| Author: | | Inactive Account Registered: September, 2011 Posts: 6
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 17, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $170.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | superb sharpness, contrast, color rendition | | Cons: | no longer manufactured | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-5
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Same optics as M28 ver.2 and F 28. Very sharp lens with excellent contrast, no distortions.
This lens produce sharper images than my short F2.8 zoom.
The short 17-50mm'ish F2.8 zooms also pale in comparison when it comes to contrast.
It works well on new DSLRs like K-5 to take advantage of the added dynamic range ability of the new sensors to achieve images rich in color with great details.
| | | | | | | Senior Member Registered: January, 2011 Posts: 258 | | Review Date: February 23, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $50.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Small, sharp | | Cons: | Not sharp enough for prime (some zooms are better), PF | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 9
Value: 9
Camera Used: K200D
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This is a test between one M 28 2.8 version 2(the same lens optically as the A28 2.8) and my DA 16-45. If we are talking about pure resolution without mentioning the CAs of the DA lens I think that the will have only one plus against the zoom(which is not one of the best zooms after all...) the only plus is the size. So in my opinion if you can get it cheaply the A28 2.8 is good lens, if you must pay too much for it better go for a zoom like this one. I must find one sigma 17-70 to check too, I'm guessing the prime will have hard time!
PS I'll show some field shots soon!
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: July, 2011 Location: Mississippi Posts: 282
6 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: October 28, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $70.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | perfect "normal" focal length on APS-c DSLR's, cheap compared to the AF version and with better optics | | Cons: | manual focus (if you think AF is the bomb) | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 10
Value: 10
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This lens has quickly become my favorite and most used.........I've learned to work around alot of the manual focus problems, by simply by using the old stand bye of hyperfocal.........with this method, and simply knowing my in-focus range, found it's actually quicker to shoot than most any AF lens. Seems to be the perfect "normal" focal length for APS-c camera's, equaling the FOV on 35mm format and their 50mm lenses. Making this lens/camera combo very easy to use and compose with. Only downside I can really find is that with just a 5blade shutter, it can produce some weird booka and sunstars when stopped down or shooting at night. Don't worry with the f2.8 max aperture, this lens is a bit faster than advertised, and very sharp from the get-go and extremely so from about f4.5-f11. It's very bright for an f2.8 also, as I've been able to produce amazing pics handheld at night even without the highly regarded hi-ISO capabilities of the KX. Couple samples below of pics taken with this lens. 1st, a landscape using a long exposure with tripod, and 2nd a handheld night scene.
 | | | | | Senior Member Registered: February, 2011 Posts: 118
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: October 22, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $185.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | contrasty, sharp wide open | | Cons: | none | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 9
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Very sharp lens, one of the sharpest Pentax 28mm.
Same optical formula as late-model M28 and auto-focus F28.
Some reviews rate this sharper than the early M28, some vice versa.
I find it to be sharper wide open than the early-model M28. Some of the differences reported may have been just a matter of sample variations.
It was hard to find a mint copy for sure.
This is to be one of the most-used work-house lens, right next to M50 1.7.
Produces very contrasty pictures even wide open, this is more visible on digital than film.
| | | | | | | New Member Registered: November, 2010 Posts: 16
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 12, 2011 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
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I bought this lens in a small shop in Tokyo for 9000 yen. I bought because I was curious. I dinīt own any A lens, and I wanted a manual 28mm prime for street photography and general purpose because I like the 42mm perspective on APSC. I wanted it manual for using it with hyperfocals and focusing zones. My main lens is the DA 35 Limited, which is no very practical for that purpose. I didnīt find many information about this lens, so I decided to risk and just try what it offers. But, at first, I didnīt expect a lot from it... But it surprised me gratefully, and surprises every day. Itīs very sharp at any apertures, specially at f8, have very little aberrations (I didnīt find them significant), very slight distortion (I canīt appreciate) and itīs very compact, light and beautiful. The construction is very good, made almost os metal, the focus ring is surprisingly smooth, I find it very close to a Takumarīs one. The aperture ring is also nice, but I use it on A mode, so this is no relevant for me. Maybe it suffers from some flare, but I didnīt notice, maybe because when the light is too strong I use a metal hood. In normal conditions whiteout hood I downīt notice flare yet. I find the bokeh and sharpness is really pleasant at full aperture, but maybe when you stop it down the bokeh can be harsh because of the 5 aperture blades. I donīt know, because I donīt want it for its bokeh or close-up capabilities. I think this lens takes some colors without saturation, more "realistic", but I think this is not necessary bad, and you can always add saturation on your PC.
I think itīs a very nice lens, very beautiful, with nice design, compact, lightweight, and very useful and versatile. Itīs manual focus, but in my case this was irrelevant. Itīs very sharp and it gives a very nice image quality. It fits very well on my K-5 and I love it. I highly recommend it, because itīs very good and very cheap. | | | | | Forum Member Registered: April, 2009 Location: Treviso (Italy) Posts: 87 | | Review Date: August 8, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $40.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Dimension, building, sharp | | Cons: | colors | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 6
Handling: 9
Value: 9
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Excellent manual focus lens. Little, well built and sharp.
