My first SIC, and even though posting and commenting took some days, I managed to fire the shutter at least once each and every day of the month. Hooray!
And even though there were quite a few days where I didn't invest more than a few minutes, in the end it was still worth it because otherwise I would have probably missed to motivate myself at all on most days.
I only got the SMC DA 21 a few weeks before this month. It's so unobtrusive, pairs nicely with the K-S2, and the copy was already used well by its previous owner, so I had no problem throwing the battered lens cap in a bag with other stuff without worrying about it (will be different next month lol).
It's such a useful focal length, you can shoot anything with it if you can get close enough (that excludes mostly birds and other wildlife). And you CAN get close with it. And it's sharp. At least after converting the RAW with DxO with the proper lens correction module (ooc jpgs couldn't compete), and I think stopping down to f/4 helps a tremendous deal with better sharpness towards edges and corners (I felt it lacking a bit wide open), though that doesn't matter that much if the subject is placed in the center. I'm still overly obsessed with sharpness, aren't I?
I found that I disabled vignetting correction more often than I didn't, to help guide the view a little more (and naturally so).
The field of view is close to the standard smartphone camera field of view. But I took pictures with it that I wouldn't have taken the smartphone out to snap, and I'm not sure how pictures of the two would compare. Doesn't even matter. It made me pursue my hobby and enjoy the process. It paired nicely with the 55-300 PLM for a compact two lens kit. There were a few times where I wished it was longer and fewer times where I wished it was wider. I think it's in an area where I prefer the flexibility of a zoom, even at the cost of more weight and size. Wide open on this lens compared to standard zoom lenses doesn't even make a difference big enough to mention it.
I'm not sure how exactly it compares to the zooms I have regarding rendering/colours, strong light sources in the frame,... I think it's got more contrast/sharpness than the 18-135 at 21 (just a feeling). The sun stars are a bonus for some pictures, big and small alike they add a little something, but that can be overdone quickly.
I think if I stay with SIC, I'll give it another go in 2 years or so. Until then I'll probably put it in the bag with some other primes every now and then and see how often I will be going for it.
Rain Check Away from the Sun Bridge Silhouette Colour vision Spotmatic SP II + S-M-C Tak 55/1.8 Webs Cloud Silhouette, Nik Silver Efex