Customer Reviews
Now I have used many different camera systems and their respective lenses, I am now buying my second 70mm Da limited, the first being stolen. This is the first lens I used that really shows of the K20D's capabilities, even the old faithful 50mm does not render as well nor is as sharp over all ( edge to edge ). This lens is Very sharp wide open edge to edge right to F16, great contrast, I even compared it's sharpness to the Sigma 70mm macro and at normal distances it beats the macro for sharpness and contrast and has much better bokeh.
The lens is small and light and surprisingly feels great when mounted on camera, the quick shift focusing ring is something I wish the older Fa limited lenses had so you can manual focus at anytime.
Af speed is fast, this is the fastest Pentax lens I had used until the DA 40mm limited and now newer sdm/hsm lenses, yes it is a little noisy but not so bad, it focuses with zest and lets you know it. I did have to adjust the AF on the K20D to fix a bit of front focusing with this lens but I think they are all like that on the K20D, once adjusted it is very accurate from 2ft to infinity with very little hunting.
But the lens does have it's real faults, first the close focus I wish was better, not macro but say to 1ft min distance, it does also purple ca at big apertures, not alot but just enough that you can see it, still much better than the FA 77mm in that regard. It handles flare well but has some ghosting, again not so bad but it is there. The last wish was that this was an F2 or better but F2.4 is just enough to get those shallow dof blown away bokeh shots, just.
So it's not a perfect lens but for it's price its a real bargain for how it performs and how well made it is, if your a prime shooter and need a short tele I think this is your best bet, even over the FA 77mm ( unless you really need the shallower dof/ faster aperture or are using it manual focus only ). This is one of Pentax's real "L" glass beating lenses, I have Nikon D300 and canon 5D owners jaws drop at the sharpness and clarity ( micro contrast ) of this lens, Only the Canon 85mm and 135mm L ( the 100mm to but they stopped making that one ) lenses are as good IQ wise. ... By Great overall portrait lens
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