Any big differences between the DA 50mm and 35mm lenses?

Hi all,

Have just sold my Pentax-A 50mm manual lens and am considering replacing it with a newer autofocus equivalent.

I have the 2.4mm and have found it quite good. A funny field of view in a lot of ways, but good for a portrait that shows the surroundings, if that makes any sense.

The 50mm on a APS-C sensor I find to be a pretty neat pure portrait lens.

Both are plastic mounts, but he 35mm seems really solid regardless. I'm wondering if the optics are similar, or even better on the 50mm or 35mm etc? I've found the 2.4 to be extremely sharp and a great value for money lens. Just wondering if the DA 50mm f1.8 promises more of the same or otherwise. Keen to hear peoples thoughts on these lenses please.

Thanks.

Sorry, is 2.4 an F2.4 lens or 24mm lens?

Reviews of the 50mm f/1.8 have found it to be an outstanding lens.

The 50mm is very simular in construction to the 35mm, I would say it's a little better as the focus ring feel a bit nicer.

The 50mm is also sharp, it's not so sharp at 1.8 but i dont think thats a bad thing. It does not suffer from purple fringing as much as the 35mm either.

One of things that impressed me about the 50mm was just how sharp it was at 1.8 but i guess that depends on the body its to be used on. On my k-5 mkii it worked fine.

Very sorry Barrie, I wrote this very quickly late last night. Was rushing to get the question out there before I headed to bed here in New Zealand. I had just sold my manual Pentax-A 50mm f1.7 version, which had been 'de clicked' which was supposedly better for video, but I didn't use that approach ever (directly varying aperture during filming). The main beef was that it slipped out of the 'A' setting far too easily, which was very annoying.

I'm referring specifically to the SMC Pentax-DA 50mm F1.8 and the SMC Pentax-DA 35mm F2.4 AL

I have the 35mm version already and find it very sharp plus the field of view has been quite ok. Only downside really is you do tend to get the bulbous nose effect slightly if you try to use it for a traditional shoulders and head distance portrait. Obviously the 50mm would be better for this.

The 50mm reviews exceptionally well. It's knocked for not being quite as fast as others, but by all accounts the FA 1.4 50mm version is very soft at 1.4 so practically not a lot of difference when comparing at matching apertures.

I'm keen on the reduced CA also, so if the 50mm is even better with this than the 35mm John/punkrockemo then that's sounding really good. Yes you can address in post, but there are times when that doesn't work so well either. Not having it in the first place seems great.

Thanks for the feed back everyone. These lenses are presently $181 US in America at the moment by the way! B&H USA

With the current price drop on the DA 50mm F1.8 this is a no brainer, so one has just been ordered now via SRS

Thanks for all the comments as always.

Looking forward to your photos! (I ordered one too)