| Author: | | New Member Registered: October, 2011 Posts: 9
5 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 20, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $200.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Blown away by it | | Cons: | None at all if you are happy using manual. | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: K5
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Just got this lens off of eBay for 120 UKP. My 1st impressions on my first day using it is that it just blows away all my other lenses, (and I have a lot of lovely glass from the 50's up to the present day). I didn't quite believe the reviews but saw one up for bidding so went for it anyway and won. When it arrived I took some rather pointless shots of sandwiches, some toy cars and a pile of DVDs and what not, just to see how it handled before I used it properly, and on review each and every picture is stunning. Even when I zoom in, the quality holds in a cinematic way. Not often I am lost for words. Crisp, sharp, lovely colour rendition, nice natural depth of field and contrast. Wtf? Why didn't I have this lens when I was at college in the 80s, I would be a major name by now :-D Buy one if you see one!! Hopefully this shot of lupins in my garden shows the 3D quality of this lens.
| | | | | | | Loyal Site Supporter Registered: July, 2010 Location: NW Ohio Posts: 2,091 | | Review Date: December 5, 2013 | Recommended
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Wow, just wow | | Cons: | Nada | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: KX film, PZ-1P, K-30
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I bought this lens new, way back when. I remember purchased it over a 28/F2 since it was lower price and close in terms of focal length and speed. It's been sitting around for some time, unused for some unknown reason. I recently purchased my 1st digital dslr camera, a K-30. I read the reviews on the forum and pulled out the old glass. Still learning the digital system and the conversion factor of old film lenses. As previous reviewers have stated, this lens simply shines. Sharp, great color and 3D like quality pictures. This lens will stand up against the best of the best from competitive lenses.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: March, 2010 Location: Svealand Posts: 172 | | Review Date: August 9, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $313.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp, IQ, colour rendition, compact, bokeh, well built | | Cons: | Price | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax K-5
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A lovely lens. Sharp, great colorendition.
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: December, 2012 Posts: 75
14 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 17, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | unassailable in every way | | Cons: | possibly the 52mm filter/cap size | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-o1
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First off--I want to thank the other reviewers on here. Especially the reviewer that compared this lens ot the 31mm f/1.9 ltd.. This was great for pointing me in the right direction.
As for the lens itself, lets take a look:
Sharpness: The lens has a signature sharpness to it that is unlike anything else I have seen. It is not an ugly, gritty sharpness, but a lower contrast painterly sharpness that renders details with a very cinematic feel. The detail is all there, but it distinguishes itself against the 50mm f/1.7 SMC-M as a more of a 'poet' than a 'philosopher.' I have not done any technical tests of the two side-by-side, but they are comparable in their beauty and IQ. These must be my two favorite lenses.
Aberrations: They are present. More pronounced CLA in backl-lit scenes, but more than acceptably mild in comparison to the 40mm XS f/2.8, possibly even handled better than the 50/1.7. If reasonable care is taken when composing, they are simply not much of an issue.
Bokeh: I gave a 9 on account of the low-blade count. It pulls off some pretty creamy margarine, if not true-to-life butter. I mainly use for street photography at at least f/8, so Bokeh has not been a criteria for me that is a dealbreaker. The few shots I have taken wider 5.6 - 2.8 range all show very cinematic qualities in my opinion.
Fidelity: The color rendition is true to life. Not quite as punchy as the 50/1.7 M, but in terms of rendering out the palette it does so with astonishing reliability. Not once have I seen a color that 'floated on top' of the image or was even slightly off. Others have called the lens "subtle" and that is probably a good word for it. The colors, right out of the camera, look natural, un-compensated-for, and frankly, quite beautiful. Provides a perfect DNG with plenty of lateral headroom in post.
Contrast: The contrast with this lens, I am still coming to grips with. The lens has been called 'less contrasty' than the 31mm f/1.9 Ltd., and while this may be true (I have not used the 31mm), it seems to me that more often than not, my negatives are coming out without much need for contrast adjustments. On the other hand, when I do make adjustments to darken the image (I am using Picasa, so I may revise once I can get some quality software), it seems to clip to black in the shadows quicker than one would anticipate. However, I have found that the highlights are where i have more headroom. As I said above, it definitely has its own signature. Today I wanted to test just B&W jpgs out of the camera and I have to say that nearly none of them needed any adjustments in post.
