DA lenses with K1

Prior to getting a K1 and 28-105 lens I thought that APSc lenses would not be of much use unless used in crop mode. I am now favourably surprised to discover that the DA 35 Ltd Macro works extremely well on full frame and only vignettes if you pull the hood out to its maximum extent. The DA 40 XS, and DA70 Ltds also work extremely well without vignetting. The plastic DA 50 1.8 is great and extremely sharp. As expected the DA16-85 is unusable in FF mode with a heavy vignette but the DA 55-300 only vignettes to a minor extent in FF mode and so is quite usable especially if you intend to crop the result. My Tamron sp 90mm is razor sharp but I find the focus tends to stutter a bit especially when approaching macro subjects, something it did not do on the K3.

Thanks for that Miles. I have tried my DA primes on the K1 in FF mode but not the zooms, as I thought they would be no good. I must give the 55-300 a go.

https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/topic/wondering-what-the-field-of-view-of-the-d...

Oops! I had forgotten the 55-300 was one of the lenses you tested. Can you remember if you had the lens hood on when you tested it? Because I am seeing even less vignetting without the hood.

No can't remember! At the long end it shouldn't make any difference but at the wide end it might do.
Hang on, I'll check!
Any difference is really marginal. Providing the main subject is in the APS-C frame, taking it full frame would give a margin for cropping variation if indeed the FF image might be wholly acceptable. It's amazing such a lens with a long zoom range and to all intense and purposes be practically FF compatible yet still be really light. OK, it's not the same as using the DA* 300mm and DA* 200mm but certainly more portable. Worth a few more comparison experiments (but in the daylight!)

Check out page 69 of the manual, the bit about Peripheral Illumination Correction (to eliminate vignetting). The lens correction works at FF on the DA*200, DA*300, and DA 560 lenses; with these exceptions it doesn't work on other DA lenses apparently although I just tried the 50mm f1.8 and 55-300 and didn't notice any vignetting although in bright daylight that may change.

Just used the 35mm macro with the K1 and very pleased with the result. I did a bit of focus stacking and posted the result on the site. K1 is a great camera. However from a macro fans point of view I would like a slightly better menu set up. When using select AF point or manual focus in LV once the shutter had been released the view returns to its original setting and the AF button has to be pressed again. I am happy to be corrected if this is not the case.

That's really odd because if the camera is set to manual focus the AF button shouldn't do anything.
By manual focus I mean switching the M/AF lever under the AF mode button to M. Often manual focus is the way to go with macro shots.

The DA15 Ltd vignettes very strongly when used in FF mode. However if you crop out most of the vignetting and compare with the same scene taken in APSc mode, you still get a significantly larger and wider photo in FF mode than you do in APSc mode. I think this could be useful.

Yes, that's true. If need be the vignetting can be corrected to an extent in Photoshop or simiiar to provide a letterbox shot using most of the width (not full width however). The corners aren't there though to bring back!

Probably didn't explain particularly well. When I used the K5 for macro on manual if I zoomed to a specific area and made the photo the view would then return to area and zoom strength I had set up for the photo. Then I could shift the focal point and take another etc. With the K1 it does not do that and I have to turn the dial to bring up the previous screen again. It's a pain and takes a little bit longer. I guess I was so used to the ease of the K5 for macro.

What you're describing sounds like you have a power zoom, which I'm sure isn't what you mean. Can you be more specific as to which setting and dial you are referring to.
Have you tried setting the AF/M lever to M? As I said, the focus then cannot change as it's switched off completely. Also consider switching off autofocus linked to the shutter release button, then you can leave the AF/M lever on AF but it won't refocus the shot unless the AF button is pressed. Alternatively setup the AF button to not refocus while it's pressed. The way the K-5, K-3 and K-1 work are all much the same in that respect.

I had a look at the 10-17mm with the K-1 and at 17mm it looks as though it has possibilities. At least on the camera screen there did not seem to be any vignetting.

At 10mm up to about 14mm it's useless though.