| Author: | | Veteran Member Registered: July, 2007 Location: North West UK Posts: 390
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 18, 2017 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Image Quality, Small and lightweight, build | | Cons: | Slight CA, no aperture ring and focus limiter | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-1
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This is a must have lens for Macro on Pentax, as overall it is excellent.
The sharpness is superb as is the overall image quality.
It is small, well built, and quite light.
Only downsides are a little CA in extremis, which can be cleared up in post, the lack of a focus limiter and an aperture ring, meaning some film bodies struggle to be used with it (MZ-5n a case in point), But then again certain film bodies that can control the aperture in-body can happily use it.
So far I have only used it on the K-1, and it is a great partnership. Now to use it on film and the K-3
Really recommend.
| | | | | | | Junior Member Registered: January, 2013 Location: Texas Posts: 32
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 28, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $550.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Image Quality, Built quality | | Cons: | No aperture ring | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: Pentax K30, K70
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This lens is wonderful. Compared to the older D-DA 'non-WR', the built quality is in a totally different league.
Higher quality plastic, optical elements in metal barrel, tight focusing ring, weatherproof.
For a reason I don't know, the sharpness is very, very good but slightly inferior to the older version. Probably due to manufacturing variability.
It is Very Good at full aperture, but only 'Good' in the corners. Excellent-Very Good at f/4.0, Excellent everywhere above.
Nice to use thanks to its light weight, 1:1 magnification capability and Quickshift.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: June, 2007 Location: SE Idaho - Rocky Mtns Posts: 580
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 4, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $399.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Resolution Focal Length Macro | | Cons: | Focusing Motor | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 7
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: Pentax K-3 II
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Love this lens! For portrait work I can generally lock the focus and shoot at F/5.6 or F/8.0 from about 8' for a head shot.
Edit: Works well at 1:1 macro too. Acrylic yarn
 | | | | | New Member Registered: December, 2015 Location: KAWASAKI Posts: 2 | | Review Date: February 7, 2017 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | excellent sharpness, build quality, look cool | | Cons: | auto focus so slowly, but exactly | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 6
Handling: 9
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-1
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It is really an excellent lens.
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 | | | | | | | Senior Member Registered: July, 2014 Location: Bulgaria Posts: 149
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 13, 2017 | Recommended
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 5
Handling: 10
Value: 8
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-30
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Sharp, sharp, sharp, sharp!!! It is VERY sharp! I got my D-FA 100mm WR second hand. It is an expensive lens for our standards in Bulgaria, but all the money are worth it! Everything about that lens is beyond this world! Image quality, sharpness, build quality, rigidity, handling... it deserves 10000 stars!
Well the auto-focus is... noisy and you can literally feel when the lens is focusing. Sometime it has to go from end to end to focus, but... as a macro lens it is mainly used with manual focus, which is excellent, even with big winter gloves.
I love it and i have fun shooting with it! That's all that matters in the end of the day!
Here are some shots with K-30 and D-FA 100mm WR:
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: May, 2016 Posts: 3,726
5 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 23, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $400.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | very good quality | | Cons: | sometimes expensive | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-3II
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I've had this lens for a few months. Initially I was mostly using it for macro, at which it excels (surprise!  Recently I've also shot sports and concerts with this lens. And it's pretty good at that too! It's not able to track over long movements towards/away from the camera, but I'd say it's more than usable within its limitations.
fwiw: the first lens I received had a problem, the focusing ring was not turning smoothly, and it's been exchanged promptly; this happens, no big deal.
| | | | | New Member Registered: April, 2015 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 19
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 18, 2016 | Recommended
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharpness, bokeh, build, WR, Auto focus | | Cons: | None | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-S2
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I bought this lens 12 months ago and to be honest it took me a while to learn how to use it properly. Its sharper than sharp and a joy to use. I started taking macro shots of the bees that hang around my Lavender bushes. I then started using it as a walk around lens. I can't recommend this enough and it will sit on my new K1 most of the time..
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: June, 2016 Location: Paris Posts: 124
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 30, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $650.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | size, lightweight, built | | Cons: | none | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-1
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Using this lens in 2 major situations: street portrait when WR needed, and jewelry packshots.
For portrait, love the bokeh. And sharpness. And blazing fast AF. An microcontrasts. everything  . It delivers great shots in harsh climate conditions.
For jewelry packshots, it's amazing how it handles well the reflections and abberations, while working with glass type objects, differents metals aso. Allmost no PP needed.
And it's also a great lens all sharp at infinity focus.
I consider this lens to be overall at least equal to the limiteds and FA* , and i'm happy Pentax has a super price tag for it, given the amazing handling and performance.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: February, 2011 Location: Brno Posts: 295 | | Review Date: May 11, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $540.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp, build quality, WR | | Cons: | No focus limiter, no aperture ring, bit of CA | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 6
Handling: 8
Value: 8
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: MZ-10, K20D, K5, K3
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Very good macro lens. There are some aberrations visible when aperture is wide open, but both resolution and aberrations improve when stopped down a bit to F4+. Bokeh is pleasing. Lens is usable as short telephoto portrait lens too. The best Fstop range to achieve maximum output quality is probably F5.6-F11.