Field of view: On an APS-C digital camera, this becomes a 45mm lens. The crop-factor, rather than looking odd (like some cropped 28mm's can look), seems to enhance 3D characteristics of this lens. I find that the 45mm is nearly perfect for everything. Landscape, street, even portraits look quite good. When using focus-peaking on the K-o1, you can see the plane-of-focus move forward to backward. The plane of focus seems almost as if it may be partly to blame for the 3D quality of the lens. Unlike any other lens I have seen or used. As far as composing with this lens...perfect for composing with the entire frame when you are in a crowd of people. Allows you to capture ancillary details to your main subject for interesting juxtapositions. Seems to have the ability to focus very close-up as well. Using hyper-focals are pretty reliable. I am still learning the various regions (for instance, if I want a person, head-to-toe in sharp focus filling the entire height of the frame at f/8, I know to set focus at the first "3" in the 3.3 meter marking) for different f-stops, but so-far it preforms as it should if opening up. One last thing on field of view. My kit currently consists of: M-50/1.7; XS-40/2,8; K-30/2.8, a Tair 11-A 135/2.8 and a Pheonix 19-35. In terms of usefulness, fun, the most bang-for-the-buck in terms of being creative -- the resultant 45mm on APS-C cannot be beat. I also have a M-28mm f/2.8 which is only 2 mm off from this lens, but somehow it seems more distant. Again, another user commented on the difference 1mm made between this lens and the 31 f/1.9. I have to say, there may indeed be something to this. I cant exactly put my finger on it.
Handling: Handles like the best of Pentax's best manual focus lenses. Well damped focus ring. The aperture ring is solid. Same great build quality as the other lenses in the K/M/A legacy.
Value: I am not sure how to grade this one. I paid $250, shipped on eBay. That is enough of a sting on my budget to make me place my expectations fairly high. As in -- it had better be the 'one.' That said -- this thing is a goddamned heirloom, is what it is. Its quality can't really be quantified in terms of 'value.' I would personally put this up against any other lens costing much more. There are people asking double what I paid. It is worth every cent of $500 - $600. I just happened to be extremely lucky. Bidding was up-to-the-last minute, literally. I had even lost an auction on another copy of this lens the night prior. Apparently this lens is pretty rare, but make no mistake about it -- the higher prices it commands on the used market are every bit a reflection not of its rarity, but of its quality.
Overall: Well...lets just say, it may never come off my camera. Kills LBA dead. Kills return of the son of LBA double dead, decapitated, cremated with ashed scattered on the ocean floor. One reviewer called this the "poor man's 31mm f/1.9." I think perhaps I would revise that to say that the 31mm f/1.9 is the rich man's k30/2.8. At the very least, although the comparisons between the two are inevitable due to the closeness of the focal lengths, I think the 30mm/2.8 lens is in its own class in terms of what it does, the kind of pictures it takes, etc.. I can honestly say that I have a totally different disposition toward this piece of my equipment than any other piece. It is a real game changer.
| | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: November, 2009 Location: Strand Posts: 1,366 | | Review Date: August 12, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $320.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Very easy to use on crop sensor, sharp sharp | | Cons: | None, or manual focus eh | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
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Cant say much negative about this lens. Awesome. Sharpest lens i currently owning, sharp even wide open. Beautiful contrast and color.
| | | | | New Member Registered: November, 2010 Location: Yokohama Posts: 1 | | Review Date: March 28, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $300.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Small size | | Cons: | none | |
I have nothing but good to say about this lens except that I probably paid too much for a pristine copy when a regular clean copy would have cost me a third less.
It looks and feels great on my MX, it's a neat little package that's super-capable. The square plastic clip-on hood meant for 28mm and 35mm lenses with 52 mm threads also fits on this one.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: June, 2010 Posts: 753
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 26, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $320.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | colour reproduction, sharpness, compact | | Cons: | slower than FA35, stop down metering | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 9
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This minireview is based on my subjective feelings from reallife photos taken with lens, rather than "scientific" comparison and shooting resolution charts so please take it with the reserve. I was comparing the shots to excellent FA35 which i also own. Both lenses are compact, small and similar in size, FA35 must yield a bit to K30 in terms of solid build. On DSLR I prefer slightly wider field of view provided by K30 lens more. In terms of resolution FA35 has the edge in wide open shooting and apertures < f4.0, but resolutionwise i find K30 only marginally lesser. At higher apertures >f4, i cannot see the difference. FA35 also wins being a stop faster, but yields to K30 in terms of contrast. In my opinion K30 is slightly less contrasty and that leads to rendering more subtle tones, giving the more natural look. Colour rendering of both lenses is really excelent, I actually value K30 over FA43 in terms of colour reproduction. I haven't done many bokeh shots yet as I prefer to use the lens for street photography so I'll skip commenting on bokeh. Shooting against the sun was surprisingly good even with the older smc coating. Focusing ring runs smoothly and with split screen its a joy to use.
