| Author: | |
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 16, 2020 | Not Recommended | Price: $275.00
| Rating: 2 |
| Pros: | Small companion for K-01 | | Cons: | Mounting is difficult, not sharp enough | | Sharpness: 3
Aberrations: 4
Bokeh: 6
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 5
Value: 2
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-01, K-3II
| |
This is actually the worst lens I own!
| | | | | | | New Member Registered: April, 2019 Location: Oxford Posts: 8
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 18, 2020 | Recommended | Price: $200.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp, contrasty, compact, inexpensive | | Cons: | A half stop faster would be nice (f2.4) | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: New
| |
This lens is an underrated star of the Pentax primes. Micro-contrast is superb. Unlike the 15 and 21 mm Limited there is zero drop off in sharpness edge-to-edge. The image below can't do justice to the original where you can pick out each brick on the buildings if you care to "pixel peep". I love mine as a standard lens on the KP.
 | | | | | Forum Member Registered: September, 2017 Posts: 72
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 30, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $320.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Contrast, colors, sharpness, quite fast | | Cons: | this little lens cap!? | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-5
| |
DA 40 Pancake, I love you!
Bought this lens 2006 and do not want to miss at any day. Its just the perfect range for 75% of all shots I ever did and the colors and contrast it produces is just amazing for this size.
For me it's a must have lens and in case my old one needs to retire, I go for another one for sure.
 | | | | | Senior Member Registered: August, 2018 Posts: 240
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: October 21, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $260.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Small light | | Cons: | noise focus hunting | |
This is a very useful lens to have in a kit bag. It sits in the camera pack and goes with me every where the camera goes. It is shap. The bokeh is good for street and outside portraits. I have also used this lens in the studio with great results. This profile portrait shot shows how well the lens handles wide shots close up.
 | | | | | | | New Member Registered: July, 2015 Location: Melbourne Australia Posts: 1
5 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 11, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Everything | | Cons: | Nothing | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K5IIs
| |
I bought this lens a few days ago through Ebay. It was advertised as mint, and it arrived looking mint. I paid $AU150.- (US$100.-) and free postage.
This was what I consider a super deal. I used it now for 3 days and found it just perfect. Very fast and accurate auto focus with my K5IIs.
The lens is about the closes lens in bookee to my Elmar 3.5. Maybe this is because both lenses have the diaphragm just after the front lens.
It gives a real 3 dimensional look when used wide open.
I just have to leave it on the camera. it so good..
 | | | | | Senior Member Registered: April, 2008 Location: Westbrook, ME, USA Posts: 288
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 21, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $200.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Very light, fun to shoot with, nice color rendition and contrast | | Cons: | Not SUPER sharp, minimum focus distance, lens cap | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 7
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K50, KP
| |
I'd say this lens is "very sharp" at 16 megapixels on the K50, but at 24 megapixels on the KP it starts to separate from a lens like the 35mm limited or 70mm limited. It's a touch softer, but not in an unpleasant way. Just not quite as the level of those lenses.
Shooting with the 40mm on the KP is a delight as it serves to offset the weight of the camera and it's just a fun thing to use in practice. Manual focus is not as tricky as I had feared. I'd love it if the minimum focus distance was a hair closer and the lens cap is a pain in the butt.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: December, 2018 Location: Rio de Janeiro Posts: 113
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 7, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Compact, sharp | | Cons: | Noisy | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 8
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K5-II and K3-II
| |
It's a very nice pancake prime with excellent sharpness from f3.5 and up. Not the sharpest lens wide open at the corners.
It's VERY compact, impressive.
The only negative points are the AF noise, specially when it hits the end, with a loud "clack" and the price, a bit high for my taste. The Canon EF 40mm pancake is half the price and has about the same performance.
