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04-23-2020, 03:59 AM   #316
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So limiteds are totally fine, but need AF update, better wide open performance... :-) Pentax will sell them as long as possible. Whatever plan they may have had, we don’t know about it and it requires change given the current situation.

04-23-2020, 04:35 AM - 7 Likes   #317
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The FA Limiteds do not need an upgrade. They are what they are, and that is all they will ever be. Personally, I love them for all their strengths and weaknesses.

Get over it.

The full frame line up needs modern additions. It's slowly happening with the DFA*70-200, DFA*50, upcoming DFA*85 and rumoured DFA*35. There will be others.

Be excited.
04-23-2020, 08:13 AM   #318
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QuoteOriginally posted by Reed Quote
Agree. But on the other hand those are still "premium quality" if you consider how those are made. No plastics etc. Production process might be the factor for price.
Therein, I think, lies the problem. The Limiteds are gorgeous on the outside, but are really quite mundane performers. They are way overpriced for what they will do because of how they are made.
The 31 really isn't all that much better than my old FA 35/2, the FA50/1.4 is as good optically as the 43 (I am not one of the people who appreciate the 43's quirks that require stopping down to make it work). The 77 stands on it's own only because there isn't any competition to it in the lineup, though if you are an APS-C shooter, the 70 is as good, if not better.
Buy them if you are attracted to their blingishness (I admit I am), but don't expect to be blown away by their optical performance.

Last edited by Wheatfield; 06-23-2020 at 11:52 AM.
04-23-2020, 08:23 AM   #319
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QuoteOriginally posted by Wheatfield Quote
The 31 really isn't all that much better than my old FA 35/2
MTF is far from everything but these are comparisons from Test: Sex fasta fullformatsobjektiv för Pentax K-1

edit: Just fyi these aren't quite normal mtf curves red is wide open blue is f8 not the usual 10/30 line pairs






Last edited by house; 04-23-2020 at 08:55 AM.
04-23-2020, 08:37 AM   #320
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QuoteOriginally posted by Wheatfield Quote
Therein, I think, lies the problem. The Limiteds are gorgeous on the outside, but are really quite mundane performers. They are way overpriced for what they will do because of how they are made.
The 31 really isn't all that much better than my old FA 35/2, the FA50/1.4 is as good optically as the 43 (I am not one of the people who appreciate the 43's quirks that require stooping down to make it work). The 77 stands on it's own only because there isn't any competition to it in the lineup, though if you are an APS-C shooter, the 70 is as good, if not better.
Buy them if you are attracted to their blingishness (I admit I am), but don't expect to be blown away by their optical performance.
Having both FA43/1.9 and FA50/1.4 the same time I must disagree on that one can exchange another. Those are two totally different performers, in all terms. FA43 is way sharper even wide open than FA50 is when stepped down to around two stops, it has different bokeh, out of field transition, and essentially field curvature that makes central placed subjects "pop" out of the picture. I like both. I can't say anything about 77, and 31 because I don't have them to compare, but HD FA35/2 I own is very sharp. Had DA40/70 and sold them, both ware so so on FF.
04-23-2020, 08:48 AM - 1 Like   #321
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QuoteOriginally posted by house Quote
MTF is far from everything but these are comparisons from Test: Sex fasta fullformatsobjektiv för Pentax K-1


For comparison, here is the MTF for the D FA* 50/1.4
at f/1.4


at f/4


at f/8



---------- Post added Apr 23rd, 2020 at 09:55 AM ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by Reed Quote
Having both FA43/1.9 and FA50/1.4 the same time I must disagree on that one can exchange another. Those are two totally different performers, in all terms. FA43 is way sharper even wide open than FA50 is when stepped down to around two stops, it has different bokeh, out of field transition, and essentially field curvature that makes central placed subjects "pop" out of the picture. I like both. I can't say anything about 77, and 31 because I don't have them to compare, but HD FA35/2 I own is very sharp. Had DA40/70 and sold them, both ware so so on FF.
Yes well, both have supplanted in every way by the D FA* 50/1.4. I also had both the 43 and the FA 50. You are correct about the 43 being sharper wide open, the FA 50 isn't a great lens by any stretch of the imagination, but totally different isn't one is better than the other. The "performance" difference with the 43 are the quirks, if you are happy with them, that's fine. I could never figure out what the big deal was with that lens, other than it's pretty to look at.
04-23-2020, 09:07 AM - 2 Likes   #322
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QuoteOriginally posted by Wheatfield Quote
For comparison, here is the MTF for the D FA* 50/1.4
at f/1.4


