Pentax smc FA 35 mm f/2 AL review - Summary

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Pentax smc FA 35 mm f/2 AL

20 July 2010

Arkadiusz Olech

11. Summary

Pros:

small dimensions in relatively solid barrel,
excellent image quality in the frame centre, including the maximum relative aperture,
good image quality at the frame edge,
acceptable chromatic aberration,
slight distortion,
well-controlled astigmatism,
very good work against bright light,
the lowest vignetting in its class.

Cons:

lack of a fully fledged manual focus ring,
unreliable autofocus.

If you look closely at the accomplishments of the tested lens’s optics, you can find that it is the best 2/35 class instrument tested by us. The differences between competitors aren’t big, though, and a Zeiss 2/35 test, which has been waiting in the drawer, can (but doesn’t have to) still show us the highest achievements possible for such parameters.

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The Pentax 2/35 gets some negative points in areas where its rivals fared very well – we lack the opportunity of comfortable manual focusing and the autofocus is far from accurate.

Despite these two flaws the lens can certainly be recommended and I am sure it will have a considerable group of happy users.

Sample shots:


Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/5.0, exp. 1/180 s, ISO 100 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 7.7 MB	Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/5.0, exp. 1/180 s, ISO 100 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 7.5 MB	Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/9.0, exp. 1/180 s, ISO 100 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 9.0 MB

Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/2.0, exp. 1/250 s, ISO 400 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 9.7 MB	Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/2.8, exp. 1/4000 s, ISO 200 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 10.0 MB	Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/4.0, exp. 1/2500 s, ISO 200 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 9.8 MB

Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/2.0, exp. 1/400 s, ISO 200 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 8.4 MB	Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/2.0, exp. 1/250 s, ISO 200 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 9.4 MB	Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/2.8, exp. 1/160 s, ISO 200 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 9.4 MB

Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/2.8, exp. 1/250 s, ISO 200 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 8.9 MB	Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/6.3, exp. 1/800 s, ISO 200 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 11.1 MB	Camera: Pentax K20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/2.0, exp. 1/1250 s, ISO 200 File: JPG, 4672x3104 pix, 9.0 MB