| Author: | | Site Supporter Registered: October, 2008 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 8,090
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 5, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $1,250.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp, fast and great handling. | | Cons: | A bit overrated, cheaper lenses are just as good optically. | | New or Used: New
Camera Used: Pentax film bodies (K1000, KM, KX, K2, K2DMD, ME, MX, LX, Super A/Program, P50)
| |
The FA31/1.8 was released in 2001 and is still in production today. Pentax produced a similar focal length K30/2.8 from 1975 to 1984, so you could consider the FA31/1.8 a refresh of that older manual focus lens. The FA31/1.8 is also the third and last of the FA Limited’s lenses to be released.
Optics:
Excellent, which should be no surprise considering the cost of the FA31/1.8 and the optical “extras” added to the lens. (Aspherical element, high-reflection low dispersion element, anomalous dispersion element & a floating lens system)
Focal Length:
I find the 30-31mm focal length on FF is not quite wide enough when I’m choosing a single wide-angle for a three prime lens travelling kit and usually go for something wider, like a 20-28mm lens. I find the 30-31mm focal lengths work better as a second wide in a larger kit along with a 20mm lens or as a one lens option on a day trip.
On an APS-C camera you have the perfect “normal/standard” focal length, so I can see why the FA31/1.8 has been so popular on digital over the last decade.
Build:
The build of the FA31/1.8 is good for a FA Series lens, but is not as solidly built as any Takumar/K/M Series lens I own.
Usage/Handling:
The FA31/1.8 is a nicely sized well balanced lens that is easy to handle and the best out of the three FA Limited’s. I have no issues manually focusing the FA31/1.8 or using the aperture ring. The distance scale is the “compressed” style, but you get used to it. Overall not bad for an Auto Focus lens.
The FA31/1.8 has a built-in “tulip style” lens hood and accepts 58mm filters, which screw-on inside the ridged hood. The lens cap is a push/slip-on like the rest of the FA Limited’s and is also prone to falling off. I’ll substitute it with an older Takumar 58mm lens cap when I’m travelling, so the OEM cap doesn’t get lost. The FA31/1.8 originally came with a red soft lens case marked “PENTAX 31/1:1.8”, which was later replaced with a black one.
Speed:
F1.8 is very fast for a wide-angle lens and it makes the FA31/1.8 the fastest wide angle lens ever made by Pentax. (Excluding the prototype M35/1.4)
The FA31/1.8 vs my favourite 28-30mm wide primes:
I also own the K30/2.8 and several 28mm lenses, my favourite being the K28/2. All three lenses have excellent middle aperture sharpness and I don’t really see any difference between the three. The K28/2 is the best wide open and the FA31/1.8 the worst, though I’m unlikely to ever use any of these three lenses wide open. (Note it’s hard to evaluate/compare these three lenses wide open as each lens has a different maximum aperture & focal length.)
Build/handling wise the two “K” Series lenses are better and the K28/2 has the best minimum focusing distance. The FA31 wins the speed race, but is the least wide of the three.
The K28/2 however has a “3D” effect that I just don’t get with the other two lenses, so that’s by far my favourite wide angle lens overall. There is something about the legendary Pentax/Carl Zeiss designed K28/2 that is magical, the FA31/1.8 & K30/2.8 are excellent but not in the same league.
I rated the K28/2 a perfect 10 and the K30/2.8 a 9.5, the FA31/1.8 also gets a 9.5.
Summary:
The FA31/1.8 is an excellent wide angle lens, however there are much cheaper manual focus options that are just as good or better overall.
Price:
I bought my FA31/1.8 from an online camera store and paid $1199.00 Euros. It was in LN condition, boxed with all the original paper work. It’s a silver low serial number MIJ, with a red soft pouch.
Sample shots taken with the FA31/1.8. Photos are medium resolution scans from original negatives. Both shots were taken in Vancouver.
Camera: P50 Film: Kodak Portra 400 ISO: 400
Camera: Super A Film: Kono Kolorit 125T ISO: 100
***Note this is old expired Kodak Tungsten movie stock film, so yes it's grainy***
 | | | | | | | New Member Registered: May, 2015 Location: Setúbal (near Lisbon) Posts: 5
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 23, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $796.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | all | | Cons: | none | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: Pentax K20D
| |
My best lens and maybe one of the best lenses ever made. Pentax should make a full frame camera for this lens.
 | | | | | Junior Member Registered: June, 2010 Posts: 47
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 4, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $750.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Bokeh, Sharpness | | Cons: | Price | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-5 iis
| |
I will make this one short. Do not expect sharpness across the frame at wide apertures. I am cracking up with some of the reviews that list that as a downside. If it was sharp across the frame at 1.9 we could pretty much throw away the ‘bokeh’ category… because it wouldn’t have any. That is one of the main benefits to using a wide aperture. Also folks, aperture has a relation to focal distance. Don’t expect a sharp image if you are shooting a landscape at infinity at f/2.
