Originally posted by dcshooter This is absolutely true, and it applies to all of the other manufacturers as well, as the philosophy behind the Limiteds is unique not just to Pentax, but to the line itself, and that is to build a set of small AF prime lenses that is as close in build approach and use experience to old fashioned manual lenses as possible. Now there are of course certain limitations imposed by AF and that can't be engineered around (e.g. focus can't be grease damped, superfast apertures become impossible). From what I gather (I don't use the system), the only lenses even close to comparable right now are some of the Fuji X primes. Zeiss, Cosina/Voigtlander/etc. make their reputation for build quality on MF lenses, which are a whole different engineering proposition.
Canon has 24 and 40mm STM pancakes that comes close to the 40mm Limited in terms of size (not sure about build quality), but Pentax has an entire line of DA Limiteds from 15 to 70mm (personally I think the FA limiteds are a different breed - faster, more expensive and a bit bigger/heavier).
My Nikon 85/1.8 is not too shabby either in terms of build quality. In fact I'd say there's nothing wrong with other manufacturers' build quality. It's just that the Limiteds are so nicely made.
Originally posted by dcshooter Once you throw zoom or complex fast-aperture hyper-corrected designs with tons of glass elements into the equation, this approach unfortunately becomes less and less feasible, since the weight of the lens increases dramatically and becomes a strain on both the photographer carrying it and the teeny tiny motor trying to keep it in focus. This is the direction the market is going, however. Look at the success Sigma has had with their Art SLR lenses, which are pretty enormous for their for their focal lengths and apertures. And Pentax seems to be following right along with the announced D-FA* 50mm f/1.4, which looks to be just as beefy (and plasticky) as its Sigma equivalent.
Well, I do think Pentax probably needs lenses like that too. And actually, I have been advocating they drop the FA 31 Limited (I know - heresy) because it stops them from making a really fast 35mm. Having said that, at the time I advocated that they did not have a fullframe camera yet, and on APS-C there are just too many competing 35-ish lenses: 31/1.8, 35/2.4, 35/2, 35/2.8 Macro and 40/2.8.
But that is another story.
Last edited by starbase218; 05-05-2017 at 10:42 AM.