Brent, You are absolutely correct! If you can stand the bulk of the FA*24/2, it is an outstanding and extraordinary wide angle lens. Pay the extra $31 and get it.
You will find that it is one of the * (star) lenses, renowned for extraordinary photo quality and sharpness. It's awfully big, especially with the hood on, but worth the effort. Manual focus is OK, if a bit odd feeling. Regards, Bob S. [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << I have a "Bargain" quality SMC 24mm f/2.8 lens on order from KEH. It will be my first wide angle lens and I'm a bit surprised at how expensive Pentax wide-angle prime lenses seem to be. For nearly $200 I'll expect my "Bargain" to be optically perfect. If not, I'm prepared to swap it for an "Excellent" condition example of the same model. But therein lies my question. KEH sells an "Excellent" SMC 24/2.8 for $265 but an "Excellent" SMC-FA* 24/2 can be had for $286 (when they have the it in stock, which isn't every day). For $31 more it sure would seem that the newer, faster, fancier lens is a better deal even if I don't have an auto-focus camera body. Other than a slight issue of bulk and weight is there any way in which a circa 1978 f/2.8 wide-angle prime would be superior to a circa 1998 f/2 prime? It just seems like in addition to the extra stop of speed (not a huge deal) the SMC-FA* would have more modern coatings and an aspherical element and should have the optical edge over anything being built for the same purpose in the 1970's. >> - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
