On Mar 20, 2007, at 10:21 AM, Nick Wright wrote: > So I'm starting to think a little more seriously about putting > together the Pentax kit. I'm all about the available light so I'm > looking at large aperture primes and would like to ask y'all's > opinions about them. > > Specifically I'm looking at the M28mm f/2, M50mm f/1.4, and either the > A85mm f/1.4 or the 85mm f/2. Pros, cons?
Personally I find working with pre-A series lenses too much of a change from working with more recent series lenses, and feel it constrains the features of the K10D too much for my liking. It loses all the exposure modes other than Manual, unless Av mode with wide open aperture is what you tend to do all the time, etc. And the K10D's semi-automatic metering mode for the pre-A lenses has some known fallibilities ... nothing terribly serious, but it does take a different methodology to get the best from it. There are times when it proves just fine to do so, but these lenses would not be the basis of my "essential" working lens kit. - The M28/2 ... my favorite "use it all the time" focal length, I wish they'd get on with it and produce a DA28/2 Limited. I had the A28/2.8 first, sold it when I obtained the FA20-35/4 AL as it covered the focal length better, and added the FA28/2.8 AL. I'd love a high quality f/2 lens in this focal length that allowed me full access to the K10D's features. - My impression from having used both M and A (and later) series 50/1.4s is that the 50mm f/1.4 lenses were greatly improved (particularly wide open) from the A-series onwards. - I had the M85/2 and it was a fine lens (as long as you used a good deep hood to prevent flare). I replaced it with the FA77 Limited, which is better, and then replaced that with the DA70/2.4 Limited, which suits me even better as the shorter focal length and smaller/ lighter form factor do more for me than the extra .6 stop in speed. My current lens kit of "essential" lenses is all primes: DA14/2.8 ED, DA21/3.2 Limited, FA28/2.8 AL, FA43/1.9 Limited, DA70/2.4 Limited Adequately fast for anything I've needed for low light with ISO 800. The right focal lengths for my use with the K10D, all excellent performers, and all except the DA14 are light and compact. They allow me to use all the features of the K10D as appropriate. Godfrey -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
