I have both the HD DA 70mm f/2.4 Limited, and also my original FA SMC 77mm f/i.8 Ltd AND now the HD version! I have long employed the FA 77mm Ltd on film and then DSLR bodies for such various uses I have to think of it as an amazingly versatile fast moderate tele, which is amazingly small for a FF lens of this speed and FL! And with its handy built-in hood for yet greater compactness! I love doing nature closeups with this lens. Fabulous bokeh. I love it for shots, even silhouettes, just after sunset when there are often marvelous colors appearing in skies. Then as digitalis shows, great for landscapes also! Of course, wonderful for portraits, and terrific for street shooting, with its unobtrusive small size and its reach. Especially on a smaller DSLR like my KP or my K-S2, outstanding at gatherings with family and friends for grabbing candids at some distance, capturing unposed natural expressions of unaware subjects.
These days, I recommend getting the HD version, depending on whether there is a specific main use the SMC might complement. For my uses, the origibal has been outstanding, but the new one even more so. You get a significant reduction of resolution-robbing flare, which does this while not even presenting itself as flare. Does away with blooming around lights which bleeds gradually well into the frame to reduce blackness in night scenes, making the overall result much more natural and generally sharper! Includes the SP protective easier to clean coatings, and rounded blades for even more refined bokeh. While the original is indeed a sharp lens, the HD version is overall sharper!! I have been truly amazed by it.
The HD DA 70mm has quite a different perspective (literally) and a different kind of versatilty to offer. It was tested by Pop Photo when it first appered as being about 65mm instead of 70mm, while the FA 77mm came in spot on at 77mm. So the DA 70mm lets considerable more into the frame, making it less suitable for some of the FA 77mm's especially satisfying uses, but more useful for when getting in more of the background, for example, is important. It can maintain very good edge-to-edge performance across the frame, even when wide open. it is far less prone to purple fringing under conditions where that could be a problem. It is also a stop slower at f/2.4 instead of the FA77's f/1.8 which is also sharp wide onen yet edge sharpness at this wide aperture trails some but quickly catches up by around the f2.4 of the 70's max. I tested mine wide open and got amazingly good night shots across the frame at F/1.8 aperture!
These two lenses are different enough to make me glad I do have them both, because with a difference in FL of 65mm vs 77mm, and f/2.4 vs f/1.8, I have found distinctively different uses for each of them.
---------- Post added 04-18-23 at 06:35 PM ----------
Originally posted by gatorguy Oh, and I've also seen some claims the 70 is in fact usable with the K1?
I haven't yet tried this with mine, but have seen statements to this effect by those whom I trust would know to be true. I'm bit wary, however, as to how much vignetting would be there when wide open. The FA 77mm is very good in this regard. Certainly, one could not use the DA 70's included lens hood on a FF body.
Last edited by mikesbike; 04-18-2023 at 06:37 PM.