full frame: Overrated or is Pentax just really good at APS-C

Try the 31mm f/1.8 or 35mm f/2 if you want a fast 35mm. Both are excellent lenses.

I have never tried but I have read all reviews online and they aren't far in the same league as modern hi-res glass like Canon 35/1.4 L ii or Zeiss 35/2.8 (both ultra sharp) or Sigma Art.

 

I would not want Pentax to share its fate with Contax brand. Contax was also a conservative brand belonging to another company with solid cameras in production and their past glory.

 

Edited December 11, 2018 by ruslan

But honestly I must add a pro of it, the K-50 is a pleasure to use (because of many factors like stabilization, I shoot at 1/8 hand held and get sharp photos, a glass prism, VF with coatings, the best punchy JPEG colors in the world (only fuji could compete), film emulation in Silkypix, 1/6000 for amateur camera and so on. .

Unfortunately photography isn't a series of test charts and algorithms, it's an art. That's why engineers often are able to take technically perfect but lifeless photos.

 

Great example of this would be the DA 15. It's a rather simple lens that doesn't score particularly well on your (Ruslan's) preferred MTF and other laboratory charts but has quite a following by actual pentax photographers. Even some who lament no longer being able to use it because they upgraded to the K-1 (although I understand it does shoot flawlessly in the optional square crop mode on the k-1.

 

I think you should put down the test charts grab a couple of Pentax lenses and go make some images.

 

And the 43mm limited is an excellent lens in real life. It's one of the reasons I upgraded to the K-1. I was tired of it being a medium telephoto on my K-5IIs and I only shoot 645 film, not 35mm.

Unfortunately photography isn't a series of test charts and algorithms, it's an art

I would say, fortunately. :)

 

DA 15

It is a lim, I like the pictures it produces, I saw many of them.

 

When new huge 50/1.4 was launched I guessed it was a start of new policy - big and superclean lenses. If Pentax goes this path it must offer this kind of products, several lenses of that class. The sterile and ultrasharp lenses have several pros - they can capture a group of people wide open and even the borders will be sharp and clean. In twilight they are helpful too. 43 is of course has its class and style on FF body. Especially if used for black and white wide open, the face in the centre.

 

think you should put down the test charts grab a couple of Pentax lenses and go make some images.

Exactly.

I would say, fortunately. :)

 

 

 

When new huge 50/1.4 was launched I guessed it was a start of new policy - big and superclean lenses. If Pentax goes this path it must offer this kind of products, several lenses of that class.

 

If you look at the lenses released with the K-1 they have gone that route, which hasn't pleased everyone. The 15-30 FA is a giant lens, the 70-200 2.8 is, if I am not mistaken, the largest/heaviest 70-200 in production.

 

Pentax can design giant nearly flawless lenses. That just isn't the route they have always chosen to go in the past.

 

So perhaps the days of making compromises to make a compact lens are over. Although, the DA system still offers plenty of compact lenses and the legacy FA lenses still offer great characteristics even if they aren't up to resolution of the current FF sensors.

 

I'll personally be keeping my DA system because it's considerably smaller, lighter and cheaper (in terms of a complete system) than the FA system. It's also not significantly inferior to it in terms of image quality.

I think they should update 31, 43 and 77 to HD coating, make an affordable high-resolution 85/1.8 and add an amateur full frame camera.

They shoud not give up or stop. Pentax has something that I call joy to use. I had Olympus E-420, F90, Fujifilm X-pro 1 and Nikon D300 and Pentax beats tham all.

I've said it before and I'll say it again wherever it is needed:

 

Cameras, lenses, and other gear are NOT investments, they are expenses.

I like Pentax for their low price, simplicity and most importantly, their compatibility with old lenses. I lower my expectation when using Pentax. I love using my old Pentax K lenses with my K50 as if I am using my KX (film camera, not Kx) which I no longer have.