Argh.. You're all getting your new toys!, i'm still waiting for my FA*
Glad it arrived safe and sound. Enjoy.

Enjoy!

I wish... I could probably buy a copy of every FA* lens for the price of that gorgeous Lancia..

There is one for sale actually.. a snip @ £22K
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C251190

Sale pending on the other forum. Thanks for looking and also for the kind comments from Eric and Kris. Unfortunately I don't have a K85 hidden away otherwise you would have had an email

Oops my mistake. I have had all those lens at one stage or another. Currently I have a Helios 44M, Takumar SMC 55 f/1.8, K28 f/3.5, K50 f/1.2, FAs 43 & 77 and the DA16-45 with a FA* 28-70 f/2.8 arriving next week.

I doubled up on the Ks 24, 55 & 50 because I sold them and bought again.

The Helios is a bit of a freak, I like the crazy bokeh it produces

The Takumar 55 f/1.8 I picked up with a really low bid on a Sportmatic II, saying that it is a K55 by another name and I think the 55 is a great party / portrait lens. It is so easy to use and wide open it has delicious colours and bokeh and so cheap!!! I regard that lens as Pentax's hidden undervalued gem. A 50 f/1.7 is more highly regarded but the 55 has a wider range of abilities.

For pure handling, nothing touches the Takumars and Ks, wonderfully tactile and so carefully crafted. I despise the FA50 for example, for sure lovely glass and quick AF but so cheaply made and horrible to touch. Besides, once you have tried a 50 f/1.2, the 50 1.4s and 1.7s become a bit so so. Really the f/1.2s (and I missed a A50 f/1.2 in the list , sold that because I had a better K50 at the time) are an example of Pentax allowing its designers free reign to build a lens without regard to price constraints and by that nature a class above - you could say that they were the start of the * and Limited ranges.

The 43 & 77, I fight with them, because each time I have the arrogance to believe I have them figured out, they pull another ability out of their arsenal and stun me into silence. The 43, 50 and 77 torture me and my lack of abilities and make me strive to become better and then they torture me some more... all the while however they give me a hint of what they can do if they did not have an idiot holding them.

The 85s... again beautiful glass with lovely handling and weapon like build quality (I slapped a mugger / assailant once in Cork City with a K20D and 85 f/1.9 and both survived without a scratch) but the 77 had them covered. I preferred the f/1.9 over the f/1.8, the f/1.8 was a bit too cold colours and contrast wise, sharper for sure but maybe a bit too Zeiss like in its rendering. The 85 f/1.9 was warmer, softer and easier to use as a portrait lens.

The 135 f/2.5, big, heavy, but wow it could produce an image out of nothing. I personally struggled to find a use for it enough.

True, I do love getting to know a lens, it is one of the best aspects of the DSLR world. I do think that i'm getting to the stage that a lens has to have a certain something... I fight with my FA77 for example, it can smack me in no uncertain terms with a really hohum image if I am not paying attention.. I like that in a lens I imagine a DA70 would be more forgiving in that instance and hence not as interesting to me. Perhaps its a cycle we go through, at the start you want a zoom maybe, then a longer zoom then something faster, then perhaps something sharper or a macro.
I just counted, 27 lens in all over 3 years. That is not so bad really.

And why choose? because I had a bag full of lenses and it seemed silly that half of them would hardly ever see the light of day. And some of the lads / lassies here can get a bargain if they are paying attention

I'm coming up to 3 years now in the Pentax fold and its only now that I feel that I can really understand my focal length needs. I've had a K20D (which I adored) and a K-5 which i'm still getting to grips with (almost a year on )but its the lenses that are the key still. It was last week at a gig that I decided that I needed to focus more on what I use rather than what I may possibly use or have just in case. My lens travels have included some really lovely and very good lenses from the Pentax list.
Taks - 28 f/3.5, 35 f/3.5, 50 f/1.4, 55 f/1.8,85 f/1.8, 85 f/1.9, 135 f/3.5
Ks - 24 f/2.8 (X2), 28 f/3.5, 30 f/2.8, 35 f/3.5, 50 f/1.2 (X2) 55 f/1.8 (X2), 135 f/2.5
Ms - 50 f/1.4, 50 f/4.0 macro
As - 50 f/1.7
FAs - 43 f/1.9, 50 f/1.4, 77 f/1.8
DAs - 16-45 & 55-300
And a couple of Helios and Chinons as well but the time has come to sort it out once and for all.

So what from the above have I kept or will keep? 43, 77, and 50 f/1.2 straight away jump to the top of my list, I love using them and understand what they can and cannot do. After that I struggle... I love street shooting but the 16-45 is a bit clumsy for that, and the 24 & 28 are really for static shooting, don't get me wrong, they can be excellent but from say 3' to infinity the focus throw is miniscule and that is where I want to really nail it. I'm thinking DA15 for that area.
So from 20 to 43... what to put in there? 21 is average, 24, 28, 30 don't suit, so the only option really is the 31. Things have started to get expensive now but I would have 15, 31, 43, 50, 77. I might swap the K50 for the A50 but I think that looks like a nice set. What say you? Have I gone mad dumping the whole 16-300 that I could use range for 15-77 that I will use? Oh and there will be a FA* 28-70 there as well which is an oddity but I want to have a play with that for low light gig work, it was either that or another K-5.

Bump!

A couple of example images from this lens







Sharp, small, light, nice FL... and cheap

Shipped!

PM sent with interest in the DA15.