I would say the strongest point of this lens is the bokeh. One of the smoothest around. Produces excellent ‘portraits.’
The sharpness is the second strong point. The slice of focus at the wider apertures is very sharp.. but granted, it is just a small slice at the wide end, as it should be.
A little bigger than most primes of this focal length but it is a good universal size and weight for most cameras.
That is my short review as many others have said the rest. Love this lens! | | | | | Inactive Account Registered: August, 2008 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 7,484
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 15, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $595.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Color, Bokeh, Sharp | | Cons: | Current price | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
| |
It is rare that I will give a lens a solid 10 but there is no 9.5 so 10 it is. I've owned this lens since the summer of 2008 when I still had my original K10d. That camera tended to mis-focus, even with this lens but I remained confident it was the camera and not the lens so I kept it. This remains one of my favorite photos I've ever taken with this lens.
It was taken with that K10d at f5.6. I don't know exactly what it is about this photo that I like so much. Perhaps it's the 3D pop off of my screen, both computer and HDTV large screen.
I have used this lens on all 4 of the Pentax flag ship cameras and on each, it has met or exceeded my expectations. On all of the cameras I did not note any delay to auto focus. I will say that on both the K10 and K20 cameras, sharp photos at f1.8 were somewhat difficult to achieve. I don't know if it was because the cameras were front or back focusing (which I actually suspect with the K10d). I think it was more due to the huge wide open aperture of the lens. This can be easily verified by taking the lens off of the A setting and going full manual by rotating the aperture ring. It just isn't something I've done but if you suspect you have a bad copy, I would suggest trying that before returning it. That is, if there Is such a thing as a bad FA31. On the K7 however, things did clean up a little but at f1.8 but still not up to snuff for a (now) $1100 lens. After Pentax released corrective software for the FA limiteds, it did clean up quite nicely.
After installing that software, I took my 3 FA Limited lenses down to the Fort Street Bridge for a test run. I'll discuss these more in another review but here are a couple from that shoot. Go ahead and click the photos to pixel peep.
More Here...
FortStreetBridge - a set on Flickr
I should note here that the problems were with AF only. I could get sharp photos at f1.8 with Manual focus so I know it was not the lens. On the K5, simply divine.
Taken at f1.8 at about 9 feet..
We are focusing on the bounce box on top of the washing machine. Here is a 200% crop of that same area (same photo).
I know 200% doesn't do much to show off the lens, especially a photo of a cardboard box but, the fact that at 200% crop, 9 feet away, at f1.8 and I can still read the numbers on the UPC, pretty impressive to me.
I've spared you from looking at my dog in this review but you won't get away without some train photos.
.jpg)
More here, including some photos for you brick wall pixel peepers.
Index of /Photos/HelpandStuff/31mmReview
There is also a link in there where I took some of the same photos with my DA35mm f2.8 1:1 Limited for those of you who wish to compare the two.
In conclusion (somewhat), this lens makes a great focal length for an all around lens. It is also fast enough to capture those intimate moments once you've gone past the fighting about the price. If you can spare the change and this lens is on your radar, by all means, let me be one of the many telling you how to spend your money. Pay as much or as little as you like for it but either way, it's worth every penny.
More photos here (and it's ever growing). All Exifs are in tact.
Pentax FA 31mm Limited - a set on Flickr
Thank you for your time.
 | | | | | | | New Member Registered: May, 2018 Location: Denver CO Posts: 1
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 14, 2020 | Recommended | 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
| |
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.
 | | | | | Junior Member Registered: August, 2019 Posts: 25
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 16, 2020 | Recommended
| Rating: N/A |
| Pros: | | | Cons: | | | New or Used: New
| |
K10D
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
 | | | | | Senior Member Registered: January, 2013 Location: San Luis Obispo Posts: 146
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: October 5, 2018 | Recommended
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-1
| |
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
| | Review Date: June 16, 2018 | Recommended | 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
| |
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
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: April, 2015 Location: USA Posts: 2,874
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 13, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $475.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Great color and bokeh, built like a tank | | Cons: | Not super sharp wide open | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K3ii
| |
I recently purchased a used 31mm lens. Boy was it beat up, it was really "ugly". I've shot it extensively for about one month now and found that it works like a new lens, and it still makes wonderful images. Auto-focus is dead on although of course not the fastest. This lens is built like a tank, and will just keep on working - period! Now that's quality!
The colors it produces are exceptional as is the bokeh.
Could be better at f/1.8 and f/2, but hey, no lens is perfect - though this one is very close.
I spent a day comparing this lens to my Zeiss ZK 35mm f/2 lens. Overall, I just liked the IQ of this Pentax 31mm lens a bit better, so I've put my Zeiss 35mm lens up for sale.
