Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-27-2008, 10:24 PM
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Sorry I'm afraid I can't be much help here. I read this at a couple of Chinese photo forums, all in Chinese. The original source was from one guy in Taiwan who has bought over 20 copies of FA43, and played over 100 (from friends, shops and etc) copies. He is the one who came out w/ the following types:
SMC PENTAX-FA 1:1.9 43mm Limited
Type-1 0000001~00160xx
Silver Version
Type-2 0013xxx~0015xxx
Black Version
Type-3 0016xxx~0019xxx
Silver & Black
Type-4 0020xxx~0023xxx
Silver & Black
Type-5 0023xxx~ Still in production
Silver & Black
This guy claimed type 2 and 3 might have the best built and optical quality. And the coating in the earlier versions (type 1, 2, 3) might be different from the later versions. But I guess nobody can confirm this, not even Pentax. It's more like speculation to me, any difference in tests is more likely due to sample variation.
But because of this, the early types are more sort after ones, sometimes even can fetch slightly higher resale prices, at least would be easier to sell.
I myself have had 3 copies of this lens, the one I'm keeping is a silver one w/ a serial number of 15xxx :)
Cheers!
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-27-2008, 09:45 PM
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Many users think this lens is more useful (better FOV?) on a full frame camera than it is on a cropped APSC dSLR camera, and I'm one of them :)
Here are some photos I took w/ FA43 and a Super Program camera: |
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
07-08-2008, 02:52 PM
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It was reported by some Taiwanees that there are two versions of the FA43, the old version (w/ a series number smaller than 20000) and new version. Pentax might changed coating material used for the new version, thus the different colors from the front element. Those guys also did some test and showed different colors, produced by the two versions, and the pics from the old version seem to be brighter, probably due to the lead material used in coating. There was also some talks about the QC issues on the later version (the glass element of some later version isn't exactly centered, you can see this from the rear end). That's why sometimes the older types are much sort after ones and slightly more expensive on the second hand market.
Here are two of those testing shots they posted:
Photo by the old version:
Photo by the new version:
There were some similar talks on the FA77 as well (series number smaller than 7000 is old version).
These are not my opinion or experience but what those guys found. To be honest, I don't really know if this is true. But Pentax does have more QC issues nowadays than they used to have. I guess it's true to most camera or lenses manufacturers.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-07-2008, 11:11 PM
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Get the 43. $330 is a very good price.
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