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: July, 2014 Posts: 392
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 2, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $150.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Extremely compact, sharp | | Cons: | Fear to lose lens cap :-) | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 9
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 7
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-1
| |
I have the older version with green ribbon. Good news for K-1/K-1mkII owners is that it's completely compatible with full-frame (no vignetting at all).
| | | | | Seeker of Knowledge Registered: August, 2016 Location: Topeka, Kansas Posts: 24,555
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 20, 2018 | Recommended | Price: $135.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | size and built | | Cons: | none at this time | | Sharpness: 9
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K 3 II
| |
bought this " experienced " lens with pouch, hood and screw in cap a member through the market place primarily because of the price at which it was being offered.
it is the SMC version, not the newer HD
I already had the " best in its class " smc Pentax-DA 40mm F2.8 XS which is lighter b/c it is plastic build with metal mount, same optics apparently except for curvature of the aperture blades on the XS, 27mm filter and press on cap
the Limited has the QS feature, the expected build and feel but like the XS is not WR or macro and has a more standard 49mm filter I have found nothing to complain about it with this lens
I haven't had it long but it is what I expected when I purchased it and like it
if you want a more techinical review, look at the one posted by Pepperberry Farm, I am in agreement with what he said
| | | | | New Member Registered: December, 2013 Posts: 7
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 11, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $220.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Awesome | | Cons: | Not WR | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: k30
| |
Its a belter. This is becoming my most used lens. The whole ethos of the Limited range is compact quality, and this one epitomises the idea.
My first shots with it were unpromising. I'm not sure what it was, but I was shooting at wide-ish apertures on a dull day, but there were bright patches in the sky and I got some horrible fringing and really ugly images. It didn't look dirty but I gave it a clean anyway, and since then it's been giving really great results with a high keeper rate. Weird.
Ok so you know it's small, well built etc. The sharpness is good to excellent. It's not as sharp as the 35mm macro, but that lens sometimes seems to have a brutal sharpness which is not always attractive in my opinion. Anyway, pixel peepers might notice a difference but it's easily as sharp as my 50mm 1.8 and there is plenty of detail.
One thing I really prefer over the 35mm is the colour balance, which has a really lovely typical warm Pentax look. The 35mm colours are really explosive, which I guess is why many people love it, but I find them a bit cool overall. The micro contrast with the 40mm is excellent and you get nice separation of the subject. Neither are bokeh monsters, but again I think I slightly prefer the 40mm. It could just be the slight extra focal length, and it's certainly a better portrait lens. I find the focal length is great. I like the fact that it is slightly on the long side of normal. You find you can pick shots out of a scene, but it's not so long that a few steps back won't generally help fit things in. The only time it really feels too tight is indoors, but on apsc so does 35mm.
Another area in which it beats the 35 hands down is AF, which is quick and accurate. Some people mention the fiddly lens cap. You certainly might struggle after a few drinks! However the metal hood offers great protection to the lens so if I want to be ready to shoot quickly, I just leave the cap in my pocket. I do wish Pentax would upgrade the Limiteds to Weather Resistant. With so many Pentax users having WR cameras It seems odd that the premium primes are not.
Overall, the exceptional thing about this lens is that a really capable setup becomes something you can just about fit in a coat pocket! I paid £178 used. Marvellous.
| | | | | New Member Registered: September, 2016 Posts: 1
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 29, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $382.73
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | it is super small | | Cons: | the size as well | | Sharpness: 7
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 6
Value: 8
New or Used: New
Camera Used: pentax k-30
| |
i bought this lens because of the sheer size of it and i thought it looked cool. i love the built quality and the images that i got from this lens is price well paid. but the cons is also the size of it, at first i felt it strange to hold the lens but after some time i ended up holding the camera body instead. would definitely recommend a friend to get one.  | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: December, 2007 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 1,016
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 7, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $175.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Too numerous to list - funky, weird, magical, under-rated, typical Pentax | | Cons: | Not weather-proof | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K3ii
| |
Absolutely marvellous...I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:
#1 handheld, available light, iso 3200, F 3.2. #2 two large 500 w/s studio lights with umbrella to the left and soft box to the right, on a tripod, F10.
Just shy of magical. We are lucky to be Pentaxians.
Cheers,
Cameron
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: April, 2009 Location: Madrid, Spain Posts: 10,208
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 14, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $200.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Small & light, well-built, sharp, good contrast, that limited lens look | | Cons: | Not quite as sharp as 35mm limited | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K3, K200D, Fujifilm X-M1
| |
Unlike most people, who buy the 40mm as their first limited lens, I bought it as my last in order to complete the set. That's probably because I bought the 35mm first, and when you have the 35mm (the best of the DA limited lenses) there's not much reason to buy the 40mm.
