Originally posted by kenyee Tempted if it's getting discontinued, but photozone says peak sharpness is up at f/4 instead of f/2.8...
I owned this lens and it is really excellent at all apertures. Check Photozone test again: it clearly shows that the lens is excellent at all apertures. True, it "peaks" at f/4 but the improvement is very small (similar to DA40 or D-FA 100) and IMO of no practical importance.
In fact, check FA50 and FA35 on Photozone side by side and see the difference.
The only thing Pentax did wrong this this lens is going with 6 aperture blades which sometimes may look distracting. If Pentax would release DA35/2 (NOT limited, not "star", DA14-like design please!!!) with identical optical design, but added QuickShift and 9 aperture blades that would be the winner! (However, it would directly compete with DA40 and DA35 Macro so we will never see it.)