| Author: | | Veteran Member Registered: November, 2006 Location: Singapore Posts: 3,202
9 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: October 22, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $200.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Excellent IQ, Beautiful Lens, Light and Compact, Cheap but Feels Nice | | Cons: | Plastic mount, no quick shift, no lens hood (but can use a screw on one). | |
DAL 35/2.4 - A Plastic Wonder!
I got the new DA35/2.4 lens along with my new K5 camera. It is a beautiful looking lens, kinda like a smaller sized FA77. But when held in hand, it feels really light. It's probably the lightest non-pancake lens I've every had. Yeah, it's plastic lens with a plastic mount like all the DAL lenses, and it doesn't come with quickshift feature. Why Pentax called this one as a DA instead of a DAL is beyond me, but I'd call it as DAL35 in this short review simply because it has a plastic mount, it doesn't have quickshift feature, and it's easier to differentiate from the DA35 macro lens.
I got it purely because of its price and curiosity, not because I need another 35mm lens (I already have the FA31 and FA43 Ltd lenses, two of my favorite lenses). Well, after two days play, I really like this little lens, and think its light weight is a selling point instead of a drawback. It is so light and compact, I don't feel much extra weight at all when mounted on the K5 camera. Believe it or not, this has been the only AF lens that I've ever used to actually take photos ever since I got the new K5 camera. Normally I'd try all my lenses on a new camera just to make sure the camera and all my lenses are matching well. But this time I decided to give this lens a really good run.
30mm to 50mm happens to be my favorite focal length on cropped dSLR cameras, and I've had pretty much all Pentax 35mm lenses except that mystery SMC M 35/1.4 which never came to production stage. The results from the K5 and DA35/2.4 have been very satisfactory so far, and I do think I've got some keepers.
Pentax has made quite a few 35mm lenses, other than this new DAL35, there is a DA35 macro which is still under production, and the highly rated FA35/2 might still be in production too. I guess sometimes we are spoiled by so many options offered by Pentax, just don't know which one to buy or keep. A few friends asked me to do a thorough comparison between a few Pentax 35mm lenses, two of them even offered their DA35 macro, FA35/2 and a rare A35/2 to me for the comparison review. To be honest, I'm not really good at reviewing lenses, normally when I got a new lens, I'd just bring it out for a spin instead of shooting some charts at home. But since this is probably the only prime lens under $250usd currently offered by Pentax, I'd like to see how it stands against the other few 35mm lenses too.
Enough said, let's get to the points. Obviously Pentax designed this lens based on the FA35/2. Both lenses have the same 6 elements in 5 group optical design, both feature the AL element to minimize aberrations, and both can focus as close as 30cm. The new DAL35 is much lighter at 124g vs 195g for the FA35 (and 215g for the DA35 macro). To save the cost, this new DAL35 lens doesn't come with bayonet fitting for a matching lens hood, only a 49mm screw on lens hood can be used. But this lens has Pentax Super Protect coating on the first lens element to help minimize dust & water to stay on the lens. AF is very fast, even faster than the FA35/2 which is considered as one of the fasted AF lenses by Pentax. During the test against the other 3 35mm lenses, I felt that DAL35 is actually slightly faster than F2.4. Photos taken at the same settings (iso/aperture/shutter speed) appear to be brighter than those from the other 35mm lenses. It is more or less an F2.2 lens I think.
Anyway, after a couple of days play and some tests, here are my over impressions about this lens:
1. Looks beautiful, compact and light weight
2. Makes sharp photos even at wide open aperture
3. Produces very pleasing bokeh and colors
4. Hard to see any CA in the actual photos
5. SP coating for easy cleaning
6. Can focus down to 30cm for some nice closeups
7. Plastic mount might feel cheap, but it's not the first ever
8. Widest aperture is actually faster than F2.4, It's more like a F2.1 to F2.2 lens
Overall I'd say this is a plastic wonder.
