| Author: | | Veteran Member Registered: June, 2011 Location: New York City Posts: 5,638
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 11, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $170.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Great color rendition, amazing value, small lens with quick AF, pretty sharp | | Cons: | Manual focusing is tough, plastic build (but not so bad), screw on hood only | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 7
Value: 10
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This lens is my budget 35mm lens, and it's quite amazing for its cost. The images it produces are very nice in color and contrast, with good sharpness. By F4, I already get plenty of center sharpness, and at F8 I get great sharpness all throughout. The image is still very good at F2.4, but expect a bit more CA when dealing with more contrasty conditions.
The bokeh on this lens is very lovely and creamy. With the short focusing distance, it's pretty easy to get up close to shoot smaller objects like flowers with amazing bokeh in the background.
Flare control is pretty good; I've shot into the sun a few times and never had a bad flareup. I got a hood regardless, to help protect the lens from bumps. The plastic build of the body feels terrible to the touch, but since it's so tiny and it's a prime, I don't normally have to touch it. It's amazingly light (thanks to the plastic build) so I can literally shoot one-handed with my k-x.
The plastic build can't be mocked for durability though, as I've given it some hard knocks and it's survived everything. My friend accidentally dropped my k-x with the 35mm attached from head level (long story) and everything is still working perfectly.
I would highly suggest this lens to be budget alternative to the DA 35 F2.8 and FA 35 F2.
Images:
 | | | | | | | New Member Registered: August, 2011 Posts: 21
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 13, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $170.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | sharp, lightweight | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 10
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Great value for an amateur shooter like me. It's very sharp and colors are true. Here's a 100% crop of one of the shots I took with it:
 | | | | | New Member Registered: September, 2011 Location: IA Posts: 7
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 20, 2011 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | light, sharp and reletively fast | | Cons: | for the price none | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 7
Handling: 10
Value: 10
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Great little lens for the right price. Fast enough to capture my two and four year old running around the house even when there aren't many lights on.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: July, 2011 Location: Delaware Posts: 344
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: October 30, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $220.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharpness | | Cons: | No hood | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
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This is the lens I leave on my camera when it's in the bag. That's how much I like it. Very sharp, great bokeh and pretty good quality build for the price. Not a single complaint.
| | | | | | | Inactive Account Registered: August, 2010 Location: Canada Posts: 161
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: October 30, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $170.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Best in its class | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: New
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Having used the following lenses for comparison:
Pentax-K 35/3.5
Pentax-K 30/2.8
Pentax-K 28/3.5
Pentax-M 28/3.5
Pentax-A 35/2
Takumar SMC 35/3.5
Takumar SMC 28/3.5
In terms of real life image output, in my opinion the DA35/2.4 produced the best results from them all.
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: April, 2011 Location: Lost in translation ... Posts: 18,076
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: October 30, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $225.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | IQ, fast, price/value ratio ... | | Cons: | None given its price point ... still no hood provided ? | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: New
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Bonjour,
Given all the accolades that have been stated previously and which are well deserved, here's my input ...
Really a great lens. Best "bang for the buck" performance in the Pentax primes (IMHO), and this lens is basically glued to the K-r now ... Love the feel of shooting with something like my old K1000 and a (almost) 50mm equivalent lens. This is photography as I learned to love it so many moons ago.
Overall, one cannot really complain about this lens, but a hood would have been a nice addition. I'm using a screw-on filter and rubber hood combo. If a "Quick Shift" had included, this lens would be fantastic ... hands down. Still manual focus mode is a fine substitute. The plastic mount issue does not bother me too much now ... and we'll see now it holds up over time.
To sum it up, as the French say, "C'est super!"
Allez à bientôt et bon courage, Jean le Frog
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: March, 2009 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 509
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: November 9, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $115.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Light, Good Color, Good IMQ at f2.4 | | Cons: | Apeture too small, no quick shift focus | | New or Used: New
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I have to give it a 10, because this little lens outperforms my expectation by so much.
Construction: Very well built. Everything fits properly. The focusing ring is properly damped for MF even though the focusing throw is ever so slightly short. I am not concerned, because this is a 35mm lens. People have complained about the polycarbonate material used on the bayonet. The material is hard and the lens is light. So I am not so worried. I rarely use distance scale, so no distance scale is not a big issue for me either.
Focusing is pretty fast. It does not have the quick-shift function. However, it is not hard to MF even when the AF motor is engaged. Focusing a bit noisy, but not as bad as my F50 f1.7. Due to mechanical limitations, it should be called DAL instead of DA.
IMQ: Simply Great. It rivals limited. I can easily use the largest aperture for daily use. It does not suffer from significant CA at the largest aperture. My only gripe is the largest aperture is too small. I understand the marketing mechanism behind the choice. But f2.2 is a more reasonable number in the market. BTW, I love large apertures. That is why we use fixed focal lens. Since the lens is so light, I can ignore this problem.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: August, 2011 Location: Victoria Posts: 201
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: November 25, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $265.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Cheap, fast, light. Great sharpness throughout. | | Cons: | No hood mount? Can always get a screw in I supose. | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
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This is my second prime, and probably my most used lens now. It is small and light so stays on my camera quite a lot. The autofocus is zippy, it's sharp throughout and it has provided me with many pleasing images where my kit 18-55 really disappointed.
It can be had quite cheaply these days ($170 on Amazon last I saw) and I think it is a must have for everybody's bag. For the price, or even anything remotely close to it, this is the best AF lens you can get. Only possible to find something better in old manual lenses.
