[RobA_Oz]

Cross-posted from the Post your K-1 pictures thread. Taken with the K-1 and FA43 Limited.

[RobA_Oz]

Cross-posted with the Post your K-1 pictures thread.

Taken with the K-1 and FA31 Limited. The detail in the original is amazing.

The Gothic Revival style building complex in the centre of the frame is the Hungarian Parliament building.

[Aaron28]

fa77..k-1...local meet n greet

[northcoastgreg]

Memorial for fishermen, with the FA 43:

[Aaron28]

fa77...k-1..meet & greet

[Aaron28]

more from the meet & greet...fa77...k-1

[Aaron28]

fa77...k-1...went b&w

[Aaron28]

k-1...fa77....back to color

[womble]

FA43 on a LX loaded with Orwo 125 film.


Roll in a day (No 26): Splash! par Kris Lockyear, on ipernity

[aslyfox]

frozen motion

KP + SMC Pentax-FA 77mm F1.8 Limited

[-JW-]

I agree.

I mean the pixie dust is always there, at any aperture, because its the lens, the elements and how they are working together that gets you it, but I was simply meaning to say the the special characteristics of the lens are easier to see at wide open apertures. You could shoot f8 and have a subject in focus close and still get an incredible bokeh, so yeah that is true also. But I've had many conversations about wth 'pixie dust' even is, and many have agreed that to use Lens Correction often kills the pixie!
But what is true (and you can say this of a lot of lenses) is that what you often pay for, the unique expensive properties of the lens... its happening at the wide apertures, and less prominent as the lens gets stopped down. Take for example the Takumar 50/1.4 (eight element), it actually does insane bokeh wide open, like almost lensbaby weirdness kinda stuff, once getting to f2.8 the bokeh is behaving more normal (but still has great subject isolation).
The DFA 50/1.4, it (with perhaps the Sigma 35/1.4 Art) is about the only portrait lens that can hold exceptionally good edge sharpness at f1.4! You can pretty much have a group portrait shot of people close to the edge with thoses lenses and the people on the edges are not softening up like they would if I used the aforementioned Tak, FA43, FA77, FA31 etc etc. You're basically paying for that edge sharpness at wide apertures (as well as good AF, silent AF, AW etc etc).

If we took the FA 50, DA 50, Tak 50, F50 and DFA50 and stopped them all down to f8, it will be a lot harder to tell which lenses is responsible for which image, but if we all had the lenses at their widest apertures, subject perhaps close to the edge, then which lens might be which becomes a little easier to hazard a guess at. Note I say 'a little easier', I've actually played the game where someone takes a heap of shots with various lenses, you think you can tell which shot is taken with which lens, but its not as easy as you might think

My first DSLR was the K-50, I didn't stay with it for too long till going to the K-1. K-1 is where I spent most of my learning curve on, so I've come to accept FF in my mind as being the norm. There's no problem being the other way around, it is all just mental and in the head. However as I pointed out in another thread elsewhere, the manufacturer and sellers often will sell a crop lens and supply you with a FF equivalent, never the other way around, you even see it from a Medium Format perspective too!



So yeah, the photography world does tend to seem to see the FF/35mm as 'the standard' and anything outside of this gets equivalence pointing to that.

Please show us what you might consider pixie dust to being with a stopped down shot, be keen to see that. I've talked about this before, but here's my favourite example of pixie dist;



Without trying to discuss the image in too much detail, as someone who owned the DA50 and FA50 (as well as the excellent Samyang 85/1.4), what this shot is doing that I never saw from the others is the style of bokeh. Paying attention to the wine glasses bottom left, they are just rendered in such a high quality, textured gorgeous way. It's detailed yet still very much oof, it feels layered and interesting, whereas bokeh from the aforementioned can feel a little lifeless, flat and dull. Pixie dust in this instance I would say is not limited to a FA Ltd, a same or even perhaps more intense version of this shot could of perhaps happened with the Tak 50/1.4, whereas I have not see any pixie dust from the DFA50 (it's too clinical).

And just lastly, those additional elements (Tak50/FA ltds) can really assist with maintaining a strong 3D subject isolation as the lens is stopped down vs some other lenses. I've illustrated this before but this thread is also excellent to prove that point as we see images of a jug being rendered between a FA31 and FA35, as both lenses are stopped down the FA31 holds onto a far higher quality of bokeh whilst fooling people into seeing a sharper subject.