A few samples on K5:
After some testing shots w/ this lens on an MZ-5n film camera, I'd say it has no problem working on an FF camera (well, it doesn't have aperture ring, so make sure you have a camera which can adjust aperture from the camera body - directly or indirectly). I can't see any vignetting or dark corners on any of the photos taken on film camera, wide open or stop down, closeups or far away subjects. I can't even see any sign of optical degradation at all on edges or corners. I guess Pentax should've called it a DFA 35/2.4
Here are some results on film by this lens:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-slr-lens-discussion/119054-da-35mm...ny-photos.html | | | | | | | New Member Registered: December, 2007 Location: Tallinn Posts: 22
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: November 27, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $200.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | image quality, size and light weight, low price | | Cons: | no quickshift focus for manual focus correction while in AF, plastic KAF2-mount | |
It is made of plastic, this isn't something uncommon, what I'm little concerned is how long shall its plastic bayonet last. Perhaps it is not designed to last at all. My first impressions with this lens was great. It focuses fast and accurately. Following captures are made with AF and 3 aperture settings F2.4, F3.2 and F5.6 (MTF recommended value is F5.0) and this lens should be on its best around F5.0.
It has impeccable barrel distortion (0.08%) and slight light falloff full open but its gone by F3.5. TCA is very well under control and I most definitely shall love this lens for high contrast scenes and portraits.
For those who like manual focus or quickshift feature expensive DA 35mm F2.8 macro counterpart offers its not available for this lens. Focus ring rotates while focusing.
     
http://roman.blakout.net/?blog=reviews | | | | | New Member Registered: October, 2010 Location: bronx Posts: 6
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 16, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $190.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Price..Aperance on camera Price | | Cons: | bouquet is shallow | | New or Used: New
| |
Hello all.
I bought this lens based on the the reviews on this board.
Definitely worth the money.
Maybe not a NINE.
Mine came with a small internal scratch which I did not
expect on a modern lens..Trying for an exchange but will see.
I bought it from prodigital2000 on ebay. It's difficult to return stuff to canada.
Pentax USA will honor warranty with receipt. Next time I will buy local.
I don't know how common this is since I have been buying mostly
used lenses on ebay.
This lens is price wise what one would pay for a used auto focus wide angle one on ebay.
The reviews here are a little overstated
The pro review here I feel is is understated.
(Non working link removed)
I think the lens is an 8.5.
The Bokeh, I prefer bouquet is shallow compared to my SMC Pentax-FA 50mm F1.7.
I don't know if this is due to the aperture or because of the focal length.
I thing cosmetically its attractive compared to the older Pentax grey whales.
Much better than the SMC Pentax-DA L 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL.
If you really need a 35mm then buy it.
If I can return mine because of the blemish I would not replace it.
I prefer the SMC Pentax-FA 50mm F1.7 for indoor shooting.
I must say that that this lens feels sturdy. If it were not so light it would feel more expensive than it is.
I personally really like the weight, look and feel of this lens.
I feels funny screwing in a steel filter in to a plastic mount. I felt worried I would strip it but I did not.
Focusg is really fast and smooth.
I took at F2.4 ad f3.4 but really could not see any difference in sharpness.
This forum is excellent.
Thank You
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1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 7, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $190.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | light weight, very sharp even wide open, nice bokeh, same filter size as other prime 49mm, extremely fast focus, | | Cons: | plastic mount looks cheap, and non-durable | |
for this price, i'd give this lens a 10. Though the mount is plastic, i can predict I am gonna leave this on my camera most of the time as it is so versatile, so i suppose it will not break that easily. I used to own 35mm F2, and i cannot tell any major difference between the two in the pic they produce.
I also own 50mm F1.4, and often find 50mm to close to my object, but i love the 1.4 bokeh, so i am often left in the dilemma, but 35mm is the perfect focal length. I am in love with this lens. I will say this lens is a must have for beginners and whoever wants to try the power of prime lens.
| | | | | | | Site Supporter Registered: March, 2008 Location: New Brunswick Posts: 200
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 19, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $199.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp, good colour, fast AF | | Cons: | Feels not-so-sturdy, I get some purple fringing | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 3
Handling: 9
Value: 10
| |
Re-evaluating this lens after some in depth usage... My first 2 copies from online had bad backfocus tendencies. I since have returned them and chose the best from a local brick and mortar. Even the best copy there had a degree of backfocus. I think I checked 6 copies in the store.
