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Pentax SMC-FA 43mm f/1.9 Limited - Review / Test Report |
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Lens Reviews -
Pentax
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Page 1 of 3
Review by Klaus Schroiff, published April 2007
Special thanks to Rüdiger Neumann for providing this lens!
Introduction
The Pentax SMC FA 43mm f/1.9 is another "Limited" lenses made by Pentax.
At around 550€/US$ it is certainly not a budget item especially
for a "normal" lens but in a swamp of budget oriented plastic lenses the
high quality Pentax lens makes a welcome difference. Typical for all FA
lenses it supports the full 35mm format so it can be used both on film
and digital SLRs. On the Pentax K10D its field-of-view is equivalent to
64.5mm so it leaves its original scope as a "normal" lens towards a very
moderate tele.
The build quality of the lens is superb with most parts made of metal.
The tiny focus ring operates very smooth and slightly damped. Typical
for FA-type lenses there's a dedicated aperture ring on the lens.
The lens is/was available in a platinum- and black-colored variant. As
you have surely noticed the platinum version looks a little alien on
the K10D.
The lens has no internal AF motor and relies on a slotted drive screw operated
by the camera. As a result AF operation will generate a moderate degree of noise.
The AF speed is very fast on the K10D.
| Specifications |
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| Equiv. focal length | 64.5 mm (full format equivalent) |
| Equiv. aperture | f/2.9 (full format equivalent, in terms of depth-of-field) |
| Optical construction | 7 elements in 6 groups |
| Number of aperture blades | 8 |
| min. focus distance | 0.45 m (max. magnification ratio 1:8) |
| Dimensions | 64 x 24 mm |
| Weight | 155 g |
| Filter size | 49 mm (non-rotating) |
| Hood | snap-on type (supplied) | |
| Other features | - |
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