[vector]

Which one seems more like your style?

This is indeed the question. There is nothing wrong with shooting everything with an 85 if you are going for a certain look/style. But we have no idea from the OP what that might be. I landed on 50mm after years of shooting zooms and the more I shoot 50mm the better my 50mm shots are getting. There is something to be said for building familiarity with a particular focal length, and there is no argument against a zoom being more flexible. That flexibility doesn't matter to everyone all the time though. Questions like the OP posed are pretty open ended with no right answer.

---------- Post added 01-12-22 at 01:22 PM ----------

Vector just wow , those photographs are the reason , just stunning rendition.

Thank you. Honestly I think those scenes would look amazing shot through a coke bottle, but the DFA*50 definitely helped.

Is yours the one on the book cover?

I don't have photos in any books that I am aware so it's probably not me, but I will take the compliment.

[aldo taddia]

If you are on the go, zooming will be your ideal companion. You can use it as a wide angle and as a medium telephoto lens. With the 50mm you can photograph with only one type of perspective, certainly beautiful photos, but limited by the focal length. If you are one who is satisfied...

[niels hansen]

What is best: boots or sandals?

[vector]

With the 50mm you can photograph with only one type of perspective, certainly beautiful photos, but limited by the focal length.

The only objection I have here is the word limited. If one is simply documenting what they see, then sure, walk around and shoot wide angle all day. I am personally trying to produce shots that fall more in the category of art with intentional framing and somewhat minimalist or focused intent. I don't find it limiting when I am intentionally choosing what to exclude from the frame, rather I find it liberating to not feel like I have to fit everything in. Not everyone likes to see the world as wide perspective distorted vistas or full room captures, just like not everyone likes to see the world in 50mm perspective. There are places and times where a particular perspective is necessary, but usually it is just down to preference. The beauty of art and photography is that preferences range quite broadly and there is room for it all.

---------- Post added 01-12-22 at 02:34 PM ----------

Here we go, same day taken minutes apart, 2 different camera+lens combos. The first you've already seen, the DFA*50 on the K1 and the second the Samyang 14mm on my K3 (so like 21mm FF perspective). Not from exactly the same spot but close. Which is better? Who cares! If I had only had the wide angle shot that day I would be totally pleased. If I had only had the 50mm shot that day I would be totally pleased. Both these images have been on Flickr the same amount of time, the 50mm shot has more views and likes, but is that really an indication of broader appeal? Probably not because I have posted it more places and shared it more often because I like it more. Could I have done both shots if I was a zoom shooter? Nope, not unless there is a FF 21-50mm zoom somewhere I don't know about. My point here is you don't need all the focal lengths all the time or you'll miss the image... you just take a different image. The only person who cares about the images I take is me and I am having a lot of fun with my DFA*50.

---

Last edited by vector; 01-12-2022 at 02:19 PM.

[Flanoman]

You make a good point Vector,
i think i learned when young that 50mm on a 35mm camera or full frame as we call them nowadays ,is the closest focal length to the humans eye perspective
everything viewed in this focal length has a natural appearance and probably connects with people subconsciously especially people who are not photographers if i be so bold to say
it always surprises me what photographs non photography people pick out and like and its not the super wide shots most of the time

[zbrueningsen]

Vector,

When you post pictures like that, nobody can argue with you! Those are fantastic.

To the OP - I would say, what is your need and what is your long term goal? I recently decided to switch out a lot of lenses and do some upgrading. And I thoroughly worked through what my highest priorities were, and assigned that I would get those lenses first.

For you, both of those lenses are great. But if you need versatility, then go with a zoom. If you want the best standard lens you can get, get the 50 1.4. I think if you are new to photography, I would recommend you cover all your lengths first, and then fill favorite areas with primes. Then again I have no wide to standard zoom...

[quillasophink]

Hi all - thank you for the earnest and enthusiastic responses. Intentionally left the use case and scenarios out to see which bits captures by preferences.

To contextualise the perceived problem at hand - I’ve recently moved to the K1ii (due to unfortunate circumstances - my K5ii set consisting of the DAs 18-135mm, 40mm Ltd, Takumar 50mm 1.4 were wiped from my inventory). My preference was always the 18-135 due to its Swiss Army knife/do it all approach and WR.

Currently have access to the SMC 50mm f2.0 and F 50mm f1.7. The nagging lack of WR makes them less than ideal for longer twilight walks. Both of them I intend to release from inventory and looking for a single D-FA from these 2 choices to permanently glue to the body for at least 12 months before consideration of any further lens acquisitions.

The FA* 50mm f1.4 order has been placed on Amazon on the basis of a tryout - the not inconsiderable heft and volume of the FA* will be properly assessed in my hands.

Ditto on the experience of film photography - digital sensors have taken out the scrutiny/specificity of ISO swap. With the K1ii, I’m happy working up to my preferential range of ISO2000 with use mileage till date.

Consider myself a bit of an old hand as I have been happily shooting Portra 400 on a Nikon F90/F4 till about 2014 when CVS starting taking out the film processing machines out of their stores and made the switch to digital with the K5iis.

So it seems like the consensus here is:

Image Quality: D-FA* 50 f1.4 is indeed worthy of the star suffix due to very noticeable bump up in image “sparkle”. D-FA 24-70 f2.8 is no slouch but you’re not gonna get that sort of ‘pop’ from the former.

Focal Length/User Positioning/Composition: 50mm likely entails a shorter term consideration/later want for a wider angle option but 24-70 essentially postpones or at best eradicates need for additional lens acquisition for a while (unless wanting of increased ‘pop’ in image quality).

