[Gyroscope]

I'm really pleased about this. As a new Pentax user shooting K1 and 645z with all new generation glass I am not very keen to go back to older generation glass like the 55 or the 43 (despite the many positive things I hear about them). Plus 55 is too long. I am pining after my canon 50 f1.2 since I sold all my Canon gear so this looks like the perfect replacement. I hope it has world class image quality. I might even sell my 24-70 and buy the 70-200. 15-30, 50 and 70-200 seems like a good setup for my shooting.

[IggzDaLoc]

DFA 20mm (or wider) up next!
*crosses fingers*

That would be seriously righteous. I've had my eye on the Rokinon 20mm for a while now but I'd definitely prefer some WR

[Paul the Sunman]

I'm now getting nervous about what they'll do with the Three Amigos when they get round to updating them. Compactness seems to have fallen off the back of the Ricoh/Pentax truck.

[JPT]

I'm not sure about competing offerings, but do any of them offer image stabilization in a F1.4 50mm? It's not an intrinsic trait of the lens but, given that the K-1 has very effective stabilization, it will be a powerful selling point nevertheless.

[rawr]

Is there a law that says no FF lenses ever vignette?

From hanging around sites like lenstip or dxomark too often, a full-frame lens that doesn't substantially vignette seems a rarity. Particularly for fast-primes.

2-3 EV light-loss wide-open in the corners - even on lenses costing several thousand dollars - seems normal on full-frame.

For example, on FF at f1.4 the Nikon 50mm f1.4G light fall-off in the frame corners is 56%, and on the Carl Zeiss Otus 55 mm f/1.4 ZE light fall-off is 51% in the frame corners (-2.05 EV). It seems very visible.

[freerider]

I want a 24mm F/1.4 first.

Me too. There are very limited options at that FL. Hopefully 24mm comes next.

[beachgardener]

Sigma killer, finally!

Yes for sure, they need to not have sigma hanging around, forward with Pentax lenses is the way. I don't mind Tamron but not Sigma.

Nice one Pentax, look forward to it

[lithedreamer]

I'm now getting nervous about what they'll do with the Three Amigos when they get round to updating them. Compactness seems to have fallen off the back of the Ricoh/Pentax truck.

The Princesses will be foresaken, thrown on a pile of wide-aperture glass and AF motors.

[ColiNiloK]

Sigma copy in fact: huge, heavy. not pentax any more

Maybe that's where a none star DFA 50 f1.8 will come in. Somehow that's the trend of modern lenses, in order to get ultra high performance, size and weight will definitely increase.

---------- Post added 02-22-17 at 03:55 PM ----------

Awesome. Now where is the matching 35mm F/1.4 and the 85mm F/1.4?

+1, and a 135mm f1.8 please.

[zapp]

They stick to the plan, a normal angle lens first. Hopefully some friends will be around the corner.
f/1.4 calls for the same f-stop for a follow up 35 and 85 lens. Pentax is going the whole nine yards, I guess.

[Tesla]

Rather 20mm than 35mm

[Sandy Hancock]

My DA*55 is bloody near perfect on the K-1. Vignetting is not a problem and chromatic aberration is minimal. Maybe I was lucky with my copy, but I won't be rushing out to buy the DFA*50. I'm delighted Pentax have produced it though

Some examples: pixel peeping and EXIF available in Flickr. Any cropping is mentioned.











This one is cropped a little, but to remove distracting elements, not vignetting.



a crop of the above for those who doubt the lens' resolving power

[biz-engineer]

Yikes! Its HUGE!

yep, also looks nice. Gosh , I said I wouldn't spend any more money on full frame -

---------- Post added 22-02-17 at 06:57 ----------

Given the length and girth and depth of the hood, I would have guessed a fast 85.

Yes, it looks like a 85mm. At first sight, this lens even looks like a 645 lens.

[jatrax]

I'm now getting nervous about what they'll do with the Three Amigos when they get round to updating them. Compactness seems to have fallen off the back of the Ricoh/Pentax truck.

The 'Limited' line has always had a different design philosophy. No reason at all not to have a line of DFA* glass that is big, fast and weather sealed along with a line of small, slower Limited lens in metal craftsmanship. Different markets. I think we will see DFA*50, 85 and 135mm this year. And perhaps Limited 20, 31, 43 and 77 next year. Just speculating of course.

[LightBug]

Sigma copy in fact: huge, heavy. not pentax any more

People were asking for modern lenses, I guess that means big also