at f/4


at f/8



---------- Post added Apr 23rd, 2020 at 09:55 AM ----------



Yes well, both have supplanted in every way by the D FA* 50/1.4. I also had both the 43 and the FA 50. You are correct about the 43 being sharper wide open, the FA 50 isn't a great lens by any stretch of the imagination, but totally different isn't one is better than the other. The "performance" difference with the 43 are the quirks, if you are happy with them, that's fine. I could never figure out what the big deal was with that lens, other than it's pretty to look at.
Those F/4 and F/8 charts scream "watch out! you'll cut yourself!"

04-23-2020, 09:15 AM - 2 Likes   #323
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QuoteOriginally posted by SSGGeezer Quote
Those F/4 and F/8 charts scream "watch out! you'll cut yourself!"
Yep. I have yet to find any performance flaws with that lens. It's big, heavy and expensive, which will turn some people off. For them, there is the 43 or the FA50. Both are several rungs down the performance ladders though.

Last edited by Wheatfield; 05-11-2020 at 08:05 AM.
04-23-2020, 01:01 PM   #324
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QuoteOriginally posted by Mistral75 Quote
  • HD Pentax-D FA 70-200mm f/4: 'Spring 2019' ==> HD Pentax-D FA 70-210mm f/4 ED SDM WR announced on 23 January 2020
  • HD Pentax-D FA 85mm f/1.4: '2019' ==> HD Pentax-D FA 85mm f/1.4 ED SDM AW still to be announced today the 22nd of April, 2020
Allow me therefore to have more confidence in Leica's roadmap than Ricoh Imaging's.
Allow me to have more confidence on Pentax ergonomics than on Leica's SL bull...t buttons and menus (and same with S), so that i don't have to wait for new lenses to actually find pleasure when shooting, something that is impossible to me with those Leica dumb bodies...
04-23-2020, 02:37 PM   #325
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QuoteOriginally posted by Sandy Hancock Quote
The FA Limiteds do not need an upgrade. They are what they are, and that is all they will ever be. Personally, I love them for all their strengths and weaknesses.

Get over it.

The full frame line up needs modern additions. It's slowly happening with the DFA*70-200, DFA*50, upcoming DFA*85 and rumoured DFA*35. There will be others.

Be excited.
Agreed. There might be new Limiteds though. DFA ones (no, no modified FA Limited designs... NEW ones).
04-23-2020, 03:05 PM   #326
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QuoteOriginally posted by Rondec Quote
I think it makes sense to release it when it is ready. People who have to have it will buy. Those who can't afford it will wait. But the economic landscape is unlikely to be better before next year anyway.
I‘ve sold enough stuf to order it using my PsyPal balance - but my wife got a 13 week furlough yesterday

Last edited by monochrome; 04-23-2020 at 03:17 PM.
04-23-2020, 03:15 PM   #327
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QuoteOriginally posted by BarneyL Quote
As a devoted fan of the three amigos, I agree. It isn't 'urgent', but these three could certainly use a redesign, especially regarding AF engine.
And I’ll chime in with my usual, “If they redesign them they aren’t the same lenses any more.” I believe they will never be redesigned. They might be discontinued and replaced when people stop buying them, but they’ll never be “modernized.”
04-23-2020, 04:42 PM - 1 Like   #328
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QuoteOriginally posted by monochrome Quote
“If they redesign them they aren’t the same lenses any more.”
Maybe. But ...
Ship of Theseus - Wikipedia
04-23-2020, 05:08 PM   #329
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QuoteOriginally posted by rawr Quote
If all the parts of the new FA Limited are interchangeable with all the parts of the old FA Limited then the new FA Limited is the same lens as the old.

But . . . . .

Call the new one a HD Pentax-D FA31/1.8 DC WR.
04-23-2020, 07:02 PM   #330
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QuoteOriginally posted by monochrome Quote
HD Pentax-D FA31/1.8 DC WR
It's a tricky call.

I suspect that, regettably, even if they 100% retained the external form of the 'classic' FA Ltds, with 'simple' modernization of just individual lens components like the coatings and AF motors in particular, any 'modernized' FA Limiteds would inevitably produce different images. Different 'pixie dust', different allure.
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