[BruceBanner]

I would think so, all the lens corrections work perfectly on my K-70 and Lightroom software.

It is a really light lens, not too big, like I said before it only takes a 55mm filter and I have a Hoya Fusion CPL on mine. The takumar styling is gorgeous but inside is modern lens technology, it doesn't flare and exactly matches a HD DA15 f4 for rendering, contrast and colour. If you didn't know you'd think the images came out of the same lens. Far easier to get sharp corners on the 20-40 compared to the DA15 though.

I hope I didn't sway you to spend money.

It's en-route as we speak...

I look forward to putting it through it's paces and contributing some comparison shots here with it on the K-1 & KP.

I have yet to decide on ND and CPL filters. I am concerned I will lose additional real estate when using on the K-1 so I might have to front up some cash and buy really nice thin ones to maximise coverage. Right now I have one other lens that is 62mm thread, so I might decide to use step up rings to get to that width for the 20-40... we'll see.

[nocturnal]

It's en-route as we speak...

I look forward to putting it through it's paces and contributing some comparison shots here with it on the K-1 & KP.

I have yet to decide on ND and CPL filters. I am concerned I will lose additional real estate when using on the K-1 so I might have to front up some cash and buy really nice thin ones to maximise coverage. Right now I have one other lens that is 62mm thread, so I might decide to use step up rings to get to that width for the 20-40... we'll see.

Congratulations, how much did you pay for it?

On the K1 you might need to leave the hood off even if it is very shallow, the thing is even the hood is beautifully engineered with lovely engraving 😎

Even disregarding the K1 it is brilliant for your KP but I'll look forward to seeing your results.

Again, I can highly recommend the Hoya Fusion CPL, at 55mm it isn't too expensive but takes away nothing from the 20-40 and it's important you don't introduce colour cast and flare as this is what the 20-40 excels at.

[BruceBanner]

Congratulations, how much did you pay for it?

On the K1 you might need to leave the hood off even if it is very shallow, the thing is even the hood is beautifully engineered with lovely engraving 😎

Even disregarding the K1 it is brilliant for your KP but I'll look forward to seeing your results.

Again, I can highly recommend the Hoya Fusion CPL, at 55mm it isn't too expensive but takes away nothing from the 20-40 and it's important you don't introduce colour cast and flare as this is what the 20-40 excels at.

$743AUD new.

I noticed a few USA sellers here selling around $400USD, but once I pay shipping, insurance and tax it's getting close to that amount. I checked completed listings and they seem to hold their resale value fairly well out here, should get $600AUD for it in a few months time after testing if the lens isn't for me. I also wanted new as I believe there is some inconsistencies with this lens (strong mixed reviews), one Aussie seller informing me they returned their copy etc. I want the power to easily return for another if I feel there is something amiss with my copy.

With hoods I quite often take them off and stow away for resale purposes. Right now my FA77 and FA43 have never had their hoods on, I replaced with something generic hood system. I do this for the other reason in that retractable hoods (FA77) don't work for this shooter, I need my lenses in pouches face down with deeper fixed hoods for quick lens swapping purposes at events. This lens will be a little different in that I don't think I will use it that much at events but when I do it will be for rain issues and still wanting to do some rain shots with the wedding couple (if they're up for it etc ). But I digress, it's not the main reason I bought the lens. I know what the HD DA 15, 21 and 35 are like, my favourite being the 35 (which worked pretty good on the K-1 as well), if any one of those lenses had WR I doubt I would have purchased this lens but that was the one thing missing that kept me holding onto them. I also didn't like the star bursts that much but I don't do a lot of that kinda work anyway, but the 20-40 actually looks like it does that better than the rest despite still owning rounded blades...

I have a few decisions to make. Right now I have a ND6 for 62mm (Velvet 56), I don't want to double up on filters so I might collect CPL and more ND filters in that size and then see if I can find a step up ring from 55mm to 62mm for the 20-40. I realise when it's on the K-1 that might make 24mm unusable, I'll need to accept with filters I'm getting closer to 28mm or 30mm equivalent. If I want to get some rain shots with the K-1 and use said filters I'd be looking at some weird kinda 62mm hood I think, something that will work for WA lenses... not sure how that will work :S

I'm also gunning for a FA31 eventually and so I am interested to seeing how well I can cope with 30mm (20mm on the KP) as a landscape lens. I'm actually not a huge fan of the UWA landscape stuff where the corners are distorted and kinda 'unrealistic' looking. I quite like the 24-28mm stuff and think if I wanted wider I would just do a panorama anyway.

