| Author: | | Senior Member Registered: August, 2016 Location: Cape Town Posts: 244 | | Lens Review Date: April 27, 2021 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $1,000.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Solid build, sharpness, colour | | Cons: | None | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 8
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K1
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This lens is everything I would have expected from its legendary reputation. For me, 31 mm is the perfect focal length for general wide angle landscapes.
| | | | | | | amateur dirt farmer Registered: December, 2014 Location: probably out in a field somewhere... Posts: 32,447
1 user found this helpful
| | Lens Review Date: April 3, 2021 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $450.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | clarity, bokeh, color rendition, sharpness, build quality | | Cons: | occasional CA | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-3
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I spent the month of March '21 with an FA 31 Limited:
an epic lens - much more so than my experience with the FA 43 Ltd...
the FA 31 Limited is all the things you'd want in a lens: sharp, colorful, great bokeh... what more could you want?
this is the lens that all 28mm lenses aspire to be (can you tell I'm not a 28mm fan?)...
some of my favorites from this lens so far:
 sunrise, with fog by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
 pop stand... by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
 eggs by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
 the Toblerone series by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
 in a puddle by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
the rest of my flickr album:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pepperberryfarm/albums/72157718420154148/page1
overall - just an epic lens; if you can find one in decent nick for an agreeable price, buy it....
| | | | | New Member Registered: May, 2018 Location: Denver CO Posts: 1
2 users found this helpful
| | Lens Review Date: December 14, 2020 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $792.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharpness, color rendition, handling, construction | | Cons: | cost | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: k70
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Sharp corner to corner with the crop sensor. Really lovely color rendition and sharpness. Did require a focus adjust to get the most out of it.
 | | | | | New Member Registered: June, 2015 Posts: 9 | | | | | | | New Member Registered: November, 2018 Location: Tokyo Posts: 10 | | Lens Review Date: June 13, 2020 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $510.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | f1.8, color rendering | | Cons: | heavy for a APSC, purple fringin, AF | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 8
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: KP
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If you only care about image quality then this is the go to lens. But for the price I think I expect more. The AF and purple fringing shows its age.
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: August, 2019 Posts: 25
1 user found this helpful
| | Lens Review Date: April 16, 2020 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: N/A
| Rating: N/A |
| Pros: | | | Cons: | | | New or Used: New
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K10D
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 | | | | | Pentaxian Registered: September, 2017 Location: Medellín Posts: 1,313 | | Lens Review Date: January 10, 2020 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $550.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Wide and nine-bladed aperture, rendering. | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-5, Film bodies
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Got it through the forum as a normal for my K-5 and stays on most of the time. Really amazing optic. Size comes with the large aperture. It just makes me want to get the other two!
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: December, 2014 Location: Colorado Posts: 497 | | Lens Review Date: August 2, 2019 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $600.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp, compact, nicely built | | Cons: | Cap (too much friction to take it off) | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K1
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Acquired this lens about two weeks ago. I do not have much more to add to the already excellent reviews here.
The characteristics of the lens is that at large apertures (to about f5.6) it is sharp in the center but less along the edges and in the corners. This is not saying that edges and corners are not good. It is just that they are noticeably not as good as the center. At large apertures edges and corners of K28/3.5 are actually a bit better. Close down to f8 this lens becomes corner-to-corner sharp. No matter what you do with the lens, wide-open closeups or close-down sceneries, you will not be disappointed.
I really like this lens. I consider this lens far superior to all 28mm lenses that I have used including the already excellent Vivitar 28/1.9 and K28/3.5.
NOTE: On APS-C it is probably corner-to-corner sharp at all apertures except the largest ones.
| | | | | Loyal Site Supporter Registered: December, 2009 Location: Christchurch, New Zealand Posts: 2,407
6 users found this helpful
| | Lens Review Date: April 26, 2019 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $530.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Relatively small, lovely OOF rendering, great colours, great sharpness, wonderful build | | Cons: | Nothing significant | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 8
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-1
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Overall I love this lens. It has some very nice qualities to it that make it a real pleasure to use. I was lucky to get a used one that is in near mint condition and pretty reasonably priced.
Prior to getting this lens my go to wide was the FA 35 f2, which is a great compact lens. Compared to the FA31:- FA31 has a much nicer build than the FA35
- My FA31 copy is slightly sharper than my FA35 (especially across the frame)
- FA31 bokeh is significantly improved over the FA35 in the focus transition zones
- Obviously the FA31 is little bit faster than the FA35 but still totally usable wide open
- FA31 is quite noticeably wider the FA35 (no surprise there and may be a plus or minus for you)
- Both have quite attractive flare stars when stopped down a bit (although FA31 is busier with more points to the star)
- FA35 is smaller and lighter
- FA35 is lot cheaper than the FA31
I also have a FA28 but I find the FA31 is near enough to that focal length for my use and so I have not had much need for 28mm. In fact for my use I find 31mm a nice compromise between 28mm and 35mm and so carry one less lens (your use may differ).
In summary if you have the budget for the FA31 (or lucky to get a deal on one), then go for it, otherwise the FA35 is fantastic value (and I'm having trouble letting mine go!).
Samples:
Wide Open:
At f8:
Stars at f13:
 | | | | | Junior Member Registered: December, 2018 Location: Vancouver Canada Posts: 30
5 users found this helpful
| | Lens Review Date: February 23, 2019 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: N/A
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Great for low light | | Cons: | Terrible CA in harsh light! | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 5
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 8
Value: 6
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K1
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I was very excited to have an opportunity to borrow a AIV 31mm from a colleague at work for several weeks. I own a FA 35 f2, the FA Limited 77, and the DA HD 20-40 Limited (APS-C) as well.