Hd fa35/2 - Page 3 - PentaxForums.com

-----------------

Agreed it is more evident at wider apertures, but still pretty evident if you ask me.
I also agree that sometimes the shot looks better with lens distortion uncorrected.
To me bright sunlight also seems to work really nice on the FA31.

As requested, here are some examples where I think the FA31 really shines at F7.1/F8.0 or higher, all on the K3/K3-II (didn't have the K1-II at the time yet)
(Click to see on Flickr for better sharpness)

F7.1

by Jordy Wubbels, on Flickr

F7.1

by Jordy Wubbels, on Flickr

F7.1

by Jordy Wubbels, on Flickr

F8

by Jordy Wubbels, on Flickr

F8

by Jordy Wubbels, on Flickr

F8

by Jordy Wubbels, on Flickr

F9

by Jordy Wubbels, on Flickr

F9

by Jordy Wubbels, on Flickr


And at F2.....ok...ok...I know....

by Jordy Wubbels, on Flickr

[BruceBanner]

Agreed it is more evident at wider apertures, but still pretty evident if you ask me.
I also agree that sometimes the shot looks better with lens distortion uncorrected.
To me bright sunlight also seems to work really nice on the FA31.

As requested, here are some examples where I think the FA31 really shines at F7.1/F8.0 or higher, all on the K3/K3-II (didn't have the K1-II at the time yet)
(Click to see on Flickr for better sharpness)

F7.1

by Jordy Wubbels, on Flickr

F7.1

by Jordy Wubbels, on Flickr

F7.1

by Jordy Wubbels, on Flickr

F8

by Jordy Wubbels, on Flickr

F8

by Jordy Wubbels, on Flickr

F8

by Jordy Wubbels, on Flickr

F9

by Jordy Wubbels, on Flickr

F9

by Jordy Wubbels, on Flickr


And at F2.....ok...ok...I know....

by Jordy Wubbels, on Flickr

Great stuff!

I would also agree it is there, not for me so obvious in all the shots but I see strong subject isolation in the ferris wheel and china town shots especially. Other lenses at that aperture I think flatten everything too much. It's basically like the aforementioned 'jug' comparison page/thread where the FA31 is going against the FA35, and you can see as the FA31 is continually stopped down it is less inclined to let go of the subject isolation compared to the FA35. So it's nice to see even on crop and f8-9 it's producing that effect (depending on where focus is).

FWIW this wouldn't be my personal definition of 'pixie dust', it's just what I believe many users have come to comment on when talking about pixie dust. I started seeing a pattern and decided it was the pronounced subject isolation and wide apertures that were getting commented the most with the word pixie dust, and so I explored that a little more to try and explain in words what I think people were actually meaning to say.

I think all the FA Ltds have one strong trait that I think other lenses find harder to emulate (but by no means exclusive or can't). Certain subjects, such as a horse for example, if you use f2 it's too shallow a depth of field to capture all of the animal and so something like f4 is needed. With the FA Ltds you can go to F4 and still retain a really decent subject isolation, it almost still looks like the shot was taken at f2.5 or something, whereas other glass (at f4) resolves everything a little flat. With the FA Ltds you can shoot with confidence at more stopped down apertures and keep the focus where you want.

The crop vs FF thing tho, is personally that additional DoF punch that FF can have over crop assists in all of that, the edging (even if soft and vignetting) assists with the whole message of those aspects. I'm really not saying that putting them on crop is wrong, I certainly still use the FA77 on my KP often, it's just that I can see the 'message' is a little weaker on crop than what I see when I use FF.

Seeing your work with the FA31 on crop is interesting, it's like a lot of your shots you are framing and composing like what a FA43 would be like with a K-1, so I do sympathise that now the 31 has become a different thing altogether on your K-1. I'd recommend a FA43 if you like that perspective a lot, or a DA 40/2.8 (2.8 is still quite fast on K-1, remember any f2.8 lens you have had on the K3 thus far has been giving a DoF comparable to f4 on a K-1. F2.8 on the K-1 is a new ball game and still really really acceptable. Or a Takumar 50/1.4 M42 (8 element if you can), just keep an eye out for bargains on those 3 imo.

[BruceBanner]

Brew Mountains Brewery

K-1+FA77, assisted by AD200 in a BD, V1 + Maggel, Magrid+Magsphere for backdrop, additional V1 for rim light with diffuser.

[Rondec]

Purple Dawn (FA 31/pixel shift)

[Rondec]

Purple Dawn (FA 31/Pixel Shift)