Review of: SMC Pentax-DA* 50-135mm F2.8 ED [IF] SDM by 08amczb on Mon July 23, 2018 | Rating: 10 | View more reviews | |
Views: 549752
Reviews: 154 |
This zoom lens excelent IQ. Near to primes. The zoom range is very versatile for portraits and from 70mm the F2.8 aperture gives sufficient background blur. The bokeh is excelent in the full zoom range. The build quality also very good, the zoom and focus rings are smooth, maybe the best I ever used on an AF zoom lens. The hood is bigger than what I would like, but the lens works well without it. In general I like the small primes, but this lens worst it. The AF is the only weak point of this lens, it's slow and occasionally I had acccuracy problems also. Overal this lens is the best zoom I ever used.
Here are some images:
IMG170422_0004 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170414_0056 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170603_0284 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170603_0190 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170603_0202 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170611_0002 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170923_0079 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170923_0029 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
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Review of: SMC Pentax-DA* 16-50mm F2.8 ED AL [IF] SDM by 08amczb on Fri July 20, 2018 | Rating: 7 | View more reviews | |
Views: 530696
Reviews: 138 |
While stopped down the IQ of this lens is good, wide open not. I would not recommend a constant F2.8 standard zoom with this image quality below F4 if there were a comparable WR alternative. I had the tamron 17-50 F2.8 and that lens has a much better IQ except the bokeh. I have to say this lens has a nice bokeh, much better than what the tamron had. Altough the tamron was sharper, was more flare resistant and that was lighter and much cheaper. (and had focus issues...) The DA*16-50 also has a bad barrel distorsion at the wide end. I bought this lens for the WR-ness and the silent AF.
The build quality is very good, but the zoom ring is a little hard to move and not big enough to be comfortable while the focus ring is much bigger, then what I need. Also this lens is heavy and big. The hood is enourmous. If I can I leave it at home and bring only primes, but this isn't an option for a wedding for example. There are alternatives, but in general the lens is up to the challenge, so finally I recommend it.
Here are some images:
IMG170414_0019 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170603_0020 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170415_0027 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG161127_0015 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG161120_0021 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG161022_0014 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG160709_0194 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG160625_0001 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG180428_0388 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
And a cross eye 3D:
IMG180428_0104 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
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Review of: SMC Pentax-DA 10-17mm F3.5-4.5 Fish-Eye ED [IF] by 08amczb on Wed July 11, 2018 | Rating: 8 | View more reviews | |
Views: 305435
Reviews: 101 |
This lens is a special effect lens, it has a 180 degree diagonal FoV and close focusing capability. Zoomed to 17mm it's near rectilinear. The lens has a built in hood and the hood is visible with any composition adjustment, so with the astrotracer it will show up at the edges.
The lens is very sharp even after using the FA limited other primes, but the much worse purple fringing (CA) makes the overal resolution worse.
Here are some images:
IMG0139_150228 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG0071_150404 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG0612_141003 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG0222_141002 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170414_0004 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170319_0060 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170626_0083 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170627_0094 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
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Review of: SMC Pentax-DA 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 ED AL [IF] DC WR by 08amczb on Tue July 10, 2018 | Rating: 8 | View more reviews | |
Views: 620876
Reviews: 140 |
This lens is a great travel zoom, it has much better IQ then the DA18-55 WR. This lens with the DA15 and a portrait prime (FA43, DA50,...) creates a really small and versatile three lens kit. Without the portrait prime the two lens kit is still very versatile. I reccomend this lens, it's excelent to photograph the family holidays and very usful in harsh wether where you can't change the lens. This lens is smaller and lighter then the DA16-85, altough it has a little worse IQ as I heard. The build quality is very good and the AF is fast.
Here are some images:
IMG180211_0056 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG180211_0003 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG180211_0094 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170626_0147 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170830_0002 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170628_0019 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170627_0044 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170626_0164 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
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Review of: HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm F4.5-6.3 ED PLM WR RE by 08amczb on Sun July 8, 2018 | Rating: 7 | View more reviews | |
Review of: HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm F4-5.8 ED WR by 08amczb on Sun July 8, 2018 | Rating: 6 | View more reviews | |
Views: 198272
Reviews: 40 |
This lens is a good cheap telephoto zoom. The only reason I don't recommend it is the newer 55-300 PLM. That lens is only a little more expensive, but better in every way. If your camera do not support KAF4 lenses, then get this one. (Or upgrade your camera.)
This and the 55-300 PLM has a very similar IQ and characteristics. I don't like eihter, but it's very good for the money and it was a perfect lens for me, who rearly use anything above 100mm.
