Pentax Life

CameraLabs editor Gordon Laing showing DA 40mm and DA 70mm Limited “pancake” lenses. If you can’t go to the nearby store to fiddle with this lenses by yourself before you buy them online watch this video and don’t forget to look at Gordon’s review.

Photozone.de contributor Klaus Schroiff has tested five Pentax DA and FA lenses. DA 40mm Limited, FA 43mm Limited, FA 50mm F/1.4, DA 16-45mm F/4 and DA 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 are thoroughly reviewed including distortion, vignetting, resolution and chromatic aberrations charts as well as full size samples made with K10D. Another five primes and a couple of zooms are listed as “coming soon”. Thanks to Pavel Stanek for the link.

Camera Labs put their hands on DA 40mm and DA 70mm pancake limiteds. DA 40mm got the 81% score (recommended) and DA 70mm – 84% (highly recommended).

Japanese lens manufacturer Tamron announced today AF 18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II LD Aspherical [IF] Macro (Model A18) for Pentax K-mount availability date – April 27, 2007. MSRP is 75,000 Yen or about 632 U.S. dollars.

With the world longest zoom ratio – 13.9 – Tamron 18-250mm becomes very handy 27-375mm on Pentax digital SLR cameras. Macro feature allows to focus as close as 0.45m at entire zoom range, maximum magnification ratio is 1:3.5. 16 lenses in 13 groups packed in the pretty compact 430g body just 85mm long. Filter diameter is φ62mm.

Ned Bunnell has posted a dozen of pre-production Pentax DA* 50-135 F2.8 sample photos shot with K10D in RAW. All pics have exceptional sharpness and color fidelity. Bokeh is not so “artistic” as with some Limiteds but very correct, smooth.

Pentax K10D rated “Excellent” (81%) by LetsGoDigital. Camera praised for its all-weather sealing, built-in shake reduction and best on the market value for money. The only complain is not about soft JPEGs but:

I thought that several buttons had not been placed logically and some settings could not be found and operated intuitively. It’s probably a question of getting used to, but it’s still an important point. Maybe Pentax should take a sly look at competitors who are bringing out more ergonomic cameras.

Another K10D review (rather short but with the couple of nice samples) provided by Howard Creech at DigitalCameraReview.com. “The K10D was clearly designed by photographers, for photographers.“

The same person has reviewed Pentax DA 70mm f2.4 Limited pancake-style prime lens. Howard is very impressed by this lens: “this is one of the nicest prime lenses I’ve ever used.” By his words 70mm limited is the perfect fit for candid street photography and travel.

Japanese blog Digital1gan takes a closer look on FA 50mm F1.4 normal prime from the film era. One post is about the lens itself and the other full of real life samples.

Imaging Resource have interviewed John Carlson from the Pentax Imaging who has DA* 16-50 F2.8 and DA* 50-135 F2.8 in his hands. Other upcoming “star” lenses were under the glass. It’s funny, but he’s called the 35mm F2.8 Macro Limited the “pancake”. Well it’s not big for a macro F2.8 lens, but much bigger than the real pancake – DA 40mm.

As for 645D, John Carlson just repeated what is already said by other Pentax reps. When IR guy asked him for more information about 645D:

JC: We don’t know timing, we don’t know pricing, we don’t know any other information.

IR: When will you know?

JC: That’s a good question. Hm… I don’t know.

Tamron followed Sigma in the race for a piece of Pentax’s pie and announced SP AF70-200mm F/2.8 Di LD (IF) MACRO wide aperture telephoto zoom lens for Pentax KAF mount as well as for Canon, Nikon and Sony. The lens with Tamron’s model number A001 dedicated for full-frame sensor, so it could be used with Pentax film SLRs and full-frame DSLRs if Pentax will ever make any.

The minimum focusing distance of the new lens measured at 95cm, which is 5 centimeters closer then the same range Sigma and the way shorter range Pentax DA* 50-135mm F2.8. Macro magnification rated 1:3.1 at the long end.

Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 equiped with internal focusing mechanism, 9 diaphragm blades, removable tripod collar and flower-shaped hood in the box. Availability and MSRP not yet announced.

Pentax Japan have updated their lens roadmap recently. Besides two fast DA* zooms, which are in production now, and four primes announced a week ago there is another one 35mm prime. Hope, it will be faster then 35mm F2.8 Macro Limited, but the only thing known about it – it will be equipped with SDM – Supersonic Drive Motor.

Also, roadmap contains DA* 55mm F1.4 SDM lens, which should be perfect for portraiture photography as well as low light works.

The other interesting lens is DA 55-300 telephoto zoom. I think, it will be F4-5.6 to fit upcoming DA 17-70mm “kit” lens.

Brian Ayling from Australia found his own way to repair old screw-mount Takumar 50mm F1.4 normal prime that was heavily affected by the glass yellowing. Fast and easy. Ouch!

Photo courtesy by Brian Ayling and Myles Harris-Ayling

Pentax DA 16-45mm F4 vs Pentax DA* 16-50mm F2.8 side by side
Photo courtesy by Ned Bunnell

Ned Bunnell, vice-president of marketing in Pentax US, received the working sample of the new DA* 16-50mm F2.8 lens lately. It seams he is not allowed to post sample shots yet, but he shows some side to side comparison photos with the old DA 16-45mm F4. Surprisingly, despite the 5mm longer telephoto end and full stop wider aperture the DA Star is just a few millimeters longer and thicker than 16-45 F4 and should be well in hand for wide aperture zoom of this range.

Pentax DA 70mm F2.4 Limited and Pentax FA 77mm F1.8 Limited side by side
Photo courtesy by MSKAD

Another lens comparison for today is from MSKAD – a well known Pentax blogger. He compared the legendary FA 77mm Limited prime with it’s successor – announced last fall DA 70mm F2.4 Limited. Here you can see not only look and size differences, but also compare image quality, thanks to MSKAD for nice samples. Newer 70mm Lim. shows the better “technical” quality, bu as for me, I like FA 77mm’s picture more. It has more interesting, more unique bokeh.