new toy
Mr. UPS brought my new Pentax FA 35mm f/2 AL lens today. It has an equivalent field of view on my K10d of 52.5mm, making it the closest you can get to a real “fast fifty” FoV on a Pentax DSLR. This lens has been discontinued by Pentax so I figured I’d better snap one up while I could. I paid $330 from B&H with free shipping. Good thing I acted when I did because it’s now not even listed on their site any more…
I’ll be testing it over the next few days for my review. Here’s a shot of the kit (shot in my kitchen studio):
I’m really digging the lens hood (and thus planning a new center-pinch lens cap purchace).
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:21 am
Hello, I’ve replaced my old and trusty FA-50mm/f1.4 with this lens one year ago because 50mm (eq. 75) is often too long and the K20D can deal with the lost f-stop. I’m very very happy with it (although the 31mm/f1.8 is nagging me often) and it is my day-to-day lens. I love it. I’m a bit surprised by the price though, I bought mine in a shop on eBay and it was around 220 EUR/280 US$. Anyway, good choice, enjoy it as I’m sure you will.
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:40 am
@Olliver Robert:
Thanks for your note. I have an old 50 f/1.7 A series manual focus lens that I love. However, I too find the 75mm equiv focal length a bit long for a lot of my photography. I can’t swing the $800 right now for the 31 f/1.8 so the 35 f/2 was the most logical choice for me. I had seen it for under $300 before but now that Pentax has apparently stopped making them the prices have started to rise. I gladly paid $330 from B&H because they actually had the lens in stock. The only other place I could find it was at Pentax’s on-line store for $475! I can already tell that this lens is going to spend a lot of time on my K10D :D
August 5th, 2010 at 12:54 am
Any regrets about choosing this over the 35mm DA f/2.8 Limited versus the FA f/2?
I’m in the same boat and had to choose a 35mm prime lens, and decided to go for the 35mm FA f/2. Still waiting for my lens to come.