Originally posted by ScreamingIdiot I've had my eye on a DA35mm. If I can ask, whats the application for that bad boy?
Its main application is as a 'standard' lens on Pentax DSLRs (and other so-called 'APS-C' DSLRs). Basically a 35mm lens on a Pentax DSLR has
roughly the same application as a 50mm lens on a film camera or a 'full frame' DSLR (Canon 5D, Nikon D700 etc.). However if you're actually studying photography then (as others have said) what you likely need most is a 'fast' lens (i.e. f1.4 or f1.7). These are cheapest and easiest to obtain as 50mm primes (mainly because a 50mm fast prime was - believe it or not - the 'kit lens' that came with most cameras for decades).
Given that we don't know what exactly your course will be covering, I think a really useful idea would be to ask your instructor what
Nikon lenses he'd suggest. If you post that here, we can then point you to equivalent Pentax lenses.