Pentax DA70 Limited

Have just read a posting on Dpreview.com ( Pentax Forum- SLR) about the DA70.
A Pentax test report was worth reading on http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/index.html#pentax

Is this the definative portrait lens for the K10D ? or is there an alternative
at a more affordable level ?.

Comments and advice most welcome.

Peter

The most affordable (good) alternative portrait lens for any Pentax DSLR is the SMC-M 50mm 1:2.0.

If you want AF and accurate metering, the FA 50mm 1:1.4 is almost as good as (but much cheaper than) the two top recommendations. Which, as I am sure you know, are the FA* 85mm 1:1.4 (hard to find), or the 77mm Ltd.

G

By the way, I think that with high quality lenses, technical tests are almost meaningless. They only measure what is measurable. There are other aspects of a lens's performance that are not easily measurable, but which are much more important to the quality of the image than a few lines of resolution.

There is an indefinable magic to the pictures produced by the 77m Ltd that no other lens that I have ever owned can match (though the 31mm gets close). It's especially good for skin, which is not surprising as portraits are the lens's raison d'etre.

But I have no doubt that the 70mm is superb, too.

G

I'd much rather have the FA 50mm F1.4 for photography than the DA 70mm F2.4. With portraits I sometimes like to use very limited depth of field and the F2.4 is rather slow for that.

For me, one of the most important aspects of portrait type photography is to be able to control the DOF. The faster the lens, the more control you have. So no, I do not think the DA70 is the definative lens.

The other lens that George didn't mention is the 85 soft.

Kim

Yes, indeed. And it's much more affordable than the FA* 1.4.

G

Kim and George

Thank you for your comments and for pointing me in the right direction.

Sorry for the late reply, have been away.

Peter