I finally had to have it calibrated to the camera by Pentax Canada. AF is now spot on, but 4 weeks is a long time to wait.
Optically, it's very good, but not excellent. I notice considerable purple fringing in high-contrast shots, typically found in lower quality zooms. Also, it's plastic... nothing inherently wrong with that, but it makes me wonder how long the mount will last before starting to wear.
Things that really impressed me though were the AF speed and sharpness. I needed to mention that here, because it is now really fast and quite accurate, producing crisp, crisp photos following calibration. Heads and tails over any other lens I have. It may miss 1 in 20 AF targets in good lighting -- probably even less really. I've come to just trust it now... something that I rarely, if ever, do for my other lenses. **Keep in mind, I had to send the lens and camera in for calibration to each other, as over 8 copies I tried (6 in a brick and mortar store before purchasing) had varying degrees of backfocus. It is most likely an oddity of my camera.**
Paired with a k-x it is fast enough for indoor low-light (night-time) shots. With only indoor lighting, you can use 1600 to 3200 and get a relatively fast shutter with low-moderate noise in the picture. Totally usable for casual pics. I find wide open sharpness to be excellent, and feel as though the lens is limited in the aperture... because the photos on wide open look stopped down a click, it's really that good.
Very pleased now with this lens after service.
| | | | | New Member Registered: March, 2009 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 12
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 19, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $260.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | optical quality, fast AF, light weight, | | Cons: | cheap build. | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
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Since I have have this plastic wonder it's my most used lens.
I just love 35mm on a cropped sensor, it gives me e very authentic feeling.
The reason I bought this lens is doing street-photography, and for this purpose it has some unique features:
- very fast AF (my other 35 is the famous SMC-K 35/3.5, which obviously is MF, and not thé thing for fast snapshots), even on a "slow" cam as the K10; on the K5 it's simply very, very fast.
- very good optical quality: it is sharp, has wonderfull colour-rendering, and a really nice Bokeh, better than the K (which, I must admit, is a little bit sharper)
- it does not look impressive at all, which means you don walk around with an impressive camera, and that's just what I want. I also own the DA-40mm, but that's just a little to tight for what I want.
- it's very lightweight, which makes it easy to just let the cam hang around your neck, and use it without even looking through the viewfinder: point, focus and click, even when riding the bike, which I love when taking pictures this way.
One could argue that the cheap build is a con, but for me it just isn't; it might be that the lens will not last as long as the K35, which is built for eternity, but then: I will not last forever either.
And the price is just stunning for all the pro's it has.
I'd like to give the lens a 9.5, but since that is not possible and this is really the lens I allways wanted I decided to just give it a 10
To finish this little review: this is thé lens that everybody should add to his or her collection, especially those who only own zooms!
And oh yes: it is backwards compatible to cameras like the MZ-range!
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: July, 2007 Location: North West UK Posts: 390
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 30, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $240.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Image quality. Lightness, build, focal length. | | Cons: | no af clutch, not as fast as rivals, Plastic bayonet? no included hood. | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-5 K20D K10D K-1 K-3
| |
Lets start by saying this lens is excellent. A perfect blend of lightness and size. Perfect for street and walkaround photography.
Now the niggles, to which they are minor.
Bayonet is only plastic to keep the price down. However, this is a niggle as the lens is so light, you are not likely to break it during use (unless you are VERY heavy handed)
It has no AF clutch for manual focusing, but if you AF all the time, this is not an issue.
No hood. However get yourself a cheap rubber hood and you will be fine (it will also act as a protector too)
But biggest bugbear of them all. Both Nikon and Sony produce F1.8 versions of a 35mm lens for the same price! So we are talking another 1/2 or so stop over this lens in speed. At least Canons own F1.8 is another 30% in price.....
However it does have major plus points.
The IQ is excellent, really it is, and for such a small cheap lens.
That lightness is a big plus point, and on the K-5 you really have a budget Leica M9 with nearly the same IQ, for a fraction of the price. And discreet too.
Honestly you would not get the same performance in such a small camera/lens combo with the others......
Its bokeh is excellent in certain circumstances. good in others.
Sum Up.
A cracking little lens with no excuses when it comes to IQ. Really it is equal to 35mm lenses many more times in price.
