Pentax Limited Lens Review on Photo.net

[hannahthiem]

<p>

The Pentax Limited lenses designed for digital Pentax cameras are also referred

to as "pancake" lenses for their small compact size. Thanks to Josh Root and

Justin Serpico, we now have more insight as to their capabilities and

performance value.

</p>

 

<p><i>

Pancake lenses were originally based on the Zeiss Tessar design developed a

century or so ago. It was legendary for its sharpness, small size, and high

speed compared to other lenses of the time. While pancake lenses are no longer

considered "fast" (their design places limits on maximum aperture), they still

have the advantage of being compact in size. The Pentax Limited 40/2.8 protrudes

almost no further than a thick body cap.</i> -Josh Root</p>

 

<p>

Read the full review on the <a

href="/equipment/pentax/pentax-limited-lenses">Pentax Limited lenses</a></p>.

[frygge]

Great reviews, and it is so nice to get pointers from someone who has actually used the lenses in real life instead of just shooting resolution boards and brick walls.

 

The limiteds are the reason why I chose Pentax, although I personally prefer the FA's.. Can never get enough speed :-)

 

Looking forward to the DA 15mm though..

 

Fredrik

[a few images]

Great reviews guys! And a timely piece I might add as it seems I see more questions about the Limited glass. Now we have someplace to point them to!

 

I'm a little confused about the 15 as well. Being they already have a 14. Will the 15 be a pancake design? If so it makes perfect sense to me then.

[jchristianoneill]

Very good stuff, folks, thanks for doing that review.

I am enjoying the 40, looking forward to hearing more about the 15- a lot depends on price/size, etc.

 

Lot of trouble trying to decide what my next purchase will be!

 

-JChristian

[ankit_mohan1]

Great article. Thanks for posting that.

 

The sentence "As with all of the DA series lenses, the Pentax Limited lenses image circles are sized to cover the APS-C sized CCD in Pentax DSLR cameras" may be misleading. Even though the DA lenses are optimized for APS-C sized sensors, most of them actually cover the full 35mm image circle. The only exceptions are the wide zooms and primes (such as the 21mm ltd).

[snik75]

I just got the 40 today, and it is tiny! Very happy with the pictures so far, although I haven't really tested its capabilities yet. I think the kit lens may just have bought a spot in the back of my bag, or on the shelf even. The lens cap is weird, but not as bad as I imagined from other posters. It feels so solid, as good as my old M lenses... I like it!

 

Now if I can keep from buying any more lenses for a while I'll be set... otherwise I will need a bigger bag!<div></div>

[snik75]

This too.<div></div>

[mountainvisions]

"As with all of the DA series lenses, the Pentax Limited lenses image circles are sized to cover the APS-C sized CCD in Pentax DSLR cameras"

 

Thanks for the comments. There are plenty of pixel reviews on the web (photozone is one of the best IMO for bench testing), glad to put up some real world info about who would appreciate these lenses.

 

As far as the above, I did address the fact that the DAs (some of the DAs) can be used on FF sensor. I'm fairly certain the DA 40 is a similar design to the original M design. Although it has been improved quite a bit.

 

I'm looking forward to the 15mm as well, but it's probably about 3rd or 4th on my list of glass right now since my 10-20mm works great in that range. The next limited I'll be adding is the 70mm.

 

I'm guessing the 15mm will be a bit slower, and a bit smaller than the 14mm but keep in mind 14mm is 21mm FOV, but a 15mm would be nearly 24mm which is approaching the longer end of wide and significantly more versatile than a 20-21mm FOV as a standard wide lens. Of course the build of the 15mm should be significantly better than the 14mm and that alone would be reason enough to produce two lenses so close together.