| Author: | | | | | Review Date: September 25, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $300.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | performing AF, light, color, sharpness | | Cons: | AF in low light conditions | |
This lens is excellent: very sharp, even wide-open, colors are very good, bright pictures.
AF is good while the light conditions are OK.
It is the lens I use most.
| | | | | | | Senior Member Registered: March, 2009 Posts: 121
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 17, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $510.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | color rendition, sharpness | | Cons: | none | |
Bought this lens as new and was warned by the salesman about the possible FF or BF on my K20D. To my joy, this didn't happen and it focuses perfectly.
Ever since I bought it, this lens rarely leaves my camera. It is very universal, makes beautiful colors and is tack sharp. It is even very good for close-ups, even though I wouldn't recommend it for face portraits, where the distortion is already visible, and where I personally switch to a 50.
All in all, this lens is a real winner for me.
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: April, 2008 Location: Facebook - See ya there. Posts: 248
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 17, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $300.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharpness, size, speed (f2), focus speed | | Cons: | Minor build quality issues, bokeh | |
If this lens is finally out of production (which it seems may be the case as of June 2009) - then Pentax's best kept secret deal lens is gone. The optics here are much better than the $300 pricetag would lead you to believe. The lens is known to be sharp and useable wide-open - which is a huge benefit as the f/2 maximum aperture of the FA35 begs 'cheap' low-light shooting with an SR equipped body. The lens is also compact - slightly longer than the FA50 but with almost identical build quality. As a solo walkaround lens, it is quite the compact package for the versatile focal length and speed. The focus speed is also good, even in low-light; the lens hurries quickly (albeit loudly) from minimum to infinity.
The build quality is plastic and for that reason the FA35 is sometimes shunned though it appears durable enough for the materials used. The mount on the lens rear is metal of course. In addition, the bokeh is not up to Limited standards - so despite the speed this lens may lack a bit of the 'magic' needed to compete with an FA31 (that is over twice the price).
Great lens that sold for a great price. It would be a real shame if it were to be gone at this point. 
Here is a gallery of my shots with the FA35 and a K100D Super: http://s214.photobucket.com/albums/cc130/AMMouse/Pentax%20K100D%20Super/Pentax%20FA35/
FA35 @ f4
FA35 @ f3.5
FA35 @f3.5
FA35 @ f2
 | | | | | Otis Memorial Pentaxian Registered: March, 2007 Location: Vancouver (USA) Posts: 42,007
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 13, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $299.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Optical performance, wide maximum aperture, price | | Cons: | None | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
| |
I have owned the FA 35/2 for a number of months and figured I would add my review to the chorus. In short, it is a great lens and a standout performer. Here is my breakdown based on my personal experience:
Optical Performance- Sharp wide open
- Outstanding sharpness stopped down
- Good contrast
- Low CA (not noticeable in any of my photos)
- Some tendency to purple fringing, but no more so than my M 50/1.7
- Pleasing bokeh for the most part (see note below)
- Neutral color rendition
- Excellent resistance to flare
- Impressive optical performance extends to FF film use as well
Build- Mostly plastic body typical of the FA series primes
- Rubberized focus ring
- High level of fit/finish
- Good quality materials
Handling- Lightweight
- Very compact, about the same size as the FA 50/1.4
- Manual focus is very smooth with adequate travel lock-to-lock for accurate focus
- Large maximum aperture makes manual focus a pleasure
- Aperture ring is smooth in operation as well
- Auto focus is the fastest of my AF lenses
- No quick-shift focus when in AF mode
- A pleasure to have on the camera
Notes on Bokeh and Character
Some of the earlier posts made much of substandard bokeh and noted that the lens lacked "character" and produced "snapshot" quality images. Here are my thoughts on the matter.
My experience has been that the 35/2 has generally pleasing and smooth bokeh and is at least as good and usually better in that regard than most other lenses of the same general focal length. That being said...with a detailed, high contrast background, the bokeh can indeed look "busy". This is typical of sharp, high contrast, wide-angle optics. One can make comparison to the FA 50/1.4, but frankly the comparison is apples and oranges. One should no more make that comparison than to compare the FA 50 with my Jupiter-9 85mm. The more appropriate comparison would be to other 28-35mm lenses.
As for lack of "character"...The 35/2 is a pretty straight-forward lens. Sorry, but no "pixie dust" here. It will reproduce pretty much what you see in the viewfinder without inserting much in the way of magic/quirks. I guess that is what you get with neutral color rendition, consistent sharpness, low flare, and good contrast. I appreciate "magic" as much as the next guy (three "magical" lenses: FA 77/1.8 limited, Jupiter-9 85/2, and Zenitar 16/2.8 share space in my bag), but I also appreciate consistent excellent behavior and am proud to proclaim that the 35/2 is almost always on my camera.