Edit June 2016.
Just a short addendum. This lens works beautifully on the Full Frame K-1. Fantastic colours, sharpness rendition and bokeh. Makes me wonder if I still want the 31mm Limited (Answer yes but a want rather a need. This lens is classic Pentax, so fantastic!)
Thoroughly recommend.
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: June, 2010 Location: Fremont, CA Posts: 36
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 14, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $190.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | IQ, small size | | Cons: | none | |
I have only had the lens for a few days but based on the pics I have taken so far, I am very pleased with it. IQ is excellent. Seems just a tad soft at f/2.4 but is very sharp at f/3.2 and beyond. This is a light weight lens and the 35mm focal length provides an ideal FOV for many situations.
While the body is plastic, it looks reasonably well made. The only possible downside to the lens, in my opinion, is the plastic mount. Only time will tell how durable the plastic mount is.
Overall, this lens is excellent. For the price (bought new for $ 190 from a Canadian retailer on e-bay), I think this is good value for money.
| | | | | Inactive Account Registered: October, 2010 Location: Fairfax, VA Posts: 29
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 16, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $218.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | IQ, light-weighted, perfect companion to my K-x! | | Cons: | plastic mount? | |
The reason I bought this lens is for indoor kid's party.
I went to a kid's party about two weeks ago, I took my K-x with 18-55mm kit lens. Most of the time, the light condition is good for a decent shot, but kids jumped around, and moved fast! Those pictures are obviously blurred. I have a M 50mm f1.7, but it's useless in this situation, MF cannot be fast enough to capture those action, also the FOV is too narrow for indoors. Based on those good reviews, I bought this lens last week. I've made some photos, the more I use it, the more I like it! IQ seems better than 18-55mm kit lens, AF is very fast. This lens might become the one on my K-x most of the time, especially for indoors. For outdoors, of course, I still prefer my DA 55-300mm ED.
I don't quite care about the plastic mount. By the time it breaks, there maybe some other better budget lens come out. 
K-x, 35mm, F2.4, ISO-1600, 1/25
K-x, 35mm, F2.4, ISO-800, 1/60
 | | | | | Junior Member Registered: October, 2010 Location: Dundas, Ontario Posts: 28
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 19, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $190.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Very sharp, excellent contrast, Pentax colour, affordable, etc... | | Cons: | None that I can think of - okay, quick shift focus I miss | |
I rate this excellent because of the value it presents. This lens is sharp corner to corner wide open. Contrast and colours are super good - very nice rendering wide open. Distortions are not noticeable under day to day use. The auto focus is very fast and accurate, as good or better than the DA 40 Limited. Overall this lens is very good and I have nothing bad to write. Build quality is decent for the price, lens feels very solid and well constructed.  | | | | | Junior Member Registered: December, 2010 Posts: 30 | | Review Date: March 3, 2011 | Recommended
| Rating: N/A |
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Next month I'm buying either this lens or the DA 40mm 2.8 Limited, and I'd like to hear from people who's used both of them. Wich one you think I should buy?
I like the focal lenght of this one, but from what I've read the 40mm seems to be sharper.
I don't know if this is important, but I shoot digital with a K100D, and I'm upgrading to a K7.
On a related note, I've always shot film with a K1000, but I'll have to change thad body too, since neither of the two lenses have an aperture ring, any advise?
I'm also posting this on the DA 40 2.8 Limited review.
Thank you all for the help!
Regards,
Viernes
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: March, 2009 Location: Shanghai Posts: 1,509
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 15, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $230.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | optically awesome, lightweight | | Cons: | mechanically less great, no lens hood | |
My girlfriend has this lens and as such I use it from time to time and have seen plenty of photos taken by this lens. Bottomline - if you're looking for a prime and you're on a budget, this is the one to buy.
I'll start with the not so great things about this lens. Which is pretty much everything mechanically. There's no lens hood, no quick-shift, no metal and no distance scale, all of which is a pity. The front element sticks out rather weirdly from the body of the lens, and with the omission of a lens hood this always looks rather scary to me. However, this lens does cost a lot less than it's limited sisters, and in light of that I would say these omissions are not too much of an issue. Though a lens hood would definitely be a requirement for me, there are 3rd party hoods available to alleviate this problem.