But with quite cold colors imho.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: May, 2010 Location: Hong Kong / Irvine, CA Posts: 636 | | Review Date: July 24, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | a normal lens on DSLR | | Cons: | 5 aperture blades | |
It's a normal lens on a DSLR.
not fast enough, not wide enough.
It does carry A lens characteristic .
| | | | | New Member Registered: February, 2010 Posts: 3 | | Review Date: July 20, 2011 | Recommended
| Rating: 8 |
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Good solid lens. Nice bokeh and fairly sharp. If you can pick up a copy for a reasonable price you won't be sorry.
| | | | | New Member Registered: June, 2011 Location: Upstate New York Posts: 13
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 5, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $72.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharper than the kit lens | | Cons: | A little heavy on C/A | |
Not a bad lens -- works as it should. Goes well with the K2000. Auto aperture seems accurate enough. No auto-focus and those APS-C viewfinders are tiny. Nevertheless, once you get it down, pictures are nice and sharp. Think about this: Ken Rockwell with a $299 point-and-shoot and you with a K-5 and FA 31, who's going to take the better pictures? It's all about your own abilities. I got a screw-on, 49mm, metal lens-hood that was made for telephoto's. An excellent match. Satisfied with the lens, but hoping Pentax will introduce a new 28mm soon.
Indoor shots to demonstrate sharpness:
100% for pixel-peeping (center):
 | | | | | Senior Member Registered: January, 2010 Location: British Columbia Posts: 120
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 17, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $80.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Small, light, very good optical quality for the price | | Cons: | Short focus throw | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 9
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The A 28mm f2.8 has quite similar optical quality to the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 non-VC lens (which I own). Actually I think it's slightly sharper, and vignettes less than the modern zoom. I like the colours that come out of the 28mm better than the Tamron as well, though a quick white balance adjustment in post makes this a moot point.
In terms of CA, the Tamron does better but the 28mm is still quite good.
The lens was difficult to focus precisely because it takes only 90 degrees turn from min focus to infinity. That's my only major complaint.
Overall, I would give the lens an 8.5, but increase it to 9 because of the bang for buck.
| | | | | New Member Registered: September, 2008 Location: New York, NY Posts: 5 | | Review Date: May 6, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $150.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp, lightweight, well made | | Cons: | None | |
My favorite lens by far. Works very nicely on a Pentax DSLR, by the way, but even more fun on my P30t film camera.
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: January, 2008 Location: Brampton, ON, Canada Posts: 2,456
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 12, 2011 | Recommended
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Small, reasonably fast, useful FL | | Cons: | A bit prone to contrast loss | |
Useful - not quite a "normal" FL replacement on digital, but not bad.
I had my copy for a number of years (10 at least), and it was a good, well travelled performer (Paperbag now has it) .
Build quality is excellent, and the manual focusing is a treat.
Optically, as others have mentioned, the rendering is very neutral. Sharpness is adequate.
My one recommendation is to purchase a collapsible rubber hood to prevent contrast loss and flare.
| | | | | New Member Registered: January, 2011 Posts: 1
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 20, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $70.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | 42mm on DSLR, A-setting, nice when stopped down, small | | Cons: | overall build, loose focus ring, bit hard to focus accurately | |
I have bought this lens due to two reasons. Firstly I wanted to try A lens (after two M lenses I already had). Secondly I wanted to get as close to 50mm on DSLD (K20D) as I can without buying more expensive and harder to get 35mm lens.
I was already spoiled with M50/1.7 and M75-150/4 so when it arrived I was less than thrilled with overall quality of A28/2.8. It doesn't feel as sturdy as M50/1.7. Moreover focusing ring works in some uneven manner (bit loose at 0.7m, at least my one) and it just breaks loose while I press the shutter so it is possible to accidentally turn it then. Also it is not as sharp as my both M lenses... In fact due to loose focusing ring and not-so-sharp images at first I thought that I have got damaged lens.
I am overall pleased with performance I got however. It's small. It is 42mm on DSLR, which renders really nice view. It gives nice colors and details (if you won't miss focus) too. The A-setting (along with exposure compensation) allows to get accurate exposition in vast majority of shots which really makes quite a difference from "slower to operate" M lenses. Additionally at f2.8 you can take some hand-held photos in dim light quite easily. And it has not so bad bokeh too.
All in all this is my choice for general walk-around lens for now.
evening:
low light, high iso:
 | | | | | Junior Member Registered: March, 2009 Location: EU Posts: 32 | | Review Date: November 29, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $70.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | enough sharp when stopped down, good colors, small | | Cons: | not sharp corners wide open | | Sharpness: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 8
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Quite good quality build, standard 49 mm filter, good colors, sharp when stopped down 4-5,6 and more. At f2,8 decently sharp in the center but corners are fuzzy. In comparison to the Vivitar 28/2,8 Pentax loses.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: August, 2009 Location: The British Isles Posts: 2,402 | | Review Date: November 12, 2010 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Fine wider lens | | Cons: | | |
Easy to find on ebay or charity shops, excellent all round sharpness.
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