The only big problem with this lens is the AF. It's hunts a lot even ony newer bodys like the KP. Additionally the AF is very loud, so it will frighten the animals. I suggest using quick shift and only fine tune with AF. It has deffinitly better IQ than a superzoom, like the Tamron 18-200.
Here are some images:
IMG150630_0006 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG150704_0048 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG150616_0005 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG150606_0007 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG150927_0022 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG150927_0015 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG150928_0010 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
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Review of: SMC Pentax-DA 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL WR by 08amczb on Sat July 7, 2018 | Rating: 6 | View more reviews | |
Views: 334746
Reviews: 97 |
I got this lens with my first camera and I changed it to a Tamron 18-200 half year later. After getting the superzoom I used this lens only because it's WR. The WR ness is very usful, don't sell it before getting another WR lens with normal FoV!
I don not recommend this lens to invest in, except if you need a WR lens and this is the only one fits your budget. In this case get it! It's not too sharp and the zoom range doesen't go narrow enough. (Also not wide enough...) Altough this lens is a good option in a kit to start with and on a rainy day, it saves your camera!
This lens has better image quality than the Tamron 18-200, but the aperture is slower.
There are situations where the WR was essential. Here are some images:
IMG150708_0502 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG150829_0073 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG140813_59 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG0141_141001 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG140721_68 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMGP7397 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG0117_150228 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMGP0238 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMGP0773 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
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Review of: SMC Pentax-D FA 100mm F2.8 Macro WR by 08amczb on Fri July 6, 2018 | Rating: 10 | View more reviews | |
Views: 459134
Reviews: 106 |
This lens is very sharp and has a decent bokeh. First I bought it for portraits and it worked well, but I like more the wider FoV of the DA*55, FA43. The lens is very well built and WR. Perfect for insect macros, but I feel a wider macro would be better for flowers. If the lens starts to hunt for focus it takes a long time, it goes to minimum and then back. In general I release the AF button and use quick shift to aproximetly set the focus. It's faster. A focus limiter would help, even one implemented in the firmware. This is the most well corrected pentax prime I have. No CA or PF, no distorsion, no flare.
Altough on APS-C I prefer the FA77 in general because the wider FoV.
Here are some images:
IMG160619_0067 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG160709_0266 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG0012_150416 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG160416_0017 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG180505_0075 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG171008_0003 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170611_0029 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG0023_150416 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170313_0007 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG161031_0022 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG160820_0027 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG161016_0029 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
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Review of: SMC Pentax-FA 77mm F1.8 Limited by 08amczb on Fri July 6, 2018 | Rating: 10 | View more reviews | |
Views: 437564
Reviews: 107 |
This lens is near to perfect, very sharp from wide open. The lens cap can fall down sometimes and it has some CA, more than what I would like, but it can be handled easily in postprocess. It has a 49mm filter thread wich makes easy to share filters with DA15, FA43, DFA100 macro, and DA50, DA35.
Here are some examples:
IMG180414_0014 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG180422_0018 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG171008_0010 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170923_0235 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG180505_0005 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG180428_0254 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG180428_0090 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG180505_0041 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
And a Brenizer effect:
IMG180505_0047 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
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Review of: SMC Pentax-DA* 55mm F1.4 SDM by 08amczb on Wed July 4, 2018 | Rating: 10 | View more reviews | |
Views: 350761
Reviews: 72 |
This is my favorite portrait lens on APS-C. The lens is sharp and has an excelent bokeh. I did not have AF problems with this lens, while it's slow for some sports, I think in general it's fast enough.
I really like the renderation of this lens. Wide open it produces sharp images with excelent bokeh, but very sensitive to the focus. The smallest movent from the focus plain introduces longitudinal CA wich hard to correct and the image will look less sharp. Altough the lens stopped down is incredibly sharp and the bokeh is still nice.
Here are some images:
The F1.4 sample which you are serching for :)
IMG171026_0004 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
And the others:
IMG180505_0057 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG180505_0026 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG180505_0002 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG180423_0007 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG180422_0002 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG180415_0056 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG180415_0034 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG180330_0008 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG180330_0046 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG171029_0026 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG171028_0002 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
And a Brenizer effect:
IMG180505_0062 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
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Review of: SMC Pentax-FA 31mm F1.8 AL Limited by 08amczb on Sat June 16, 2018 | Rating: 10 | View more reviews | |
Views: 417852
Reviews: 97 |
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
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Review of: SMC Pentax-FA* 24mm F2 AL [IF] by 08amczb on Fri June 15, 2018 | Rating: 8 | View more reviews | |
Views: 210705
Reviews: 43 |
I bought this lens as a fast normal prime for my APS-C camera. One of the main points was the compactness. I like the FoV of this lens and I like it's rendering. The lens is very sharp stopped down, but from F2 to F2.2 I'am not satisfied with it. It's not that terrible, just not as good as I expected. In general I stop down the lens so I loose the speed which I bought the lens for.