Now, optics. This lens takes awesome photos. f2.4 might sound slow but the DoF you can create is still plenty thin (someone suggested this lens is actually faster, the cover-up could be a move by Pentax to not threathen the sales of their more expensive prime lenses). The bokeh is smooth and the lens is sharp at every aperture. There's not much in the way of any abberations.
As long as you're not too upset by the plastic housing this lens comes in, this is a great little lens. Light, too.
| | | | | New Member Registered: March, 2011 Location: Tuktoyaktuk, NWT Posts: 6
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 25, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $200.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Light weight, impressive image quality for the price | | Cons: | plastic lens mount, no distance scale, no quick shift focus | |
I bought this for my wife for Christmas so I could get my FA 35mm f2 AL back. If it weren't for all of the plastic I would have kept it. I see no discernible difference in IQ between the two lenses and the FA occasionally balked at infinity focus on her K100D Super but this little DA-L gem works flawlessly, and gives her the results she wants. We both used it with the FGZ 540 flash (bounced from the ceiling, straight up) at family gatherings and got some amazing images, and it is fast enough for lots of flash free low light shots.
This lens is as good as the FA for only about half the price, and the only other option is the DA limited 35mm f2.8 macro for even more. A bargain like this is not to be passed up if you want near ultimate image quality for nearly nothing in price.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: May, 2011 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 366
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 4, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $170.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Compact, fast focus, and a bang for your buck | | Cons: | Compared to the price, you really can't say this lens has a con | |
This is not the best lens in the world.
There are faster, sharper lenses that are built with higher quality materials.
But when you compare the cost and the result, you really can't go wrong with this one IF you are looking into a 35mm prime and don't want to spend more than $200.
The following is an example of its auto-focus on f/2.4 with bad indoor lighting. (was taken at 4:30pm and at the time of the photo, sun sets at 6pm, only source of light was one window, no lights were lit inside the house)
 | | | | | Inactive Account Registered: September, 2008 Location: Nanaimo, BC Posts: 261
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 8, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $50.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Tack sharp, super quick to focus, bright. | | Cons: | All plastic construction. | |
This lens is Pentax's answer to Nikon bringing out the AF-S 35 F1.8 DX, I'm sure. But that being said, it's not a stock copy of the Nikon. Noticeably absent is built-in AF (which is a debatable plus, as it's quieter, but not faster, than Pentax's application), and a metal lens mount, though I'm sure the plastic will stand up to amateur use. Let's not mix the fish in the kettle; this lens is squarely aimed at those who would buy a K-r, K-x, K-m, etc. If you own a K5 or K7, you won't be disappointed at all with the lens, but the above sacrifices were no doubt made for cost reasons. Thus, what you get is the digital era's equivalent of Pentax's once standard kit lens, the 50/2. Cheap, cheerful, and effective.
I really don't think you can hold any of these complaints against the lens for the price point. I bought mine used, because I'm a lucky bugger, so I really can't complain, but even if you bought it in the shops, the complaints above are hardly enough to give you second thoughts. Keep in mind the Nikon to which I compared it to at the beginning of the article is just shy of $300, $100 more than the Pentax. Also, built in AF is more of a necessity than a luxury on Nikon's glass, because many of their cameras lack screw-drive couplings for the AF. And finally, a point in favor of any Pentax, you get image stabilization with this lens because Pentax insists on a body-based SR system. Compare that with the Nikon, which again at $100 more, makes you do without stabilization
But enough about Nikon. This lens blows it out of the water when it comes to what counts. I would know, having owned both (I spent some time in 2009 with a D60 my wife bought, and felt the need for a 50mm equivalent lens, so I bought it, but sold it along with the camera last year). Per-pixel sharpness on my K-r is beautifully crisp, with sharp details still present in 5x crops, shooting in DNG RAW (so no cheating with the camera's sharpening engine, either). Colours are smooth and natural, and the bokeh is not distracting.
Sure, I would have liked a metal mount, or maybe the WR treatment being given to Pentax's other budget/kit offerings in this price range, but beggars can't be choosers. This is a fantastic lens for any digital Pentax user.
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