[Sailor]

I dimly remember reading that a DA 40 operates effectively as a FF lens at all apertures despite admonitions from Pentax that the lens is suitable for APS-C camera bodies. Has anyone tried the D40 with a K-1 in FF mode?

Thanks.

Jer

[robgski]

yes, I have, in the past few days for my son's HS team. It works very, very well. I've used it with the DA 40XS as well, and been pleased.

I'll have to see if I have any pix posted, though, I generally don't post pictures of friends or family unless I have permission. I'm doing a batch of shots now, if I have any good examples I will post them.

[BarryE]

It works poorly, I'd say. The edges and corners are weak. I'd hoped it would be better, but nope, it failed for me - won't 'risk' it. ('Risk' = if I make the effort to get to a location and if the light's special, but when I get back the lens has let me down, then that's a 'risk' I'm not prepared to take). To experiment and play with, it's probably fine enough.

[robthebloke]

Yeah, it's not so great on FF. It just about holds its own on film cameras, but the corners don't hold up on a 36mp sensor. There's noticeable vignetting, and it doesn't really improve when stopped down. The 43mm is a much better choice by a long way.

[chochichaeschtli]

I'm quite excited about my 40mm XS on the K-1. It's stupidly looking small and has a very nice FOV. As far as i know the 40mm ltd and 40mm XS are optically identical, but i'm not shure.
For my standards the XS is definitely usable to good. Extreme corners are indeed blury, but the rest is fine - at least when stopped down. With open aperture i'm usually not looking for sharp corners.

As there seem to be quite different opinions i added an example (a boring scene and with preset adjustments for sharpening, compression, etc.) as well as a picture regarding vignetting.

EDIT: 1:1 samples are from left center to left bottom corner.

[BigMackCam]

I'm quite excited about my 40mm XS on the K-1. It's stupidly looking small and has a very nice FOV. As far as i know the 40mm ltd and 40mm XS are optically identical, but i'm not shure.
For my standards the XS is definitely usable to good. Extreme corners are indeed blury, but the rest is fine - at least when stopped down. With open aperture i'm usually not looking for sharp corners.

As there seem to be quite different opinions i added an example (a boring scene and with preset adjustments for sharpening, compression, etc.) as well as a picture regarding vignetting.

EDIT: 1:1 samples are from left center to left bottom corner.

Sharpening artefacts aside, that looks great.

A bit of softness in extreme corners is nothing to get too concerned about, so long as you know about it.

By the way, that's a great shot!

[lennyl]

I tried only one photo with DA40 on f2,8 and it looked fine. no processing only sharpening. reduced resolution due to upload.

[rawr]

The little DA 40 works quite OK in FF mode on my K-1.

FWIW, there are some DA 40, HD DA 40 and DA 40 XS FF mode image samples in the Pentax K-1 Laboratory:

PENTAX K-1 Laboratory | PENTAX K-1 Special site | DA 40

PENTAX K-1 Laboratory | PENTAX K-1 Special site | HD DA 40

PENTAX K-1 Laboratory | PENTAX K-1 Special site | DA 40 XS

[Sailor]

Thanks, everyone, for your kind and helpful responses - thanks especially to those who posted shots and a links to shot. Looks to me as if the lens could serve me well should I get a K-1.

Aside from a bag or two of old M, K and A lenses (which I'll never use owing to AF addiction), my current arsenal of AF lenses specifically designed for FF is limited to an FA31, FA77, and DFA 100 macro. If I were able to use one or more of my DA lenses for FF, that would increase the K-1's attraction.

Again, thanks much for your comments.

Jer

[clackers]

The DA 40 SX is fine on the K-1:

[lesmore49]

I dimly remember reading that a DA 40 operates effectively as a FF lens at all apertures despite admonitions from Pentax that the lens is suitable for APS-C camera bodies. Has anyone tried the D40 with a K-1 in FF mode?

Thanks.

Jer

Hi Jer,

I don't have a K-1 yet, but I'm thinking seriously about purchasing one. I do have a 40 mm Limited lens, which I've been quite pleased with...performance, handling, construction, etc. I was also curious about how my ASP-C Pentax lenses would fare on the K-1 full frame body and found valuable information regarding that question, when I went to a Ricoh Pentax factory website . One segment features test photographs taken using the K-1 body with different Pentax lenses.

I've attached the link for the 40mm Limited lens. It shows images at different F stops, ISO, etc. This website also has actual images taken with many other Pentax lenses, mounted on the K-1.

PENTAX K-1 Laboratory | PENTAX K-1 Special site | RICOH IMAGING

This is the link to the website, which you may find interesting.

Challengers | PENTAX K-1 Special site | RICOH IMAGING

Hope this helps.

Les

...sorry looks like someone beat me to the punch.

[felixkh]

This picture taken by DA 40mm f/2.8 on K-1, a lens ignored by many. It is a pancake lens, the price is attractive, can be used on FF as demonstrated by 2 pictures here, and it is capabe of producing nice bokeh. What more to expect from such a small lens.


IMGP6510 by maverick_h, on Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/44374106@N03/30294306693/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/44374106@N03/31100950355/

Taken from a friend's post in Clubsnap to show that the DA40 XS works on K1.

[bdery]

I believe there is some sample variation at play here. Adam posted examples that clearly show his lens degrades its performances in the corners. I have looked at some of my own shots and have not noticed this (but my shots are mainly portraits, where the corners are blurry to begin with). There are many fine examples in this thread showing that the lens can perform well, but again several are portraits. Except for the instructive shot from chochichaeschtli there isn't much to work with.

I'll personally run some tests in the near future, to evaluate results at close and distant distances. I encourage everyone to do the same.

[Sailor]

The DA 40 SX is fine on the K-1:

Looks great to me - thanks for posting.

Jer

Hi Jer,

I don't have a K-1 yet, but I'm thinking seriously about purchasing one.


Les

Hey Les, I'm in exactly the same situation. I'm sure I'll eventually get one, but I'm still studying . . . . . . .

Jer

This picture taken by DA 40mm f/2.8 on K-1, a lens ignored by many. It is a pancake lens, the price is attractive, can be used on FF as demonstrated by 2 pictures here, and it is capabe of producing nice bokeh. What more to expect from such a small lens. .

Thanks!

Jer

I believe there is some sample variation at play here. . . . . . . . . .

I'll personally run some tests in the near future, to evaluate results at close and distant distances. I encourage everyone to do the same.

I agree about sample variation - clearly, folks are seeing variable results. Still, a lot of these examples look pretty darn good.

Should I end up with a K-1,I'll try all my DA lenses to see how they do.

Jer

[rawr]

Re the vignetting discussion, I think sometimes people are over-anxious about seeing a degree of light falloff at the edges of ANY lens, let alone the DA 40.

But even many new, dedicated FF lenses vignette a LOT, and often more than the DA 40 appears to. A quick scan of similar focal length lenses on lenstip.com, for example, will show you that on full-frame the Sigma 35 f1.4 or the Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 35 mm f/2.8 both lose a huge 60% (or more) of their light in the frame corners wide open, and even stopped down continue to lose lots of light in the corners.

Nothing that I've seen from the DA40 comes even close to those levels of corner shading. Vignetting is certainly there, but generally it is not bothersome. Could be much worse!