Pentax HD -D FA 28-105mm F3 – Ideally suited for the K-1

Very sharp and contrasty already open, it also acts very accurately and reliably in focussing on pentax kx. K20d has some mis-focussing issue, but the focussing system of kx seems superior to the one of the former and works fine and relatively speedy with the fa77. What some other reviewers here or there mentioned, has not come true with the unit i have so far: the lens cap sits still quite firm. Good idea: a lens hood is included, which retracts into the housing when applying the lens cap. Excellent build quality; a pleasure to focus manually with. It is light, hence no imbalance is introduced by mounting it. There is some minor ca wide open, but still very acceptable i find. Plus wide open again, it may lack some border crispness, yet considered the use model of a setup like that – mainly portrait – this is no issue either. Absolutely recommendable, but yes, it is expensive.

Really nice lens gives really good results, has a non-rotating front element and a little trap door at the bottom for adjusting a polarizer in the lens hood. This will be my no 1 lens unless i want to go for extra wide or tele shots. Suits the k-1 nicely and is usefully wide at the 28mm end on full frame ff setting. Nice to handle & all the rings turn smoothly (compared to my sigma) and balances with the camera. This is the lens for general out and about hand held shots. Pricey compared to apc lenses but well deserves 5 stars. And of course it works with the apc pentax’s if you want to upgrade in steps.

As a pentax user for nearly 50 years can only describe lens as superb. Speed of delivery, packaging etc excellent.

I was not going to buy this lens until i read the amazon reviews. It is perfect for portraits. In my opinion it is genuinely five star. 8 it has a very shallow depth of field but the portraits are sharp. There is very little distortion. The colours are very natural provided you get exposure and white balance right. It performs reasonable well at f1. 4 but sometimes there is some purple flare when used in very bright light outdoors. The wide aperture allows plenty of light in to aid automatic and manual focus.

It feels solid and very well made and is nice and compact. Image quality is great and it takes very nice macro photos. The first one i got did have an issue with the focus ring catching on the lens hood making an irritating squeak but amazon replaced it without any issues. The only issue i have found is that focusing is slow and it does have the habit of hunting through the whole focal range due to the lack of a focus limiter and using screw drive focus. Otherwise i am very happy with this lens. Now just need more time to play with it.

Good lens and love the macro feature, feels (and is) very high quality and dose a good job. Now i need more time to get to use it.

Can’t fault it, it’s perfect for macro jobs, also good for sitting across the bar and taking pictures of your mates from afar. Detail is amazing, the only downside is sometimes the focus struggles, but that’s why i use manual anyway.

Image quality is excellent and the focal length covered is perfect for me for a travel setup.

Fast focus, great macro, but iq is not as perfect as i expected. Some problems with colors sharpness on wide open.

I own this lens for quite a little now and never stop enjoying it. The lens quality is outstanding. It produces extremely sharp photos and the wide aperture helps in low light conditions. I would recommend as one of the first lenses any pentax user should have.

A bit of a beast to carry around but the quality of the images it produces most certainly makes up for it.

This review would be 5* but for one major point. A weird omission as it was on a previous model i owned from many years ago. It’s compact, light, weather resistant, with an aluminium outer casing, all plus points. Optically great, especially when closed down a stop. There are no manual controls, everything is electronically operated from the camera body. This is a minor criticism from someone who was using cameras to photograph noah. Anyone new to photography will not even be aware that the old features might be useful sometimes (they won’t, times change). In conclusion, well worth the money.

How did i ever manage to take photos with any other lens?. I have also bought a telephoto lens, but haven’t used it yet. Here are the specifications for the Pentax HD -D FA 28-105mm F3:

• Make sure this fits
  by entering your model number.
• 35mm Full-frame image sensor compatible
• Compact, lightweight body and excellent cost performance
• HD coating to optimize light transmittance and minimize reflection
• Weather-resistant construction against humidity and dust

Well made and amazing quality very pleased with it, accept weight is price for imagery.

I have had this lens for some time now with my pentax k1 but it also works well on my k3. It is a lightweight lens but the image quality and build is is excellent. It is my first choice for a travel /everyday lens. As far as i can see, all the reviews connected to this lens are for other pentax lens specifications so i thought i would write a review which links to the correct lens (amazon should be careful about this). If you haven’t got a full frame pentax slr, do look out for a deal which combines camera and this lens as it will probably be much better value.

I spent ages trying to choose which macro lens to buy for my k10d. Having plumped for this one, i’m very pleased with the image quality and build. This is my first ‘proper’ lens and i’m very pleased with the detail that i can get in my pictures.

It’s not just me saying this, time and time again the 50mm f/1. 4 lenses from canon, nikon, minolta (sony), olympus and pentax are put against each other (although, now oly no longer makes it’s offering due to it’s four thirds system). The result, the fa 50mm f/1. 4 pretty much always comes out top or close to top. It’s also cheaper than any of the others, often by a country mile. It has an aperture ring, meaning that it can be used on any pentax camera since the evolution of the k mounnt (circa 1975) with no compatability issues. As with pretty much all fast fifties, the lens is ‘dreamy’ wide open rather than tack sharp, sharpness falls off in the corners quite a lot (not quite such a big issue on digital) and it only starts to get very good corner to corner at around f/5.

Nice and quick lens with the pentax k-1.

