit of field curvature to make the subjects "pop" - this was described by Hirakawa Jun in the paper that he wrote at the time of the release of the Pentax FA Limiteds. Forum member Greg (northcoastgreg) wrote a nice piece on it on his blog: Lessons from a Legendary Lens Designer | Photographic Ideals, Basic Principles | The Northcoast Photographer

2) Then there's the issue of how correcting elements such as aspherical lenses affect bokeh and in-focus to out-of-focus transitions. People like Mike Johnston and others have written about this in the past. Hirakawa Jun also mentioned how color correction was handled in the FA Limiteds as opposed to other lens designs, in order to make sure that the in-focus to out-of-focus transitions were as smooth as possible (see link above).

Having said that, the Sigma Art lenses do have a "claim to fame" of exactly the thing we complain about... flat images. They are made to be sharp edge to edge wide open (at apertures such as f/1.4 or even f/1.2 now). This is only accomplished by eliminating field curvature and by applying a lot of correction elements, making the lens huge and to the detriment of bokeh quality, especially at mid distances.

Finally, I would like to add - complementing what BigMackCam already alluded to... - that the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 Art is an anomaly among Sigma Art lenses. It's been called "unworthy" of the Art designation, exactly because the designers decided to keep some field curvature (so it does not test sharp edge-to-edge in test charts), and went away with the ED glass compared to the earlier version of this lens, keeping only one aspherical lens at the very end (sort of like what Pentax has been doing for a while now on a few prime lens designs). Purple fringing shows up especially wide open, meaning the lens is not as corrected as other Art lenses (the PF does go away as you stop down a bit). The result is a lens that is still very sharp but doesn't test all that great on test benches, so a lot of people frowned on it. But the result is a lens from the Sigma Art series that most closely resembles the Pentax philosophy on lens designs, I would say Iit's not going to perform like a Zeiss in terms of "pop" but what does? But the images it produces are very pleasing to my eyes, and PF is easily correctable anyway. And I don't see any on f/2.8 and smaller. Oh and you also likely need to use center point focus to get the AF to work reliably - something I do on other lenses anyway.

So the tl;dr version of this is... Sigma Art lenses do have microcontrast, and microcontrast isn't the only (or even the most important) aspect of a lens that creates the "pop" or "3D" effect on images. The Sigma 30 1.4 Art is a fine lens for APS-C and covers an important gap in the Pentax APS-C lens lineup, IMHO.

[Apet-Sure]

the OP has a problemlots of good lenses to consider

You got that right. I've opened a can of lovely worms.

Only 1 review of the Mitakon 35mm f2 here on PF, and it's not good.

The DA 35mm f2.4 is easy on the wallet, but I just couldn't bring myself to buy a plastic bayonet mount. I'm not THAT desperate.
I'm going to stick with my original focal length range of 30-35mm to simplify things.
The FA 35mm f2 AL is in the running. I don't need another macro lens, I already have two.
Having said that, the HD/SMC DA 35mm f2.8 Limited Macros are strong contenders.

Ounce for ounce, and dollar for dollar, I would agree that the DA 35/2.8 Macro Limited is the best option.

Yes, that's the vibe I'm getting.


The FA 31mm Limited is at the 'fortune' threshold in my world.

[Scout]

Hello, I have been looking for a smc K 30 mm f2.8 for a while, certainly an excellent lens, but still a bit expensive used.
My pentax-m 28 mm f3.5 is excellent too, not easy to use, astonishing colors.
I have the da 35mm plastic and it's very nice, light, sharp,... Excellent
Take a Pentax, never bad surprise



Envoyé de mon Nexus 5 en utilisant Tapatalk

[Wasp]

I'd recommend this lens myself but the going rate for it puts it in squarely "collector" territory. You can still find them relatively cheap like I did but they're fixer uppers.

You're rewarded with out of this world rendering though.

I also have a Tak 35/2.3. I love it - my favorite 35mm lens. Also my only one, so I am no position to make recommendations, hehehe.

To get results like that above, one must work at it. I have found that the angle of the light is important.