[BruceBanner]

Got my HD DA 20-40 today. I put it through it's paces today with the K-1 and KP. First impressions are excellent. I didn't do any focusing via PDAF (where I think most of the confusion over focus and sharpness stems from) but instead CDAF via LV.

On the K-1.

- My feelings are it is usable in 1:1 throughout 20-40 at an f number, it's quite fun and challenging to shoot like this
- 30mm offers the best FF use with least vignetting. Can go down to about 25-27mm and have some mild vignetting still, but a small crop will fix it, basically 30mp shots etc should be feasible at this focal length.
- 23mm is the last focal length you get with staying at f2.8. Heavier vignetting is still there, but again a crop and correction should still see you work with something.
- Hood on or off doesn't seem to make a huge difference to vignette.

Summary on K-1 performance. Quite usable I think from 25-35mm when vignetting is not important, such as portrait work or landscape where some vignette is welcome. I would not use this at all in urban settings or landscape where sky is a large feature and you don't want vignetting at all, even at 30mm I think you will have some issues. To keep vignetting under control I would think of this as a 30/3.5 WR prime and just stick to that focal length (or +/-2mm).
What does give me hope is the fact that adding or subtracting the hood doesn't seem to make much difference to the hardness of the vignette (unlike the HD DA 35.2.8 Macro which has quite strong changes from the hood being extended or retracted). I am so impressed with the contrast and saturation/colours that I am questioning the necessity of a CPL. I think I could get away with just ND filters for landscape use (waterfall shots and the like, which is what I am mostly interested in).

So you get a fully working 30-60mm (FF equivalent) on KP and around 25mm on FF. If using 40mm on K-1 I would just take it off and put it on the KP and use 27mm (where you also get f3.5 instead of f4).

IQ, contrast, colouring are excellent. I shall contribute to this thread in due course with samples.

[nocturnal]

Got my HD DA 20-40 today. I put it through it's paces today with the K-1 and KP. First impressions are excellent. I didn't do any focusing via PDAF (where I think most of the confusion over focus and sharpness stems from) but instead CDAF via LV.

On the K-1.

- My feelings are it is usable in 1:1 throughout 20-40 at an f number, it's quite fun and challenging to shoot like this
- 30mm offers the best FF use with least vignetting. Can go down to about 25-27mm and have some mild vignetting still, but a small crop will fix it, basically 30mp shots etc should be feasible at this focal length.
- 23mm is the last focal length you get with staying at f2.8. Heavier vignetting is still there, but again a crop and correction should still see you work with something.
- Hood on or off doesn't seem to make a huge difference to vignette.

Summary on K-1 performance. Quite usable I think from 25-35mm when vignetting is not important, such as portrait work or landscape where some vignette is welcome. I would not use this at all in urban settings or landscape where sky is a large feature and you don't want vignetting at all, even at 30mm I think you will have some issues. To keep vignetting under control I would think of this as a 30/3.5 WR prime and just stick to that focal length (or +/-2mm).
What does give me hope is the fact that adding or subtracting the hood doesn't seem to make much difference to the hardness of the vignette (unlike the HD DA 35.2.8 Macro which has quite strong changes from the hood being extended or retracted). I am so impressed with the contrast and saturation/colours that I am questioning the necessity of a CPL. I think I could get away with just ND filters for landscape use (waterfall shots and the like, which is what I am mostly interested in).

So you get a fully working 30-60mm (FF equivalent) on KP and around 25mm on FF. If using 40mm on K-1 I would just take it off and put it on the KP and use 27mm (where you also get f3.5 instead of f4).

IQ, contrast, colouring are excellent. I shall contribute to this thread in due course with samples.

Great review there Bruce but I don't know what you mean by unusable for 1:1 at an f number.

It is a great lens as you describe, exactly my thoughts too but the hood is also good at preventing damage too and you should use it.

You seem to focus on low f numbers but I mostly use it at f8 upwards, did you try this on the K1?

It is great for moonscapes too, the colours are so vibrant in RAW with no filters applied, I don't use jpegs out of camera.

I don't think you'll be moving this lens on

[BruceBanner]

Great review there Bruce but I don't know what you mean by unusable for 1:1 at an f number.

It is a great lens as you describe, exactly my thoughts too but the hood is also good at preventing damage too and you should use it.

You seem to focus on low f numbers but I mostly use it at f8 upwards, did you try this on the K1?

It is great for moonscapes too, the colours are so vibrant in RAW with no filters applied, I don't use jpegs out of camera.