The lens has only two marginal cons.
1. being old K series you need to work out stop down metering - my copy slightly overexposes on my k20d, so -0.3 EV is usually set as compensation.
2. being wide open at f2.8 is a bit slow. However if they made it f2.0 i guess FA31 limited will have a serious contender to cope with. I would be really interested in irect comparison between the two lenses.
Conclusion : great lens which holds its own against FA35 and even FA43limited. If you find solid one for good price, get it.
Edit: Finally i acquired Pentax FA31 Ltd, so I could do rough comparison: First of all i was quite surprised what difference the 1mm makes - so it might be possible that either 30mm or 31mm is not precisely actual focal lenght. Resolutionwise - FA31 has the edge in wider apertures : K30 is fairly softer at f2.8, marginally softer at f4. From f5.6 I can't see any difference. Big surprise for me was that K30 handles CA a little bit better. Stopped down at f5.6 neither lens has shown any problem with CA. FA31 seems to be little more contrasty. All-in-all, if you don't need one stop advantage, AF and you can live with stopdown metering, then K30 is worthy of consideration. At f2.8 it will be much softer than FA31, but stopping down brings the both lenses to moreless same level. On top of it you can find K30 for one third of the price of the Limited.
Edit II: Let me just say, that after selling my first copy of K30 and selling FA31 in favour of FA43, I came back to buying another copy of K30/2.8....it is that good.....and a very nice kit with DA15 and FA43
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: January, 2008 Location: Cambridge, MA Posts: 327 | | Review Date: September 8, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $320.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | sharpness, color, weight, minimum focus distance | | Cons: | none | |
Great lens. Poor-man's 31mm ltd. And I prefer this lens over the 31 limited due to the weight concern (it looks/feels more balanced on my K-7). Producing very sharp images even widen open, with smooth and creamy bokeh. Would recommend without any hesitation.
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: March, 2010 Posts: 72
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 21, 2010 | Recommended
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Outstanding IQ, lightweight, solid | | Cons: | | |
The K30/2.8 is a thrill of a lens, that seduces both by its sharp, three-dimensional, tonally subtle image quality, and by its solid but elegant and lightweight build.
Superficially, the focal length of K30/2.8 might just seem to lie somewhere in-between 28mm and 35mm, but in actual practice, it is so close to 28mm that it is better to think of K30/2.8 as belonging to the family of 28mm's. This also means that, on a cropped sensor, you can think of it as a 'wide normal', with an equivalent focal length of 45mm, as against a 'narrow normal' like 35mm, equivalent to a traditional 50mm/55mm lens.
So, what criteria could play a role in opting for the K30/2.8 as against other 28mm's? Staying within the K series, I have compared K30/2.8 to K28/3.5. (Images of the comparison are in the "k-Club" thread.) The center sharpness of both lenses is of the same outstanding quality, but the K28/3.5 has more overall sharpness across the frame; conversely, the K30/2.8 has smoother out-of-focus blur. The differences are subtle, but it means that, functionally speaking, the K28/3.5 might be better for landscape photography, while the K30/2.8 is better for the closer range, where you may want to render objects with 3D effect. In addition, the K30 is lighter than the K28 (215gr versus 260gr). It is also smaller: the K30 has about the size of an A50/1.4.
In short, if you have the opportunity to acquire both K28/3.5 and K30/2.8, you may profit from the slight functional differences between them, but if you have to choose between them, I would recommend K30/2.8.
It's highly recommended in any case ... Given its rarity, it's a bit of a hidden treasure in the Pentax range - but a treasure it is, definitely.
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: March, 2010 Location: East Yorkshire Posts: 47 | | Review Date: March 30, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp, 3D feel, small size | | Cons: | | |
Excellent image quality with a 3D feel. Nice colors and contrast. Very fine and precise MF operation.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: June, 2007 Location: Singapore Posts: 348 | | Review Date: March 28, 2010 | Recommended
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | astounding sharpness, 3D-ish feel to images; one of the best colour rendition lenses I have, very good bokeh | | Cons: | nil | |
Got this rare lens after reading good things about it online - it isn't very well known due to the small number of copies in existence.
