A summary of my month with the SMC Pentax-DA 1:2.4 70mm Limited:
I had a copy of this lens a few years ago, but I already my still-beloved FA77 and there was no K-1 back then. I figured one lens on the 70mm range was enough so the DA had to go. Now I have a fully fleshed out full frame system I wanted to rebuild a little crop option around my KP, so when a decent looking copy appeared in the marketplace at a reasonable price I jumped on it.
No regrets. At all.
The lens is a little bottler. Tiny. Solid. Tactile. The optional lens hood works a treat, although it does detract from the otherwise genuinely pancake proportions of the package. Optically it is hard to fault: more than acceptably sharp wide open, even at distant focus, it just gets better stopped down. Corner sharpness and vignetting control are excellent - at least on a crop camera; suggestions that it functions well on Full Frame are sadly only true if you define "well" very loosely. Bokeh is lovely. Really lovely. I wonder what possible improvement the curved aperture blades on the HD version could possibly impart.
Negatives? I won't include the relatively small maximum aperture, as f/2.4 is actually pretty good for the size of the lens, and the depth of field wide open is shallow enough to get nice subject isolation while still providing the depth to have enough in focus for most portraits. I do wish it focussed a little closer. AF hunts a bit in low light, which is one reason I spent much of the month practising my manual focus skills. The other reason is simply that it's a nice lens to focus manually
As for my own performance, I have mixed feelings. I got through the month, which in the context of my recent entries into the "Single In" challenge is a minor triumph. I did miss three days in a mid-month slump, and many of my posted images were little better than safeties, but I'll get over that. Artistic inspiration has been elusive for most of the month, but there still were a few images I am genuinely proud of. That makes me happy.
And the rest of you - bravo! The A35-105 (both of them) and Minolta 50/1.4 have been revelations, and the stream of great images has been a delight. I hope my comments have been appreciated in the spirit they were offered.
May now beckons, and I'm having second thoughts about Singling the Schneider. I might cop out and opt for the "Daily In" Challenge to allow less imposing options to be used. Soft, I know, but there it is. We'll see what tomorrow holds.