Pentax smc FA 77 mm f/1.8 Limited
11. Summary
- very solid and, in the same time, classic, stylish barrel,
- brilliant image quality in the frame centre at all apertures,
- very good frame corner image quality on slight stopping down,
- splendid chromatic aberration correction,
- practically zero distortion,
- slight astigmatism,
- good work against bright light.
Cons:
- soft frame edges near the maximum aperture
- noticeable coma,
- weak autofocus.
The Pentax smc P-FA 77 mm f/1.8 limited is undoubtedly a very well-made lens indeed. Although its price is higher than the price of Canon and Nikon lenses with similar parameters, it has one serious advantage – a significantly better performance near the maximum relative aperture. Noticeable coma and the softness at edges when wide open are minor flaws and you shouldn’t bother yourself with them. The most serious disadvantage of this lens is its autofocus. It is loud, not very quick and the most important thing - not accurate. Of course you can cope with it, especially taking into account the fact that many classic lenses with similar look and build quality are completely manual instruments. On the other hand, though, when you spend almost 800 $ on a lens with such parameters you would wish to have an instrument without any serious fault. After all, we’ve got a very interesting and cheaper alternative in the same Pentax system – namely a Pentax smc P-DA 70 mm f/2.4 limited- which in our tests didn’t have so serious autofocus issues and in all other categories, apart from vignetting, fared very well. The conclusion still can be positive, though, because everybody will find arguments for buying either a limited 70 mm lens or a limited 77 mm lens. What’s the most important thing, everybody will be happy with their choice.
Sample shots:
Please Support UsIf you enjoy our reviews and articles, and you want us to continue our work please, support our website by donating through PayPal. The funds are going to be used for paying our editorial team, renting servers, and equipping our testing studio; only that way we will be able to continue providing you interesting content for free. |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|
|
|
| Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 77 mm, f/6.3, exp. 1/180 sec., ISO 100 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 10.7 MB |
Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 77 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/180 sec., ISO 100 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 8.2 MB |
Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 77 mm, f/2.2, exp. 1/200 sec., ISO 400 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 9.6 MB |
|
|
|
| Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 77 mm, f/1.8, exp. 1/200 sec., ISO 400 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 9.7 MB |
Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 77 mm, f/2.0, exp. 1/50 sec., ISO 800 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 10.6 MB |
Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 77 mm, f/5.0, exp. 1/180 sec., ISO 100 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 7.7 MB |
|
|
|
| Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 77 mm, f/7.1, exp. 1/180 sec., ISO 100 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 8.5 MB |
Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 77 mm, f/4.5, exp. 1/1600 sec., ISO 160 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 10.8 MB |
Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 77 mm, f/1.8, exp. 1/3200 sec., ISO 125 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 8.8 MB |
|
|
|
| Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 77 mm, f/1.8, exp. 1/800 sec., ISO 400 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 11.1 MB |
Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 77 mm, f/2.8, exp. 1/500 sec., ISO 400 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 10.5 MB |
Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 77 mm, f/2.0, exp. 1/2000 sec., ISO 640 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 10.2 MB |
|
|
|
| Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 77 mm, f/4.5, exp. 1/500 sec., ISO 100 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 3.5 MB |
Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 77 mm, f/4.0, exp. 1/25 sec., ISO 1600 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 3.6 MB |
Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 77 mm, f/2.8, exp. 1/1600 sec., ISO 100 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 2.9 MB |