Phase detect AF is acceptable, Live View AF is very slow and barely usable for hand held photos. AF accuracy similar to other camera driven lenses. Manual focusing is smooth. I'm missing some kind of focus limiter on this lens and also aperture ring would be nice to keep to retain back-compatibility with film bodies and also to enable users to mount lens on various tubes.
When you attach this lens to AF 1.7x Teleconverter which has own focusing mechanism, it transfers this lens into +/- fast focusing 170mm F5 Macro with even longer working distance.
| | | | | New Member Registered: May, 2012 Posts: 14
5 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 22, 2016 | Recommended
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | construction, sharpness, size | | Cons: | - | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 6
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-3
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What can I say, this lens is awsome. What does this lens so good?
1. Size - it will always go with you, it doesn't take much space in your bag.
2. Build quality - This is a limited lens, it doesn't read like this in the box but can't see any difference with a limited lens. The WR makes this little gem usable with any clima conditions.
3. Sharpness - Nothing to add to the reputation of the 100mm macro from Pentax, it's razor sharp
4. Bokeh - The rounded blades makes a buttery and creamy bokeh, really great. I wonder how it will render in the K-1
This is really a must have on Pentax line up, sharp, compact, well built, WR......only it's price can be a stopper for some people, but quality has a price.
Some examples so you can judge it's quality and bokeh:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cvicente1932/25654380794
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cvicente1932/14033175681
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cvicente1932/14353757634
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cvicente1932/26259143025
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cvicente1932/26259150935
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cvicente1932/21247926463 | | | | | Closed Account Registered: March, 2015 Posts: 8,694 | | Review Date: April 16, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $520.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Build quality, WR, small and light weight, image quality, sharpness | | Cons: | None for me. | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-3
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This lens is a joy to use. The images obtained with it are outstanding even at f2.8. If macro photography is your preferred choice then this lens will not disappoint. Its sharpness, color rendition and bokeh are faultless IMO. If using AF, this lens can hunt, but this can be minimized by getting close to focus manually and then letting the AF take over. The build quality is excellent. It looks, feels and performs like a professional lens. It also teams beautifully with the 1.4X rear converter. I can highly recommend it.
 | | | | | Senior Member Registered: November, 2015 Posts: 140 | | Review Date: March 14, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $650.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | sharp, general IQ, WR, build quality | | Cons: | AF sometime hunts | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: Pentax K-3
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This is one of the best lenses I have ever had. Outstanding IQ, very sharp even at f2.8 but some fringing occurs. Tack sharp between f3,5 and f8. AF hunts ocassionaly especially at close distance. Piece of art in build quality. A must have for everybody.
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: April, 2014 Location: Boston-ish Posts: 72 | | Review Date: January 28, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $359.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharpness, colors, build quality | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-3
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Crazy sharp, even wide open. Colors and contrast are wonderful. AF is a little slow, particularly at close distances, but that is to be expected for a macro lens. Build quality is simply superb. Do I wish it had an aperture ring? Yes, but if it is a choice between that or WR, I'll take the WR. This lens should be in everyone's bag.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: October, 2013 Location: "The Green Desert" Posts: 175
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 24, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $370.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp, good contrast, fast. | | Cons: | AF can hunt a little bit in low light | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K3
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My Pentax dealer here in the UK (SRS Microsystems) recently had a sale weekend so I was able to pick up a brand new 100mm for £250, I think I've got a bargain.
The lens is beautifully constructed and the images produced better than I had hoped for.
Highly recommended especially for portraits.
 | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: September, 2010 Location: Arizona Posts: 442
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 7, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $450.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | The sharpest Pentax lens available, IMHO. Great bokeh. Weather-resistant. Full Frame compatible. | | Cons: | Like almost all macro lenses, auto focus prone to "hunting." The provided lens hood makes using filters inconvenient without removal. | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 7
Handling: 10
Value: 8
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-3
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As a free-lance writer and photographer, I do a lot of product shots. From a tripod, photographing smaller inanimate objects, the SMC-DA 35mm Macro Limited has been my go-to lens for some time. It's only limiting factor is that one has to get pretty close to the subject for macro shots.
The SMC-D FA 100mm WR permits being at a bit of a distance to do macro work. This is an advantage in photographing such things as birds, insects, flowers in the wind, etc. To make this review short, I will say that hands down, this is absolutely the sharpest lens in my Pentax lineup (I have a total of 7 Pentax lenses for my K-3). In autofocus mode, the lens may take some time and hunt a bit over its wide range, which is from infinity to about 12 inches away from the subject. My solution is just to go manual, and move back and forward just a bit to get things in proper focus when in the field.
I love the bokeh the lens provides in the out-of-focus areas, and the fact that I can use it in inclement weather, since it's weather resistant. It's also full-frame compatible, so if I decide to opt for the coming Pentax full-frame camera, it will be usable for it, also.
I give the lens very high marks, and were it not for the focus hunting, I'd give it a "10" overall. But mark my words - you will have to look far and wide to find a sharper lens for macro work. Here are a few examples.
John
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/paladin
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