Steve
| | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: May, 2007 Location: Toronto Posts: 1,418
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 20, 2009 | Recommended
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Fast, light, sharp and the facal length just right | | Cons: | No quickshift focus | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 10
New or Used: New
| |
I don't know why are you still reading reviews, you should already out there and buying this lens. 
No PP, right out from the K10D at f2.8
(Non working link removed)
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: October, 2007 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 3,107 | | Review Date: January 21, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $240.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | clarity, sharpness, colour rendition | | Cons: | none. | |
Not much to add here, this lens is superb in every respect. I am perplexed at some of the less than positive reviews, maybe I just have a good copy? This lens needs nothing as far as I am concerned, just does it's job fantastically and without any complaints at all. Bokeh is smooth (maybe not as nice as the 50/1.4, but very nice!), corner to corner is perfect by 4.0, but very usable at 2.0. Love this lens and Highly recommended.
Oh yeah, works great on FF as well as 1.5x crop.
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: November, 2006 Location: Jakarta Posts: 667
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 16, 2009 | Not Recommended | Price: $299.00
| Rating: 5 |
| Pros: | Sharp | | Cons: | Longitudinal chromatic aberration, ugly bokeh, unpleasant pictures | |
I know this lens is very popular here but, sorry, it doesn't make it for me.
As stated by Darren M, it is certainly a sharp lens but it is also the best proof that sharpness alone isn't enough to make a nice picture. I find the bokeh way too harsh and I don't like the color rendering. The green fringes in the out of focus areas are particularly annoying and can ruin a good picture.
Cheers!
Abbazz
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: October, 2008 Location: Utah Posts: 51 | | Review Date: November 1, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $245.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp, compact, normal FOV on APS-C, excellent bokeh. | | Cons: | Not as well-built as a Limited. | |
Maybe it's not a ten, but it's better than a 9.5. If it was made of metal, it might be a ten. But if it was made of metal, I couldn't have found it so cheap. A previous review ranked this as a "4." You can basically ignore it. I've not found my photos to contain the "hard" and "soulless" quality decried in the review. Of course, I must say I find those a bit enigmatic as far as adjectives are concerned. I think the lens is fantastic. It is already sharp at f2. The bokeh, which others have also complained about, is beautiful. Of course, pick the right shot, and any lens can give cruddy bokeh. That's because the stuff in the bokeh zone was a cruddy subject. I've gotten cruddy bokeh with an FA 50 1.4 and a DA 70 2.4 L. I've also gotten excellent bokeh with both. The FA 35 renders beautiful bokeh in most images I've produced. Considering the normal FOV on a 1.5x crop factor dSLR, I would throw up if somebody stole this lens. For me, it is indispensable. I highly recommend it, and before they become too rare. They aren't being made by Pentax anymore. They are still being made by Samsung as a Schneider, though, if I'm not mistaken.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: March, 2008 Location: CT / NY Posts: 822
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 29, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $300.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | LIGHT, small, SHARP, GREAT! | | Cons: | Nothing really, maybe the plastics | |
It is my first 10 rating...
This lens is PERFECT for my use because of the following:
- It is COMPACT! Not a pancake, but nicely small and compact
- Relatively FAST!
- SHARP SHARP SHARP!
- Nice FOV! I have the 50mm 1.4 and unfortunately I dont use it that much... it is narrow...
If I had to complain about anything on this lens, it'd be the cheap LOOKS... but honestly that is what makes it sooo SPECIAL! It is a winner disguised in a cheap lens body! I stupidly avoided buying this babe because of its look but after trying it at B&H i felt in love! I wish it was sexy as the A series primes... but I am glad it is a POWERFUL underdog (believe me, in shootouts people look at the K10D with this small lens and then they see the results and they are like: WOW!!!!)
If you need a wide prime around 35mm... this is it!
PS. My lover before the FA 35mm was (maybe still is) a Vivitar 28mm that rendered GREAT colors... small size and all.. but MF and 2.8... so yeah... I have another wide prime to compare too.. and though both are great lenses.. the FA35mm is a WINNER for it's speed, AF, optics and SIZE!
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: November, 2007 Location: Bay area, CA Posts: 194 | | Review Date: July 14, 2008 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | sharp wide open. light. Inexpensive. | | Cons: | not a limited.. (but then, so what?) | |
The little gem is quickly replacing my fast 50's as being my fav. It seems to be more versatile on APS-C camera than the 50mm, allowing great head & shoulder shots at close range and great children shots (the little rug rats moved too fast to get a clean sharp shot in natural indoor light, and in-door light is 90% of my candid photo encounters). in addition, the wide-open sharpness at f2.0 is better than that of the 50mm f1.4 at f2.0... so i'm not at all shy about ripping this lens wide open for a nice shot.