If you’re going to spend this much on a lens, please do some research first. The comments will tell you that the pentax customers are very satisfied, but i think it’s worth understanding what this lens is supposed to do before you lay down such a huge outlay. :-)it’s a superb lens- light, weatherproof and it allows you to take great photographs. The ‘macro’ refers to it’s ability to take close up shots- you can take astonishingly detailed shots from just a few inches away. Ever missed that amazing looking beetle or spider because you just couldn’t focus?. It’s great for jewellery, crystal and other small, intricate, precious objects. Models- that’s as in scale ones, not fashionista clothes horses- are a joy to capture. Under decent light you can see every effect you painstakingly applied in glorious, true life colour (as well as all your worst brush strokes.

Reviews from purchasers :

• Excellent versatile lens for Pentax K1
• Ideally suited for the K-1
• Classic Glass

I absolutely love this lens, i’m not going to lie i’m mostly a portrait photography and so the depth of field this lens offers is perfection. This is only a quick review but i have had it for almost a year now so i feel i’m in a better position now to assess it’s performance, i can’t talk about the af because i typically manually focus my images. But it’s a quick lens and works brilliantly under low-light, as i took it to a convention and there was very little light but it still produced images i was proud of. Regardless for any pentax camera fanatic i’d suggest this lens, it’s brilliant and it’s affordable. (not to mention it’s only a little light-weight lens).

Very sharp, and colours are fine.

The lens cover is a nuisance when wanting to change settings, did not perform as well in low light used artifical light or a flash to get best results. Took a while to master the auto focus but generally okay. Better than other makes i have tried with the camera.

I have owned this lens for a number of years now, having originaly bought to use with a pentax z1 35mm camera. It’s not a lens i use often, but in low light the results are wonderful, well worth the money.

I bought the lens to use with a pentax k-1 full frame camera as a travel lens. I already have a pentax 24-70mm lens that is on the large and heavy side for carrying long distances. I have now used it several times and the picture quality has been every bit as good as the more expensive lens.

Not had a chance to use it very much yet. Some users have complained that because of the long focus range the af is slow and hunts but i have been pleased that it seems to find focus quite quickly.

I’ve bought this lens mainly for location portraits and model shots – and the test shots i’ve done so far confirm that in image quality this lens will sit worthily alongside my 70mm limited. I’m not entirely sold on the lens’ looks though, as it’s a bit of a plain tube or even like a lens on top of extension tubes. And the lens hood is so long it manages to unbalance the k-3, even with it’s battery grip on. I’m not sure how necessary that is for the hood as the front lens element is quite recessed anywaybut although i have some reservations about the design, the fact remains that this lens is a top-notch performer and a worthy addition to any pentax lens bag.

Expensive and quite heavy but the clarity and sharpness of the images taken are brilliant. Used in low light/dark clouds and maximum focal length at an airshow and i am very pleased with the results.

Although pentax currently make dslrs with only aps-c size sensors, this is a full-frame lens as signified by its dfa designation. It therefore has a field of view equivalent to an 150mm lens in 35mm terms and this gives a useful working distance. It’s particularly attractive because of its weather-resistant sealing, so one doesn’t have to worry about the odd shower when out and about. It’s capable of 1:1 magnification, so it’s a true macro lens, and it has a useful f2. It also makes a superb portrait lens, though it might be a little sharp for some people’s taste in this regard. Even though it’s not one of pentax’s renowned limited series lenses, he build quality is nevertheless superb and it is reasonably priced. The only (minor) gripe i have is that it doesn’t have an internal focusing (if) mechanism which means that the len’s length varies according to the focusing distance. However, as the inner tube extends inside the lens hood, this isn’t too much of a problem. Autofocus is by way of a screw drive and seems reasonably quick, though this is a minor concern for most macro work. The lack of an internal motor and in-lens stabilisation (pentax cameras have in-body stabilisation) means that the lens is relatively small and portable. Oh, and did i mention, it’s very sharp.

Great lens, it has replaced my older sigma and tamron lenses with an up to date lens. Every thing that you would expect from a lens of this focal range with all the feature, as with any lens buy a uv filter.

Well if i could i would just write super, but amazon wants more words – sp lemme say i have used this one for half a year or so for macro, portraits and landscape and it works perfect with very good picture quality. I use it on k5 and have also to my satisfaction 15, 31, 43 and 77mm.

I bought it for macro, but its focal length and brightness makes it a fantastic portrait lens as well. Metal lens feels like a limited. And has smooth manual focus with magnification markers. Due to its extreme focus throw, it can hunt everynow then. I can easily see this lens become my favourite.

Yes, it’s not absolutely tack-sharp when wide open, but with my k10d’s shake reduction turned on, you can pretty much shoot under candlelight if you have steady enough hands or a monopod. It also has lovely bokeh: an astonishing number of the shots i’ve taken that make people go ‘ooh’ are with this lens. Best money i’ve ever spent on anything to do with my camera.

8 macro is an exceptionally good lens. Well built and weather sealed. It is absolutely tack sharp at all focal lengths and great as a general lens not just marco. It works perfectly with my full frame pentax k-1 with no vignetting.

I bought this for my samsung gx20 (k20d twin). Initially, it was soft a dreamy at f2 (fine by f2. 8) but after a correction trip back to pentax, it is now excellent at f2 and beyond. It is a quality plastic, small, lightweight lens which is very sharp corner to corner. Distortions are almost zero. The bokeh is nice and smooth. Flare is not an issue – there is a supplied hood. Only fault (small one) is that the focus ring rotates as it focuses – so keep your fingers out of the way; filters are not affected by this, so a polariser is fine. Equivalent to about 50mm on 35mm – so a ‘normal’ lens on aps-c sensors.

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