[Digitalis]

@luftfluss - wow, that's a bit harsh.

Want ultimate technical image quality, enough to make Canon/Nikon professionals and prosumers think about switching systems and advance the brand into the future? You need the Holy Trinity of zooms and an Otus-eating fast fifty. For starters.

I think this is what Ricoh/Pentax have in mind. Other fast over-engineered lenses will appear later on. The high resolution fast 50mm will be the harbinger of a new class of lenses from Pentrax.

[Sandy Hancock]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5UDNZAVcAAgipL.jpg
DFA*85 1.4 coming
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5UAameUkAA5vmb.jpg

Ooooh! Like grahame, I'm not sure the new 50 fits my needs, but I'd be all over a DFA*85/1.4

[timautin]

So from the picture, we may have:
- D-FA* 30 (31??) f/ likely 1.4 as the 50 & 85
- D-FA 18 f/?
- D-FA 70-300 f/?
- D-FA fish eye 8-6 f/?

Nice ! I'm very surprised of the lack of a 24 in the list though. Makes me happy to have bought the FA* 24 (despite the low corner image quality at wide apertures), for the scandalous price of 120€!

[clackers]

I prefer lenses NOT designed by Hirakawa. Bohkeh of DA55 is horrible..

As they say in the schoolyard, @Uluru, 'Show me yours and I'll show you mine.'

I want to see the DA*55 pictures you've taken.

The lens has nine rounded aperture blades. That's your benchmark, it's what you want for great bokeh.

Check out the first two of mine in the post below, for (1) creamy background bokeh and (2) clean transition from focus to OoF.

DFA*50 1.4 coming - Page 7 - PentaxForums.com

Then for specular highlights, this example from the K-1 web page:

PENTAX K-1 Laboratory | PENTAX K-1 Special site | RICOH IMAGING

Note that part of its wonderful rendering is that the highlights will tend to have the dark area as a rim (this is undercorrecting spherical aberration) rather than what an over-corrected Sigma can suffer from (dark area inside the highlight aka 'frog's egg')

Hirakawa's designs and glass formulas are both made for film; for digital, no.

Don't just assert something, Uluru, please provide evidence.

The man did not only design the FA*24, FA77 Ltd and FA*85, he also did in the digital age lenses as diverse as the DA10-17 Fisheye, DA 14 f2.8, DA 40mm Ltd and the DA*55.

At Tamron, he only designed digital lenses, including, it has been speculated, the 24-70mm f2.8.

Does this last one seem significant to you in any way?

It should.

---

Last edited by clackers; 02-22-2017 at 10:03 PM.

[mee]

So from the picture, we may have:
- D-FA* 30 (31??) f/ likely 1.4 as the 50 & 85
- D-FA 18 f/?
- D-FA 70-300 f/?
- D-FA fish eye 8-6 f/?

Nice ! I'm very surprised of the lack of a 24 in the list though. Makes me happy to have bought the FA* 24 (despite the low corner image quality at wide apertures), for the scandalous price of 120€!

The ultrawide appears to be undetermined at this point.. hence the wide band ranging from 12mm to 24mm. It could be anywhere in there. I suspect it will be 20mm. I realize I could be wrong. But that seems like the obvious sweet spot for an ultrawide.

Interestingly, the band for the D-FA telephoto reaches from 65mm. So they might exceed the 70-300 a teency bit in upclose range. Not a 70-200 f/4 but I'll take what I can get.

With that said, since they are just ribbons on a chart and not named like the 50 and 85 are, I don't expect to see them this year. Probably a 2018 thing?

[OoKU]

Q，APS-C&645 roadmap no change

[mee]

Q，APS-C&645 roadmap no change

Mildly surprised there was no word of more PLM based DA lenses....

[pakinjapan]

Good luck. I will probably come to Yokohama tomorrow.

are you visiting as a press? if not, general public days are on Sat 25 - Sun 26. Just to make sure you have the right pass, and don't waste your day.

[clackers]

Some full frame zooms, of all brands, may vignette at the long end. Full frame primes rarely vignette.

Who told you that, David?

This is from an Imaging Resource review of the Canon 50mm f1.4:

"On the full-frame 5D, it's a different story; at ƒ/1.4, the corners are well over 1.5 stops darker than the center. The corners lighten as the lens is stopped down: a full stop darker at ƒ/2, a half-stop darker at ƒ/2.8, and levelling off at a quarter-stop from ƒ/4 on."

[afan137]

are you visiting as a press? if not, general public days are on Sat 25 - Sun 26. Just to make sure you have the right pass, and don't waste your day.

Oh really ? Where did you get that from ?
I checked for the press is only today, 23 Feb. I am normal visitor, and I only have time for tomorrow.

[pakinjapan]

Oh really ? Where did you get that from ?
I checked for the press is only today, 23 Feb. I am normal visitor, and I only have time for tomorrow.

Interesting as I find for this year, they didn't have a section telling when is press day and when is public day. they only tell 23 (10:00-12:00) is press VIP time slot.
I visit the site 3-4 times and I remember this from the very first year I went there, the last 2 days are for public which is always be on a weekend.
I will update you later if I can find more information.
official site is here

edit:
this page seem to suggest that 23 / 10:00 to noon is for press and vip
http://www.cpplus.jp/en/press/time.html
so I guess, public can enter the exhibition after that. sorry for the confusion message earlier.

[shakereduced]

Interesting. They switched which wide lens will have a large aperture. The previous roadmap had the ultrawide as a large aperture lens and the wide angle lens didn't mention aperture, but now the wide angle has that designation while the ultrawide doesn't.

[Uluru]

A.

The man did not only design the FA*24, FA77 Ltd and FA*85, he also did in the digital age lenses as diverse as the DA10-17 Fisheye, DA 14 f2.8, DA 40mm Ltd and the DA*55.

All by himself? What did others do?

If speaking about best of the best in lens designs, evidence from the ground and images tell current best lens designer in the world is Mr Peter Karbe, of Leica.

Of course, he sits where he sits because of accomplishments of Walter Mandler, but Mr Karbe indeed delivers best lenses there are, even bettering Mandler's achievements. And has lots of interesting thoughts he shares with his audience. I recommend you read them.

Design of APO Summicron

Leica Lens Saga


Jun Hirakawa, was, what, in his mid-thirties when he designed two FA limiteds, and 8 years older when he designed DA55. A wunderkind? I would say he was recognised because he worked for Asahi, which was premium lens maker of Japan, and Asahi in those days made sure to emphasise and publicise their designs and ideas.

However, the teamwork of his colleagues vastly surpasses his own, visible in FA31. In fact he had such odd ideas about the design of the FA31 which were discarded, and that lens given to others. His colleagues took on more Karbe-like approach, and made a less compromised design, which yielded in excellence. And make sure that if there was no FA31, FA Limiteds would not have had even half the mention they had. FA31 is the lens which holds those oldish AF SLR lens designs together.

But those times are gone. Nikon, now Ricoh, Canon, Fuji, etc. no longer praise work of their optics industry or their individuals. Computers do them, and do them without character. Names and visions are gone and not made into stories. At Leica wants to keep part of that tradition.

[lithedreamer]

All by himself? What did others do?

Clackers provided some test images. Would you be so kind as to show off the horrible bokeh you found with the DA* 55?

[pres589]

... Is there some newsletter that you all subscribe to? How do you know such and such dude at whatever company had a vision for a lens and this is how he lead a team or worked alone on it? There are probably some interesting stories that I have been missing out on!