This review is a comparison of the 31, 35, and 20-40 lenses on the K1.
Image quality
The 31mm is very very good in low-to-soft light, and the bokeh is in a completely different class from the FA 35mm than I would have imagined. Exposure metering is better on the 31mm too. Low light, shallow DOF appear to be the strengths of this lens, and it makes for a good portrait lens.
Sharpness of the 31mm and 35mm were equal. I could not detect a difference.
In harsh light, the 31mm showed massive purple fringing in high contrast areas; as bad as the FA 35. Given the reputation of this lens, I am really disappointed.
Another surprise: the DA limited 20-40 [zoomed to 31mm f3.5] on the K1 was nearly as sharp as the FA 31mm at 3.5! The FA 31 has much less vignetting of course; but what surprised me was how usable images with 20-40 are on full-frame.
Handling
The 31mm is solid and enjoyable to use; and on a APS-C body nicely balanced. The K1 however is already heavier than I would like, and I prefer the lighter plastic weight of the FA 35. T he 31mm made it impossible for me to shoot the K1 a single-hand.
Value
The 31mm is a great lens, but is it worth the significant cost over the FA 35? For me, it would have to be significantly better than the FA 35 and even the DA 20-40 (which I am now using with the k1). With serious CA in harsh lighting, I hesistate to use this lens outdoors on a bright day. Perhaps a future 31mm with HD coatings will appear, and then the value equation will improve.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: January, 2013 Location: San Luis Obispo Posts: 146
2 users found this helpful
| | Lens Review Date: October 5, 2018 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: N/A
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-1
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Best Lens of All Time (That you can easily afford).
This is my main walk around lens, 31mm is excellent for travel photography. This lens is also small and light to handle.
Snappy AF on K-1, Below F2.2 it is ultra sharp. Unmatched color and unmatched bokeh. Sigma 35mm/1.4 fails on the latter 2 points, it is only sharp, but in today's world, sharp is cheap.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: December, 2013 Posts: 796
2 users found this helpful
| | Lens Review Date: June 16, 2018 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $900.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Small, light, fast, sharp | | Cons: | Not 49mm filter thread like the 43 and 77, not WR, inbuilt hood | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 7
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: KP, K-30, PZ-1p
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The image quality of this lens is perfect. A little prone to flare and makes a little PF, but easy to ceoorect these by a little recompose or in post production. This is my third most used lens after the DA*16-50 and DA*55. In the pentax system only the Sigma 35 F1.4 Art is near in focel lengt and image quality, but that lens is much bigger.
The lens has an inbuilt hood which prevents using step up rings or simple filter systems. The other two FA limiteds has 49mm filter thread so I can share filters among that, but the FA31 needs bigger filters.
Here are some examples:
 IMG180422_0022 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
 IMG180428_0352 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
 IMG180428_0349 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
 IMG180505_0058 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
This one is a cross eye 3D image:
 IMG180505_0061 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
| | | | | New Member Registered: June, 2017 Posts: 2
5 users found this helpful
| | Lens Review Date: November 4, 2017 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $750.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: KP
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As a long-time Pentax user I got little annoyed by the acclaimed "legendary" status of this lens, and felt no urge to fill the gap between my two most used leses, DA21 and FA43. Both lenses show their quality even better with the brilliant new KP sensor. But curiosity prevailed when I saw a mint silver made-in-Japan FA31 for sale. For a Limited lens it is bigger and heavier than what I was used to. But after the first day of shooting in the streets of Amsterdam, I was "sold" completely. It has exactly the same thing that makes Leica lenses (I used an M9 for some time) so special ! Numerous people have tried to explain what that is. It's price may be an issue, but look at the "mirrorless" world today, where top grade primes are mostly priced well over 1K, and have sizes that dwarf the camera body. This piece of heavy metal balances very nicely on the little KP (also aesthetically)
| | | | | New Member Registered: June, 2015 Posts: 17
3 users found this helpful
| | Lens Review Date: October 16, 2017 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $600.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Size, build, design, sharpness, bokeh. | | Cons: | A bit soft wide open, but so what. | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-5iis
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I love this lens! It is a masterpiece of design and one of the lenses that drew me to the Pentax system in the first place. I thought besides Leica, no one makes lenses that cool. It is quite small and built so solidly that it inspires a sense of confidence while using it, as well as a feeling of durability, and like all great products, just feels good to hold.
It performs amazingly, but from f2.8 to f5.6 on APSC it is really special. Razor sharp with stunning bokeh, and a smoothness to the render that is very appealing. I cannot recommend it enough  .   | | | | | Junior Member Registered: January, 2013 Location: Texas Posts: 32
1 user found this helpful
| | Lens Review Date: June 13, 2017 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $775.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | I.Q. at f/2.8, Mechanical marvel | | Cons: | I.Q. at f/1.8, No quick shift | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 8
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: Pentax K70
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On the negative side, the price, the lack of quick shift, and an unacceptable Image Quality at full aperture: the entire field is veiled.
Also, it is a little bit heavy.
But the I.Q. is stunning, and I mean stunning, at f/2.8 and above! Better on the edges than a Leica R 28/2.8 or a Nikon 28/2.8 AIs, and similar at the center!
Compared to the rare Pentax 28/2.0 A, this 31/1.8 is inferior at full aperture, but better at f/2.8 and above.
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