I don't think you'll be moving this lens on

Sorry, I mean it was usable on 1:1 crop ratio (so not FF but using the 1:1 crop mode) and at any focal length and any f number (aperture) on the K-1 pretty safely. That's not the oddest way to shoot, can be quite a nice framing challenge. And I bet even a pano at 20mm of 3-4 shots will get you pretty much a 20mm shot, though I haven't tested nor dealt with the distortion issues that may arise from that.

I will be using a hood, but probably not the hood and cap it comes with. I have learned from a resale perspective it's best you leave these in the boxes and instead use generic el cheapo ones instead. My thoughts anyway...

What I do need advice on is actually just seeking a decent replacement hood, something deeper that will assist with protecting the front element more from rain drops (as using this in the wet was a big motivation for the purchase). I actually have a 55-62mm step up ring coming in the mail (as I have a ND filter for 62mm already), so perhaps that might be my filter size I go for and therefore also hood size... Hmm... I wonder what would work well..

[BruceBanner]

My first shot with the HD DA 20-40 on the K-1.
Edited using RNI with the title preset.

---

Last edited by BruceBanner; 05-14-2019 at 01:38 PM.

[nocturnal]

Looks good to me Bruce, you must be well pleased with it even on K1? Another bonus is it is so small and light compared to the DFA lenses.

It is great to known it can do 1:1 at any aperture at any focal length on FF. I personally love 1:1 (as you can see on the previous page) and rarely do I like the native 3:2.

Looking foward to seeing more, even 1:1 landscapes which are a favourite of mine despite not being a former Hasselblad owner.

[BruceBanner]

Looks good to me Bruce, you must be well pleased with it even on K1? Another bonus is it is so small and light compared to the DFA lenses.

It is great to known it can do 1:1 at any aperture at any focal length on FF. I personally love 1:1 (as you can see on the previous page) and rarely do I like the native 3:2.

Looking foward to seeing more, even 1:1 landscapes which are a favourite of mine despite not being a former Hasselblad owner.

Yeah, I hope to take some more shots with it today on the K-1 and KP, some landscape testing. I too like odd unconventional landscape aspect ratio shots, such as this one I took with the A24/2.8

THIS IS NOT A DA 20-40 SHOT


But yeah just sharing to illustrate the format.

I'm knee deep in processing wedding shots currently, but when time allows I will be doing a comprehensive write up with many images of the 20-40 sitting on the K-1 at varying focal ranges and apertures, hood on and off, leaving the vignette as is and also my attempts to remove it. (I'll do a proper review in the review section as well, possibly a front page article as well if that's warranted). My issue was that there are other FF zooms out there, the main competition to my purchasing choice was the DFA 28-105, but I think I would have skipped that for the 24-70, but that is a huge jump in price and size compared to the 20-40. The 15-30 is also expensive and I'm not sure will lend itself as well to portrait work (which is what I will also want to use the 20-40 for a lot as well, controversial!). Stay tuned... and in the mean time c'mon people! Share your 204 shots with us!!

EDIT: I forgot to say, I also wish they did an update for the K-1 to give more aspect ratio crops. The Crop sensor Crop is often overkill I feel. You could be getting 16:10 or 16:9 crops without vignetting (as that kinda avoids the edges. Or a 4:3 crop etc. It's why I rarely use the crop mode on the K-1 because I feel a FF gives me more choice in cropping choices in post. Still be nice to have some other ratios that are safe other than just 1:1...

[BruceBanner]

F4 Face Off
Shot on the KP, one of these is taken with a FA43 and the other HD DA 20-40 at 40mm, both at F4.

[Huzuni]

F4 Face Off
Shot on the KP, one of these is taken with a FA43 and the other HD DA 20-40 at 40mm, both at F4.

left 20-40

[BruceBanner]

left 20-40

Give this man a cigar!

[BruceBanner]

I just made a post here about the HD DA 20-40, I would appreciate any users here of this lens to feel free to weigh in with their opinions; Understanding ephotozine MTF tests & a call to HD DA 20-40 owners! - PentaxForums.com

Thanks!

Bruce

[skierd]

More from February's California trip.

[BruceBanner]

I had the chance to take a few shots today with the HD DA 20-40 sitting on the K-1 (i.e. full frame mode). Suffice to say I'm quite pleased with the results. These images have of course seen a fair bit of editing but nothing more than my usual. No visits to PS for example, all done in LR;











If you click the image you will be taken to flickr where I have linked the full size image for download/access for all you pixel peepers.