Originally posted by 8540tomg Hi all,
I am bit puzzled over which series of lenses to buy next. As you can see from my signature I only have one “modern” lens the DA 70 2.4. This is a fine lens and I am well pleased with it. Of late I’m a little concerned that the advent of the full frame DSLR will render the DA series obsolete (vignetting) sooner than many of us might wish. Consequently, I am leaning towards the FA limiteds as I expand in this area. As a group the FAs are a little faster, larger and usually more expensive than their DA limited cousins. It is my understanding the DA lenses focus faster, are smaller, lighter and a little slower. All receive great reviews in the database. It is a tough choice. Am I unduly concerned over the full frame issue? Thoughts?
Tom G
My opinion depends on focal length.
For an APS-C wide (20mm-ish), I strongly prefer the DA21 over full-frame superwide (20mm-ish) lenses. The DA21 is compact, not terribly expensive, and is less prone to flare than full-frame alternatives.
FA31 versus DA35 is a tossup; I *heart* my FA31 but the DA35 is smaller and (others claim) performs very well indeed. I think I could live with f/2.8; I prefer longer lenses for shallow-DOF work anyway.
Beyond that (DA40/FA43/DA70/FA77) I'm not aware of any significant disadvantage with full-frame lenses.
All that being said, I think APS-C-sized sensors will still be commonplace several years from now, since APS-C sized sensors are already good enough for most applications and will always be much less costly to fabricate than a full-frame sensor.