HD Pentax-D FA* 50mm F1.4 SDM AW
Construction and Handling
The first thing we must realize is that the HD Pentax-D FA* 50mm F1.4 SDM AW is not a pancake. It is not part of Pentax's "small and light" line of Limited lenses. Priorities were obviously instead on optical performance and weather sealing, so the size and weight had to increase.
Here you can see front and rear lenses. As is normal for the fully electronic KAF4 mount, the aperture is wide open by default:
This results in a very reassuring and robust metal barrel which clearly reflects that this beauty contains quite a good amount of glass within. If you ever had the chance to handle a Pentax K 50mm F1.2 or A 50mm F1.2, you'll know the feeling.
While there have been complaints about the size and portability of the D FA* 50mm lens when directly compared to old style fast fifties, we believe this is an unfair comparison. It's direct competition are other high-performance fast lenses for DSLRs. Here, large size is typical:
The D FA* 50mm F1.4 compared to a Sigma 50 Art (not available in Pentax mount), Sigma 35 Art and Pentax D FA 24-70.
If you already own one of the other lenses above, you won't be surprised by the HD Pentax-D FA* 50mm F1.4 SDM AW. On the super robust Pentax K-1 body the D FA* 50mm balances very well and isn't uncomfortable even after hours of shooting.
Its design is in line with the tradition of Pentax star lenses, with weather sealing, a green and gold ring on the barrel, and a dedicated AF/MF switch (its presence enabled the use of catch-in-focus).
The largest item on the barrel is the deep focusing ring with rubber bumps, which give it a very good grip even in warm climates or with sweaty hands. While autofocus obviously will be the preferred method for most users most of the time, manual focusing with this lens using the focus ring works very well also— not a given for fast autofocus lenses.
The hood sports the typical window for manipulating CPL-filters while the hood is on.
It also has the typical window for the distance scale, which is missing only on budget lenses.
The lens construction is very complex for a 50mm lens and includes 3 anomalous-dispersion (AD) glass lens elements and one aspherical element. The focus group alone consists of a whopping 8 lens elements. The four MTF charts can be checked on Ricoh's web site.
As a pro lens, the D FA* 50mm is sealed against dust and moisture with 8 dedicated rubber seals. Pentax refers to this top-tier protection as "All Weather" (AW).
For a lens of this class, our rating on handling is very good, but we have to acknowledge the fact that it is a Sigma-like heavy lens and not everyone will like this. For maximum portability, standard primes from Pentax are plentiful (SMC Pentax-FA 43mm F1.9 Limited, HD Pentax-DA 40mm F2.8 Limited and SMC Pentax-DA 50mm F1.8 come to mind).
Screw in filters can easily be used, the filter diameter needed here is 72mm (quite fair given that the Sigma 50mm F1.4 Art requires 77mm filters).
Verdict: 4.5/5