And it doesn't disappoint at all. Its small and compact (abt the same size as a M 50 1.4, I would say) but packs a punch with the images that it can turn out. It has everything - astounding sharpness wide open, 3d ish rendition of image, good bokeh. It is also perhaps the one lens I have to correct least for in colour during PP ( with a K20D). I love it. Its manual focus which some may see as a shortcoming - but hey, I use my AF lenses MF when focusing is critical, so I don't mind at all.
 | | | | | Site Supporter Registered: October, 2008 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 8,090
5 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 18, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $285.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Very sharp and well built. | | Cons: | Obscure focal length, price. | | Camera Used: K Series film bodies (K1000, KM, KX, K2, K2DMD)
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The K30/2.8 is the one and only 30mm lens that Pentax has made. Pentax released the K30/2.8 in late 1975, shortly after the first wave of K series lenses and it remained in production until 1984.
Pentax marketed the 30mm focal length as “The perfect solution for those trying to choose between the 35 and 28mm focal lengths, as it lies between the two, making an excellent compromise.” In reality I don’t think the world really needed a new FL and 30mm is so close to 28mm in angle of view that this was a questionable marketing decision. The 28mm & 35mm FLs were very popular on a film camera and a “K28/2.8” would have fit nicely between the K28/2 and the K28/3.5.
Regardless of the 30mm FL obscurity, the K30/2.8 is a great lens. It’s sharper than the well regarded K28/3.5 and fast enough for most shooting conditions. The only lens in a similar FL that is better is the legendary K28/2.
The K30/2.8 shares the same 52mm filter thread lens hood as the other K series 28-35mm lenses. (K28/2, K28/3.5, K35/2 & K35/3.5) This square hood pops up from time to time on eBay. The K30/2.8 is around the same size and weight as a K series standard lens, with the same excellent build.
I highly recommend this lens and if you can get a good copy at a reasonable price it is a decent alternative to the K28/2. Prices of this lens are all over the map and I have seen multiple copies on eBay stores for over $500USD and one over $700USD!!
Overall I rate the K30/2.8 a 9.5.
Sample shots taken with the K30/2.8. Photos are medium resolution scans from original slides.
Camera: KM Film: Fuji Velvia 50 ISO: 50
Camera: K2DMD Film: Fuji Sensia 100 ISO: 100
 | | | | | Pentaxian Registered: June, 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 7,001 | | Review Date: July 17, 2008 | Recommended
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Razor sharp and marvelous colours | | Cons: | No electric contacts (metering on K10D and later) and no AF ;) | |
Really a very good lens, much unknown, unfortunately.
Makes a nice 45mm aka standard lens on APS-C.
Excellent lens !!
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: February, 2008 Location: Lachine, Quebec, Canada Posts: 453 | | Review Date: February 22, 2008 | Recommended
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Fantastic tonal balance, great 3-D quality: makes digital look like film! | | Cons: | Would have loved F/2, but hey, it seems to be pretty bright at f/2.8, and fairly sharp to boot! | |
Build quality is superb- have to love these wonderfully manufactured all-metal casing lenses! I do find the focus ring seems a bit less "friction-y", as best as I can put it, than my Pentax-M 50mm f/1.4. However, no focus drift- could be my copy.
As stated before, I find color rendition wonderful, and as well, distortion seems to be well controlled- I don't have a lot of experience with other vintage glass, but I'm very pleased.
Wonderful 3-D quality to shots taken with this lens- color is rich, and bokeh for a six blade aperature is very smooth and pleasing!
A fantastic "walking around" lens, I find- I haven't used it any controlled lighting conditions as of yet, but it performs outstandingly in natural light, especially indoors, and I find it takes sharpening well in editing when shot wide open, since it has such fantastic color gradation.
Not sure if I'd ever part with this lens, even for a Flektogon 35mm f/2.4.
I'll post a couple samples in another forum- I'm new to the site, but very enthused, especially with this great older glass- digital looks more film-esque, and now I've got the bug... | | | | | Senior Member Registered: September, 2006 Posts: 181 | | Review Date: November 1, 2007 | Recommended | Price: $220.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Very high resolution, good bokeh and color rendition | | Cons: | none | |
This is another fine example of Pentax quality. Optically, this lens really shines, and its built like a tank. The amount of detail, and fine color transitions captured are truly phenomenal. The bokeh is great, and on par with Pentax's best lenses, and gives that 3D look that has made the 31mm legendary. A great "normal" lens on a DSLR.
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