Just for the record: It has only taken 179 images with it on my K-3 to earn the smc DA40 Ltd. a permanent place in my kit. After covering the better part of a whole staff outing with it, I'm confident that my copy at least
- is optically and mechanically sound
- focuses fast and accurately (if audibly)
- is so tiny that people stay relaxed, hardly believing that you can take "serious" photos of them
- has no discernable decentering issues
- offers decent sharpness already wide open
- delivers excellent and even sharpness in the medium aperture range (without ever looking clinical)
- renders the colours and microcontrast you'd expect from a DA Limited
- is not a bokeh monster, but not as lost on bokeh as you might suspect an F2.8 pancake to be
- comes with the original screw-in hood, whch does a pretty effective job of preventing flares, although they can be provoked - a little more easily than I had initially hoped - by shooting directly into the sun
But if flare resistance is the only IQ area where the DA40 shows its age to some extent - smc is not HD, after all - I can live well with that. In fact, depending on the situation, those flares can even add some atmosphere and character to your images. Don't get me wrong, I deeply appreciate what cutting-edge coatings like HD have given us, but the irony of modern lenses being so good in that respect that we buy pricey black mist filters to make them a little less perfect and more cinematic is not lost on me, either.
The following were shot before and after the said staff outing (first two at F9, the third at F5; all processed lightly to taste in DxO PL5). Honestly, I can't see any mediocrity here: