DA Limiteds - How do you use yours?

At some time or another I've had nearly all of the DA limiteds (15/21/40/70). I use them mostly as a light weight kit when I'm out hiking for a day. For holidays and travel I'm still stuck on zooms. I like primes, but I'm not so keen on changing lenses. So I find I enjoy shooting more when there is less in my bag.

Single lens:
DA 21mm

20-24mm seems to be my most comfortable focal length for outdoor photography so if I'm going very light the K5ii+DA21 works very well for me with no bag. The FA 24 always wants to come instead though...


My general hiking set is:
DA 15/ DA 40/ D-FA 100 Macro

This covers pretty much everything I need outdoors, except for wildlife (when the 300 comes out too). I like that they are all 49mm filters. These still come with me in a bag. I'm still not 100% comfortable with just the 15 at the wide end. Sometimes it's just too wide, but I try not to take both the 15 and 21 together as I'll swap lenses a lot. If I take the 21 instead of the 15, I will of course miss the extra width when I want it! Anyone else find them too close?

I'm planning on replacing the 40mm with the 35mm Macro:
DA 15 / 35

It would be nice to get down to two lenses as I wouldn't take a bag for these. The 35 will cover a lot of my close use, although I don't expect it to be quite as useful as the D-FA 100, and I'm hoping narrowing the gap between the 15 and 40 will make me more comfortable with the length of the 15.

The limiteds are great little lenses, and it is very tempting to buy the whole set and take them all out every time. But, in the belief less is more, I try to stick to a 3 lens maximum rule.

How do you use yours and how do you pair them up?

Regards,
Matt

if I ever win the lottery, the first person outside my family to know about it will be Chris at SRS, when I phone him up to order a full set of Limiteds and DA*s.

Hi Matt - I've been through the same thought processes too when choosing a general walking set and have reached pretty much the same conclusions as you - 20-24 is probably my favourite outdoor range, but I never really got on with the DA21 (absolutely nothing wrong with it - just not for me ) and the FA*24 is a bit too big/heavy for a long trek (compared to a DA Ltd). I've recently changed from the DA 15/35/100 combination to DA15, FA20-35, DFA100 and I find this the best combination for me !

You mean some people actually use them!

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Carefully

My outdoor walking kit is K5 or K30 with 21/40/70 Ltd all fits in a small Billingham and light enough to carry around all day.

Which Billingham do you use? We use Hadley pro, but I also have an Alice that can be quite handy.

I use the Hadley Digital, it will fit camera body (K5 or K30) with a ltd lens attached and 2 more Ltds + spare battery.

Everyday walk around kit is K5 with 21mm ltd attached, 35mm f2.4 and soon to be joined by a 50mm f1.8 from srs, all wrapped up in a Hadley small.
I used to use a Leica M3 with the same sort of focal lenghs and it has just seemed to stuck, come christmas i will be adding a 15mm ltd so then fully sorted.

Yes those new "red band" limiteds look very pricey now!

They are nice just to look at too

Glad I'm not on my own! Interesting, I never really considered a zoom to fill the gap, thinking I already have a general purpose zoom covering that range and more. Certainly never considered the FA 20-35, looks like quite a neat, light weight, lens. How compact is it? Not that I need to feed a LBA! ...and I have to confess I never really "got" that DA Ltd zoom on the roadmap, but now it kinda makes sense!

Btw the I love the FA 24mm too and also prefer it over the DA 21mm, but it is a bit big, so I don't often take it hiking. It does come out on other trips though.

Yeah I think that set makes a lot of sense. I wonder how Pentax planned we would use them. The 21/40/70 works nicely and then they added the 15 & 35 and I got all confused!

Except for the 35 none of them quite tie up with the traditional films sets of 28/50/135, or 35/85 eqv! ...I mean is the DA 21mm a 28 or 35!

Great thread for us Ltd addicts

I've had the same quandaries over a lightweight/compact Ltd setup. If I want to travel really light I just take the 21... but much of the time when I head out I take K5+ 15, 21, 40 and 70. With careful packing I can slot them in to a ThinkTank 20 holster (without the extension opened!) along with the odd filter. Like you, I find the 15 and 21 really do different things... so often regret it if I don't taking both. And the 40 is just so compact there's just no excuse not to take it out on any outing . I've never owned the 35Ltd. Wondered a lot about it, but can't really see how it would fit into my bag given my high regard for the 40.

I know there are lots of good arguments for zooms / other lenses rather than the Ltds...not least cost... but I really enjoy using the Ltds, pure and simple.

I'm very limited

I don't have any LTD lenses as yet

Maybe one day

I've had the 43, the 21, the 15 and the 70 at various times. Of all of them, the 15 was my favourite. Something about it made me want to go and take pictures with it! It also paired up quite nicely with the F35-70mm, making a compact 2-lens kit.