On that same topic - I do still have a da 15mm Ltd - tried shooting it in 15mp crop mode on the K1 but doesn’t of course the crop mode image is much smaller due to incomplete sensor utilisation. Might at best serve as a wider novelty/toy lens should I go with the 50mm route. Unless anyone disagrees.

——-

While price I agree is quite the attraction - a budget is a budget (especially when the wife is involved). Would have snagged everything I could at this price point - however not sure if worth mentioned that the 24-70 would be a used piece but the FA* 50 would be new from Amazon at the same price.

[UncleVanya]

Hi all - thank you for the earnest and enthusiastic responses. Intentionally left the use case and scenarios out to see which bits captures by preferences.

To contextualise the perceived problem at hand - I’ve recently moved to the K1ii (due to unfortunate circumstances - my K5ii set consisting of the DAs 18-135mm, 40mm Ltd, Takumar 50mm 1.4 were wiped from my inventory). My preference was always the 18-135 due to its Swiss Army knife/do it all approach and WR.

Currently have access to the SMC 50mm f2.0 and F 50mm f1.7. The nagging lack of WR makes them less than ideal for longer twilight walks. Both of them I intend to release from inventory and looking for a single D-FA from these 2 choices to permanently glue to the body for at least 12 months before consideration of any further lens acquisitions.

The FA* 50mm f1.4 order has been placed on Amazon on the basis of a tryout - the not inconsiderable heft and volume of the FA* will be properly assessed in my hands.

Ditto on the experience of film photography - digital sensors have taken out the scrutiny/specificity of ISO swap. With the K1ii, I’m happy working up to my preferential range of ISO2000 with use mileage till date.

Consider myself a bit of an old hand as I have been happily shooting Portra 400 on a Nikon F90/F4 till about 2014 when CVS starting taking out the film processing machines out of their stores and made the switch to digital with the K5iis.

So it seems like the consensus here is:

Image Quality: D-FA* 50 f1.4 is indeed worthy of the star suffix due to very noticeable bump up in image “sparkle”. D-FA 24-70 f2.8 is no slouch but you’re not gonna get that sort of ‘pop’ from the former.

Focal Length/User Positioning/Composition: 50mm likely entails a shorter term consideration/later want for a wider angle option but 24-70 essentially postpones or at best eradicates need for additional lens acquisition for a while (unless wanting of increased ‘pop’ in image quality).

On that same topic - I do still have a da 15mm Ltd - tried shooting it in 15mp crop mode on the K1 but doesn’t of course the crop mode image is much smaller due to incomplete sensor utilisation. Might at best serve as a wider novelty/toy lens should I go with the 50mm route. Unless anyone disagrees.

——-

While price I agree is quite the attraction - a budget is a budget (especially when the wife is involved). Would have snagged everything I could at this price point - however not sure if worth mentioned that the 24-70 would be a used piece but the FA* 50 would be new from Amazon at the same price.

A lot to unpack.

1) don’t forget crop mode works fine on all da lenses. A cheap cropped 18-135 is going to give similar results in crop mode to what you had.

2) loads of older zooms with good quality. 35-70 is a good example.

3) 1:1 crop mode on the da 15 may be worth trying.

Not knowing your photo interests I’ll say this… the DFA* 50 is a great lens, but unless you need the edge to edge wide open performance a DA* 55 is a fraction of the cost and provides good results on the K-1.

The DFA 28-105 seems more likely what you need if the 18-135 you used most.

[quillasophink]

1,2,3) Cropped Mode: Did not jump to K1ii to stick to K5 era-sequel 16/15mp esque imaging resolutions. Re-examined the auto-crop Da lens output again and have written it off on a personal level of acceptance. The DA kit and remaining 15mm Ltd are currently tiding me over with a usable image making device but not a permanent situation I want to keep to.

4) Good pick-up on the DFA 28-105 - unfortunately the pricing here is about 60USD less than the two DFA options here so ruled them out based on value proposition with a heavy preference for fast lens slant.

It looks like I have a slight preference for the FA* 50mm at the moment and my photo taking philosophy somewhat mirrors the points mentioned in the feature video by Ricoh recently:

Youtu.be

Youtu.be

In a bit of a similar fortunate situation of having to utilise near top of line Sony A7IVa + 50mm F1.2, 12-24mm G Masters - they’re a pleasure to work with (work documentation is very different as Kimura-san has mentioned in the video). I’m hoping the test piece FA* 50mm arriving tomorrow gives me the same school boy excitement in Pentax viewfinder land as the latest 50mm f1.2 G Master when it was arrived!

[phollings]

I have the 50 mm and plan to do panos if I want anything wider.

Thoughts, please?

(It's for landscape, mostly.)

[quillasophink]

Right so this happened during the test run for the DFA* 50 f1.4 - is this normal? Does look like missing screws and more like a simple pressure fit. Happened when removing attempting to unscrew inverted hood off.

[Kevin B123]

Right so this happened during the test run for the DFA* 50 f1.4 - is this normal? Does look like missing screws and more like a simple pressure fit. Happened when removing attempting to unscrew inverted hood off.

This has never happened to any lens I have had, you have been sold a dud. I would send it back ASAP with a stiff miffed-o-gram to follow.

[wadge22]

is this normal?

No. That's not normal. Was this lens used when it came to you? Something is definitely wrong with it.

[quillasophink]

Thanks everyone. Sorting replacement/return now.

[noelpolar]

I think the importer removed the drugs but didn't screw it back together after.....