The physics of shorter focal lens dictates that your 'bokeh' transition will inevitably be shorter than what can be achieved with a longer focal lens. If i want better (more gradual, 3D like) sharp-to-bokeh transition, i'd just grab my 70mm and stand back a little more.
Good: sharp wide open. Decent bokeh for the focal length.
Bad: 6 aperture blade can may an otherwise sweet stary shots to be a slight distraction.
pricing: as a cent-to-cent comparison, i think this lens should cost about the same as one of the fast fifties. and Pentax could easily 'kit' this lens as alternative to the 18-55 zoom and show the world what this little gem is capable of.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: March, 2008 Location: Trinidad W.I. Posts: 612 | | Review Date: April 3, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $219.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Fast AF, very sharp, light, | | Cons: | hard edged bokeh, front focuses on K20D | |
I got this lens to get the 50mm FOV on the K20D as I am retiring the old 50mm F1.7 in favor of my 70mm F2.4, on first using the lens it is clearly very sharp but something was just missing? The bokeh on backgrounds that had no highlights looked great but as soon as any bright objects were there it looked just wrong with hard edges or very obvious little hexagon shapes.
Add to that I seemed to constantly be off by 3-6 in in focus on every thing when wide open after 5 feet ( even tho using the lens test chart at 45 degrees it was dead on ). This was correctable with the AF adjustment for lenses in the K20D but the hard bokeh isn't.
Now considering the lens is rather cheap I know I can't compare it to something like the 31mm ltd ( 3-4x the cost ) for butter smooth bokeh and it's far better than most zooms I have used it the same focal range so it stays and it gets alot of use as well but If I had to do it again I might have gotten another lens instead. That is IF there was something else other than the 31mm that can perform as well.
So it's a good sharp lens with nothing actually bad about it ( other than it's bokeh ), it's very sharp but the images are just, well sharp. I guess I have been spoilt by the DA 70mm LTD and it's super bokeh and 3d look. It will cost alot more to get a better lens in the focal range. I can recommend it as a good lens but it's not a great lens.
| | | | | Inactive Account Registered: May, 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 42 | | Review Date: March 5, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $299.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp and smooth, great image quality. Solid build. | | Cons: | Considering my particular use, none. | |
I have recently purchased this lens and have to say that it exceeded my expectations regarding image quality. I happen to like a "normal" lens (35mm on a K10D, 50mm on a 35mm camera, 80 on a 645 and etc.) for my purposes. I generally strive for a deep DOF even if it means using a tripod. Consequently, bokeh isn't usually a major consideration in lens choice. Of course, your needs may differ.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: September, 2006 Location: Canberra, Australia Posts: 338 | | Review Date: February 25, 2008 | Not Recommended | Price: $300.00
| Rating: 2 |
| Pros: | sharp as a tack | | Cons: | Poor rendition of colour and contrast. Poor bokeh. A "hard" "soulless" look. | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 3
Bokeh: 2
Autofocus: 6
Handling: 5
Value: 4
| |
I expected this lens to be a wider FA50/1.4 in terms of image quality but I was disappointed. Although very sharp, the photographs almost looked to me as if they were taken by a point and shoot camera; no subtlety with a "hard" two dimensional flatness about them. The bokeh is marked by harsh transitions - not the creamy softness of the FA50/1.4. Although faster (and AF of course), it comperes most unfavorably with my old super-takumar 28/3.5 in image quality.
If sharpness and speed are your only criteria in this focal length then perhaps this lens would suit. I found it quite unsatisfactory for the reasons outlined above.
| | | | | | | | Review Date: September 13, 2007 | Recommended | Price: $299.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp, perfect focal length for DSLR, sharp, fast focus, sharp, great in low light, sharp, nice bokeh, and did I say sharp? | | Cons: | The plastic construction feels a little less satisfying than the nice old metal lenses. | |
This will undoubtedly be my standard lens, the right focal length and sharp. CA is not a problem and it can be used wide open with no real loss of sharpness.
Fantastic.
Ira
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: March, 2007 Posts: 2,476 | | Review Date: September 12, 2007 | Recommended
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Fast, Sharp (very good wide open too), Affordable | | Cons: | nada | |
A superb lens, very sharp even wide open and its sharpness compares to much more expensive primes. Includes a decent hood with a little opening for adjusting CPL filters, and a not too impressive lens bag, but thats two things more than what u get with the FA50. This is just a great buy, considering the cost of the lens and the 35mm focal length with 1.5x crop lands around a very usable 50mm. Overall I recommend you get this one before you get the FA50 since this is much more of an all around lens. Highly recommended.
| | |
;)
;)
;)