I was tempted to get the 2.8 macro version, but this focuses quite close anyway, so I didn't see the need to pay almost twice as much when this lens is brilliant as is.
| | | | | Inactive Account Registered: January, 2011 Location: Plymouth Posts: 359
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: November 27, 2011 | Recommended
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharpness, ease of use, weight. | | Cons: | Knowing the limitations of the lens before I bought it, none. | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: New
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I got my copy of this lens today so I've not had that much time playing with it. However, I took it out with me tonight and the first portrait I took with it is so sharp you can count the pores in their face, the colour and saturation is bang on for the style of shooting I do, it's light, it's cheap, and fairly fast. The only lens I have that's sharper is an A 1:7 50mm, but being manual focus it's not so convenient in a bar/club/party - I'm happy to lose the tiny bit of difference in sharpness for the speed and convenience of an AF lens. I took a few shots on my way home as well and I'm very happy with how it delivers on night-time cityscapes of Plymouth and the sea - I'm very surprised at how well it renders colours and contrast in 1- 2 sec exposures under son - t lights. Can't wait to give it a proper try out in daylight tomorrow, I may well update this review soon when I've taken more than the 100 or so shots I've taken so far.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: March, 2011 Location: Dubai, UAE Posts: 448
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 3, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $210.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Lightweight & compact, small lens thread getting to be rare these days, Great for Walkaround | | Cons: | Nothing really for what it is and for it's sharpness | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: New
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I purchased this lens almost a year back - around March this year. Since I am new to DSLR I was waiting to understand the lens before I post a review as I know I am not an expert about everything in a lens. Now, I think I am starting to get more control on it, now I am seeing it as a versatile light weight lens for walkaround. I had earlier seen many review suggesting the same and that is what influenced me the purchase as I don't want to buy multiple lens and keep my investment low.
After the purchase though, I felt it was really not fulfilling the all-purpose tag - I thought I was actually not good in the handling. Yes now just 2 days back I was able to do a variety of shots from portraits to group shots all giving satisfying results in some where I even covered wide angle in the background thus signalling me to confirm it is really versatile.
I am starting to understand that the centre focusing point makes a lot of difference as we can specifically and for sure know where we are intending to focus or forcing the camera to focus rather than the multiple focus point especially in the autofocus mode. In the past months I was exclusively using the multi-focus points.
Of course it is not a real wide angle but this will serve for sure as an all purpose lens with great sharp results. You can see many of my samples here in this thread. The first posting is of mine, I keep adding this post with my favorite shots as I capture them - there are many undisclosed shots of family which I am hesitant to post it in the public realm that has influenced me to write in favour of this lens. Must have lens for what it is! | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: May, 2011 Location: Providence, RI Posts: 368
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 22, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $170.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | great lens, highest value lens | | Cons: | None | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
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All the good things that have been said about this lens is true. It is a great lens considering the cost. IQ is fairly comparable to FA 35 f2.
| | | | | New Member Registered: December, 2011 Posts: 1
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 27, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $180.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | great color, bokeh, contrast, crisp and sharp even on f2.4, f2.4 is fairly open and fast, versatile focal length, lightweight, cost | | Cons: | plastic build | | Sharpness: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: New
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Recently got this lens and I have to say that I absolutely love it! Compared to my DA 18-55mm kit lens it always gets a crisp, sharp image and great contrast that is more difficult on the former. With the right exposure images are almost always all around bright with bright color and a smooth feeling. I have a Super Takumar 50mm f1.4 that I use on my k-x as well and there is no beating that lens but this one is very close. f2.4 is not as great as f1.4 obviously but it wonderful on its own, allowing for very nice depth and bokeh, and also faster than the more common f2.8 and and f3.5 lenses. 35mm is a perfect focal length, being very close to the traditional 50mm on a film camera and therefor closest to real life size. This makes for a very versatile frame size for portraits, still life, landscapes, snapshots, et cetera. The only disappointment here is the plastic build, but it seems sturdy in how it has been put together. For any amateur dslr photographer it is definitely worth the great price.
    | | | | | New Member Registered: July, 2010 Location: Ladys Pass, Victoria Posts: 7
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 5, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $169.95
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Cheap, light, f/2.4, | | Cons: | Has trouble at "infinity" | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
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What can I say, it was cheap($169.95 on Amazon with $50 off), it's much better for lower light with the f/2.4(I've heard it may be slightly wider, maybe even f/2.2). Plus it is basically a 50mm equiv.
I'd have liked a DOF scale, but only so I know where infinity is(it's impossible to use the viewfinder at night with only starlight).
It's made from plastic, sure, but it doesn't make you feel uneasy about it's strength. It feels like the K-x, light but strong. Plus it keeps the weight down, which is always a bonus.
Nothing more to say really, it is my first prime for a Pentax, had the K-x for 18 months and it was time to get it.
10/10, maybe a 9.5/10 because of the lack of DOF scale.
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: December, 2011 Posts: 95
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 4, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $144.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | the best Pentax lens | | Cons: | none | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: Pentax k-r
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My best Pentax lens
Here is my first shot with it (no LR sharpening at all):
and here are some 100% crops:
 | | | | | Senior Member Registered: May, 2011 Posts: 233
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 10, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $180.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | extremely sharp, extremely fast AF,great color redition | | Cons: | plastic build, can be slightly faster (aperture), some fringing | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: kx, k5
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just add another review to bump up the score of this little gem.
it is my third lens (beside 18-55 and the 55-300 kit), and it is always been my favorite.
extremely fast AF compare to "all" zoom lenses;
great sharpness across the frame even wide open;
attractive "pentax" color redition;
decent aperture speed at f2.4 (though i wish it can go 2.0 or 1.8);
price can't beat (cost only around $150 on 2012 spring).
a must have lens no matter what pentax DSLR you are using.
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