I like the starbursts it does, but I don't like how it's flaring. It's prone to produce purple flare with a grid artifact on the KP.
I love the mechanism of the, when I attach it reversed for storage, I have to spin it in the reverse direction. It's comfortable for my wrist. I also like the AF/MF swith which is operated by pulling back the focus ring.
Here are some examples:
IMG170825_0003 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170826_0034 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170814_0001 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170820_0022 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170923_0396 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170923_0325 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170923_0321 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170923_0287 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170828_0028 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
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Review of: HD Pentax-DA 15mm F4 ED AL Limited by 08amczb on Fri June 15, 2018 | Rating: 9 | View more reviews | |
Views: 151405
Reviews: 31 |
This is an excelent wide angle lens, sharp and well corrected. The main advantage is it always fits in my bag. Perfectly complements the FA31, FA43, FA77 set or the DA18-135. I have only two problems with the lens. The first is the filter thread which is behind the retracted hood, so I can't use step up rings or a conventional lens cap. The other is the speed of the lens. F4 is slower than F2.8 on the DA*16-50 or F3.5 on the DA16-85. Altough the distorsion of the DA*16-50 is much worse than the distorsion of DA15 Ltd. I think the sharpness is good from corner to corner, but I think I never used the lens wide open after the testshots (there is the Da*16-50 for dark situations).
Sometimes I miss the sturbursts, which I see with the older not HD version.
Here are some examples:
IMG171104_0007 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG171229_0002 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG171229_0004 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG180331_0065 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
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Review of: SMC Pentax-F 50mm F1.7 by 08amczb on Thu June 14, 2018 | Rating: 8 | View more reviews | |
Views: 359798
Reviews: 99 |
This lens is very similar to DA50 F1.8, but a little sharper and more flaring. My copy was sharper then my DA50 and produced more lovely images. Finally I sold the DA50.
It's still not in the league of the FA43 or DA*55.
Here are some samples:
IMG161204_0008 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170805_0030 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
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Review of: SMC Pentax-DA 35mm F2.4 AL by 08amczb on Thu June 14, 2018 | Rating: 6 | View more reviews | |
Review of: SMC Pentax-DA 50mm F1.8 by 08amczb on Thu June 14, 2018 | Rating: 7 | View more reviews | |
Views: 428396
Reviews: 74 |
This is a good lens to start with primes. Much better portrait lens then any F2.8 16-50 or 17-50 lenses.
Altough this lens is soft wide open. I think it produces the best bokeh/sharpness tradeoff in the F2.2-F2.5 region. This was my second prime after the DFA100 macro and it was a little disapontment regarding the sharpnss. The wider FoV and the bokeh is more flattering for portraits then what the DFA100 produced. It's definitly inferior to the FA limiteds and DA*55 which are miles ahead from this lens. Finally I sold this one and I kept my F 50 F1.7 insted which is a very similar lens, only a little better.
On APS-C the 50mm is a little akward. Too narrow FoV, I prefer somethin wider, like the FA43 or something in the 28-35mm region.
I recommend to buy a used one, because it's easy to sell if you arn't satisfiyed with it or if it works for you, then it's cheaper.
If this will be your first prime I recommend it, because it will show you many new oppurtunity, but don't expect too much from it after some other primes.
Here are some images:
IMG160619_0001 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG160619_0006 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG160326_0073 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG160325_0011 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG160619_0055 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG160619_0042 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG160513_0005 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170603_0356 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG170611_0016 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
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Review of: SMC Pentax-FA 43mm F1.9 Limited by 08amczb on Thu June 14, 2018 | Rating: 9 | View more reviews | |
Views: 399375
Reviews: 100 |
The lens is very compact and well built. Comfortable to use. I use it wide open regurarly and I see it sharp. (On APS-C)
I like the renderation and bokeh of it, but to be honest the DA*55 is even better. Altough the 43mm focal length is much better then the 55mm indoors. Compared to the other FA limiteds it has a similar character, but I use more the other too. When I got it I was totally blown by the image quality so I got the FA77 and then the FA31 too. Now in my library I have 344 shot with the FA31 336 with the FA77 and only 177 with the FA43 from the date I have them all.
For studio portraits or indoor events I really like this lens. On my (full frame) PZ-1p it bacomes a true normal lens, and according to it this is my most used one.
Only the lens cap which I don't like, it falls down some times. Oh, yes and the hood goes to the filter screw mount, so occupies it.
Here are some shots taken with it:
IMG171015_0045 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG171015_0036 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG171015_0067 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG171009_0003 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG171105_0004 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG171231_0003 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
IMG180505_0059 by Benjámin Czétényi, on Flickr
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