[RonHendriks1966]

That has little or no correlation with sales, though. For example, there are only 18 copies of the HD D FA15-30 registered in the database. We all know how popular and widely-owned that lens is, and it's been around for a couple of years now. Many people don't even know about the serial number database, or simply don't care to register their lenses...

Maybe promoting it would take people to it and register.

[BigMackCam]

Maybe promoting it would take people to it and register.

You could always mention that to Adam. He appreciates all constructive feedback

[chima chinda]

Met a really good model today
Full size, no sharpening, F 1.4, Lightroom export, Adobe RGB
Enjoy

Wow! Just wow.
That's it - I'm getting this lens. I've made my decision.

[biz-engineer]

@biz-engineer:
There is no need to guess, and one shouldn't assume intricated strategies instead of a simpler answer.
"At first, we wanted to provide full-frame single-focus lenses with angles of view that were different from those provided by existing models, and even initiated a project in this direction. These included an 85mm F1.4 lens, which was listed on our lens roadmap. After conducting research on the types of lenses our users desired, however, the most sought-after model was a 50mm lens — a standard single-focus lens familiar to all users since the days of film photography. There were several other options, but since this was what users most wanted, there was no reason to ignore the demand. So priority was placed on the development of the HD PENTAX-D FA★50mmF1.4 SDM AW."
Development Story | HD PENTAX-D FA?50mm F1.4 SDM AW | PENTAX STAR LENS | RICOH IMAGING

Good point about usage.

Marketing communication is not intended to tell the truth it is intended to make customers buy. If you believe what marketers are saying to customers you may go banrupt faster than planned. The poll on pf indicated that there was a lot of demand for wide angle orime and portrait lens.

[ffking]

The poll on pf indicated that there was a lot of demand for wide angle orime and portrait lens.

Does anyone actually know how typical the active members of PF are of Pentax buyers (most of whom seem to be Japanese) ?

[normhead]

Maybe not. As you mentioned elsewhere, zooms and primes have different use cases, your 10% can become more once you mount the 50mm lens on the camera, or less if you need a zoom anyway because of what you plan to shoot when leaving home with a camera bag. IMO, the new DFA*50 is a stunning lens but not the best choice for landscape and nature (macros) type of shooting.

I will make sure Tess never sees this post.
Who's side are you on here?

But I agree, just because my 28-105 is set to 50mm, doesn't mean i would actually take it off the camera and put this 50 on, and the only 50 I carry regularly is the 50 macro. It's so big. It's the same weight as my DA*60-250, and that suggests it would rarely be with me. I often leave the 60-250 home and take the 55-300 PLM to save weight. I'm not trying to be reasonable here, I'm putting forward aa case for a lens I seriously don't need, just because I'd like to have one to play with.

But don't tell anyone. This is classified information.

[monochrome]

Having a tough time calibrating focus. Don't know what is going on at 1.4. My K-1 takes a photo (subject is out of focus) then when I focus on the same subject with no movement whatsoever, it's then in focus. Right now +5 seems to work best, but it doesn't seem to be consistent. The range goes from -2 to +5. Can't seem to get it right.

Since the cross-type focus points are sensitive only down to f/2.8 it helps when using a wider aperture to find a sharp edge or high contrast area in your focus plan. Sometimes you must focus and recompose or touch up with manual QS.

I have on occasion focused at f/5.6 and rolled the aperture control wider afterward.

[mlaird]

Nice shot! Is that last aircraft an MD-88? Boeing 717?

My sister flies CRJ-200s, which look similar, but their noses are a lot pointier :-).

[Kunzite]

Marketing communication is not intended to tell the truth it is intended to make customers buy. If you believe what marketers are saying to customers you may go banrupt faster than planned. The poll on pf indicated that there was a lot of demand for wide angle orime and portrait lens.

That "marketing communication" is better than baseless guessing.
I would not assume that they lied (which is what you're implying). I would not assume that PF's survey gave more accurate results. I would not add disparaging comments about people who don't reject such information from Ricoh Imaging.
But that's me; YMMV.

[biz-engineer]

The DFA*50 is crazy sharp wide open, just looking at kids shot from the flickr pool : HD PENTAX-D FA* 50mm F1.4 SDM AW | Flickr

[davidsladek]

Wow! Just wow.
That's it - I'm getting this lens. I've made my decision.

You will not regret. The lens is a marvel. I spent whole day with it yesterday in the streets of London and totally enjoyed it. Feel free to check some more pics on my Instagram David Sladek (@davidsladekphotographer) ? Instagram photos and videos

[phoebus]

You just need to install the latest version of Adobe DNG Converter. This always copies all most recent lens profiles to your HDD.
To get it working in my LR 5.7.1 I just had to copy the file "RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. (HD PENTAX-D FA 50mm F1.4 SDM AW) - RAW.lcp" into the folder "C:\Users\[yourusername]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CameraRaw\LensProfiles\1.0\Downloaded"
After a restart of LR it should be selectable then.

The converter also provides all most recent camera (color) profiles btw.

Thanks for the info @beholder3, I can now select the profile manually in LR. But, still no identity showing - just "50mm", even for imports after I included the profile.

Exiftool also has no identity:

Code:

Lens ID                         : Unknown (8 64)

and that is using v11.08 dated 01-Aug-18

Do you get the lens identity automatically in LR?

---------- Post added 06-08-18 at 09:56 ----------

That rumored 3000 Unit initial production number looks like a pretty good guess given that they sold out the initial run.

Mines 1918 - dont think that the year of manufacture... ;-)

Interesting that the first digits are 640 and the lens id in EXIF is 8 64. Must check other lens to see if there is a correlation.

[clackers]

The DFA*50 is crazy sharp wide open, just looking at kids shot from the flickr pool : HD PENTAX-D FA* 50mm F1.4 SDM AW | Flickr

Yeah, the MTF curves show this is a sharper lens than the FA77.

[beholder3]

Thanks for the info @beholder3, I can now select the profile manually in LR. But, still no identity showing - just "50mm", even for imports after I included the profile.

Exiftool also has no identity:

Code:

Lens ID                         : Unknown (8 64)

and that is using v11.08 dated 01-Aug-18

Do you get the lens identity automatically in LR?

Yes and no.

I do run all my images through exiftoolGUI anyway prior to import. And there I fill the relevant lens name fields by hand in one go until Phil updates exiftool (I did report the 8/64). I would bet some beer on the DFA* 85mm F1.4 having LensID 8/65. ;-)
LR then picks up the lens name and automatically chooses the right profile.

[thibs]

They could have first made a 20mm prime, because Tokina has the Firin 20mm prime, but Ricoh didn't go that route...(yet)

Of course not, the Tokina Firin is a mirror less lens.

Besides I think it is also a statement: such a banal focal length, not many people paying attention to and Pentax does what? A 50mm and a killer at that.
People will notice. A lot more than going first to 85mm or 20mm.