I also compared this lens to my Sigma Art 18 - 35mm f/1.8 lens. At 31mm, the Sigma is a bit sharper at all apertures than is the Pentax 31mm lens. Also, at f/1.8 and f/2, the Sigma Art images are overall better than the Pentax 31mm. However, the Pentax 31mm lens has this terrific rendering that's just hard to describe. So, I'm keeping both lenses. Will use the Sigma where precision is needed, and will use the Pentax where I am going for an "artistic" rendering.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: May, 2011 Location: Hanoi Posts: 213
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 27, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $900.00
| Rating: N/A |
| Pros: | metal build, silver edition | | Cons: | nil | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: Pentax K3
| |
The legend!
 TIMES yoga, on Flickr
 TIMES yoga, on Flickr
 TIMES yoga, on Flickr
| | | | | New Member Registered: December, 2012 Location: Moscow Posts: 13
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 2, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $900.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Build quality, IQ, size, bokeh | | Cons: | PF, price, wish it would be /f1.4 | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 8
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-30
| |
Unique prime with fantastic bokeh and wonderful colours. If only it could be /f1.4 - should be splendid!
My other shots by this lens | | | | | Forum Member Registered: November, 2012 Posts: 66
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 18, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $1,300.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp at f1.8, crazy shap at f5.6, nice feel, | | Cons: | Expensive, no quick shift | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K5
| |
Construction: + very nice (metal feel, smooth operating focus ring) - the front part extends when focusing and is not all tight leaving a little "wobbling" (I suppose there is an engineering reason for that). A big plus is the presence of the aperture ring that will allow me to use it on a film camera.
Sharpness: this lens is sufficiently sharp wide open even in the corners. It gets sharper when closed down. At f1.8, I find the FA 31 sharper than the new Sigma 35 f1.4 that I own and that I consider very sharp.
CA: less than my FA 77, DA 50 f1.8, a very little more than the DA 40. OK for Pentax lenses.
Auto-focus: fine and fast enough for what I want to use it for.
Bokeh: superb
Colors out of my K5 with the FA 31 are great. It is expensive, but I believe that it is worth it.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: November, 2006 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 419
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: October 24, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $850.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Wonderful rendering, great contrast, nice bokeh | | Cons: | a little CA and no quick shift manual focus, hardly worth mentioning | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-5 IIs, K-01, K-7
| |
There isn't much that I can say about this lens that hasn't already been said.
If you're looking for a "standard" prime on a Pentax DSLR with APS-C image sensor then there is no better lens than the FA 31mm F1.8 Limited.
The bokeh from this lens is nice and smooth even when you stop down a little for some extra DOF. The way this lens renders details and specular highlights is nothing short of exceptional. The build quality is typical "Limited" excellence.
You can find some aberrations in some but it's so minimal that it's largely a non-issue. Len flare when you're shooting toward the sun can be annoying but if you add the long end of a Panasonic FZ18 adapter tube to the lens (as mentioned several times in the forums here) the modified "hood" solves the worst of the flare issues.
Some DSLR users might find the lack of quick shift manual focus to be annoying but I've found the AF quick and reliable on my K-5 IIs and K-01 bodies and if I ever need manual focus I'll flip the switch on the body.
HIGHLY recommended.
 | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: September, 2012 Location: Gloucester Posts: 1,199
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: October 24, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $1,350.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharpness; Rendition; Build Quality; Bokeh | | Cons: | Built-in lens hood makes step up rings unusable | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-5
| |
What can I say that others haven't said before? I never cease to be amazed by this jewel of a lens.
Update: I have now had a chance to use this lens on the full-frame K-1, a purpose for which it was surely designed. I must say, that I am blown away by the amount of detail the camera/lens combination can capture, something to which the reduced image uploaded can never do justice. The lens is insanely sharp at f5.6, and the rendition and micro-contrast are simply awesome.
 | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: February, 2007 Location: Phoenix Posts: 1,056
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 31, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $850.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharpness, color rendering, bokeh, construction | | Cons: | Silly lens hood and cap | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 8
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K100D, K20D, K-x, MX, K2
| |
An updated review after a few years...
This lens is nearly perfect in every way. The "personality" of the images it captures are unlike any other lens I have used. It is equally brilliant as a normal prime on APS-C and a wide angle on 35mm. In the hand it feels like an extension of one's mind...it really is that good.
I've had this lens for maybe 5 years now, so I have come to learn some of its...idiosyncrasies. The biggest drawbacks I have found have nothing to do with the images, however. The first is the silly lens hood, which is so small it seems to only be good for use at noon in the tropics. This lens is so flare-resistant a hood is unnecessary, but it would be nice to have the option of using a "real" hood if need be. I use a few old flare-prone color filters with B&W film that could really use a good hood in certain shooting conditions. The second issue is with the lens cap. It is a beautiful piece of machined aluminum to be sure, but the felt has a tendency to gather dust and grit, which has resulted in a good deal of brassing along the front edge of the lens hood. A minor point, and I personally like the look of a well-loved lens, but something to be aware of.
| | |
;)
;)
;)