The 40mm lens is sharp wide open (but not quite as sharp as the 35mm), with amazing contrast and colours, typical of the DA limiteds. It's very small but handles nicely - I've used it quite a lot on my Fujifilm X-M1 on which it's manual focus only and didn't have any problem despite the very small size. Manual focus is smooth and precise. Autofocus is quick.
I used it as my main walk-around lens on a trip to Paris (I bought the lens on that trip) and was very happy with image quality on the Fuji camera. I recently took it on holiday to Norway and Sweden and used it on the K3 and was again very happy.
The focal length is a useful one for general use. I believe that focal lengths of lenses are what you make of them and this one takes very little getting used to, though those that prefer wide angle may not like it.
Overall, I'd recommend the 35mm over this one for it's focal length, macro capability and overall image quality, though the 40mm beats it in size, which makes it very useful for travel. Image quality is very nearly as good as that from the 35mm though, it's really only wide open where I notice the 40mm is not quite as sharp. If small size is more important to you than the other aspects then the 40mm is a good choice. The 35mm is also considerably more expensive.
I have only used this on digital so far but I plan to try it on film when I get a chance.
Update: my lens developed a fault suddenly in which the focus ring would not turn and I had to pay €50 to get it fixed. I'm not aware that this is a common problem with this lens but perhaps something to bear in mind. €50 is not an expensive fix for a modern lens.
A few sample images.
Stockholm by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr
Paris coffee by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr
IMGP2353a by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr
IMGP2795a by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr
Stavanger by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr
IMGP0995a by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr
Booksellers on the Seine by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr
ITLY4393a by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: January, 2016 Location: Warsaw Posts: 32
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 14, 2016 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Small, light and sharp. | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K3, K10D,
| |
Entry level limited, cheap and sharp. Small and light. Ideal for jeans pocket. I using this with K3, K10D and Z-1 on film.
K3 - very good lens, sharp with a good AF.
K10D - This same like K3. But I don't know where is a problem with BF with this camera. Probably K10D have a correction in memory.
Z-1 - Fine setup. When you have a thin 49mm is ok, With normal filter vignette is a big problem (black corner) but only with f/2.8.
On K3 and K10D colors is very realistic. On film Fujipress 400 colors are a some "candy tone" with red and blue.
 | | | | | amateur dirt farmer Registered: December, 2014 Location: probably out in a field somewhere... Posts: 38,980
5 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 30, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $127.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | build quality, color rendition, ease of handling | | Cons: | hood/cap arrangement | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-3
| |
the end of the month review - SMC DA 40mm f2.8 Limited (not the newer HD version)
What an amazing piece of kit.
So tiny, it disappears on the front of the K-3, rendering the camera nearly a point-and-shoot. I shot everything this month and could not find anything that it did poorly. Strong daylight street-shooting, intimate selfies, and everything in between, Daisy delivered. Renders color spectacularly, flare doesn't seem to affect it, no noticeable CA. I never wondered for a different focal length (if I needed/wanted wider, I stitched) and it never left me frustrated and having to come back with another lens to get the shot. It's fast enough to shoot in low-light, especially with the useable ISO-range of the K-3.
The build/feel of the DA40 Limited is special - tight tolerances, even the miniscule focus-ring turns oh-so-nicely. It's small enough that you could carry three of them in your bag and you'd never know it.
Granted, with the word 'Limited' after the lens' name, it's supposed to be good - but the prior model is highly-praised, as is the DA 40XS, so there is something right in the arrangement.
The only bad thing I can come up with is the absolutely bad hood/cap arrangement. Nearly guaranteed to be misplaced at least once a week. I replaced it whilst shooting for the Single with a standard hood/pinch cap arrangement and shelved the original.
my flicker album for the lens:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pepperberryfarm/albums/72157666240057890
favorites:
 silk and bokeh by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
 eastern amberwing by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
 fog this morning by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
if you don't have one and are thinking of a new prime in your bag - do it, don't hesitate, just buy one....
| | |
;)
;)
;)
