LBA: DA21/3.2 Ltd (1 pic)

tcom · Jul 26, 2006

Hi

I finally got the DA 21 Limited today and posting the first picture. As the weather was quite hazy, I tried this lens on flowers in the garden. I hope to post some landscapes soon.

*istDS, 1/250s f/6.7 iso200:

The picture has been converted from RAW to JPG. The full sized JPG is available on my web page under http://www.pbase.com/tcom/pentax_istd_samples

--
Dominique

http://www.pbase.com/tcom

Joseph Tainter · Jul 26, 2006

I always enjoy your photos, Dominique. You are a good photographer.

Joe

Chyn · Jul 26, 2006

Nice image! What are your impressions thus far?
--
http://www.pbase.com/chynyj

steve mallen · Jul 26, 2006

A very nice shot. I guess you must have been quite close to the flower for this shot, seeing as it was at f/6.7?

I'm looking forward to getting one of these (if they ever arrive in Britain). I may have to content myself with a DA 14mm instead...

Thanks for sharing,
-Steve M/

tcom · Jul 26, 2006

I cannot say a lot concerning image quality. I will wait for some landscape shots...

The build quality is similar to the DA40 Limited, excellent.

However, on the DA40, I could put a circular pol or UV filter on the lens and put the lens hood on top of it. On the DA21, there is a 49mm thread for a filter, but the lens hood is mounted on a holder below the filter thread. So one has to choose between a filter and the lens hood.

--
Dominique

http://www.pbase.com/tcom

tcom · Jul 26, 2006

--
Dominique

http://www.pbase.com/tcom

tcom · Jul 26, 2006

steve mallen said:
A very nice shot. I guess you must have been quite close to the
flower for this shot, seeing as it was at f/6.7?

Yes, I was not far away from the minimum focusing distance of this lens (20cm).

steve mallen said:
I'm looking forward to getting one of these (if they ever arrive in
Britain). I may have to content myself with a DA 14mm instead...

The first DA21 reached Pentax Switzerland this Monday so I guess it should be reaching the UK also these days...

I am worried about the availability of the K100D. I am going on two weeks safari holiday next week on thursday where SR might be very usefull (and surely some excellent subjects for field testing the K100D).

--
Dominique

http://www.pbase.com/tcom

asad_masede · Jul 26, 2006

Finally, the kind of DA21 sample I was waiting for, thanks a bunch! I'm ditching my plans to get an FA35, this will do perfectly instead!
--
smc PENTAX-FA* http://www.photo.net/photos/masede mm F1.4 ED AL IF Limited

DagT · Jul 26, 2006

Here´s a test picture from me:
http://foto.no/cgi-bin/bildekritikk/vis_bilde.cgi?id=248881

Note that some islands on the right makes the distortion seem larger
than it actually is. The mid tones have been lightened a little bit
to show some detail in the faces.
--
DagT
http://dag.foto.no

Pasvorn · Jul 26, 2006

It looks really good.

Gareth_R · Jul 26, 2006

Thanks Dominique,

Great photo and interesting bokeh, the 21ltd is looking good.

tcom · Jul 27, 2006

Here are two more samples made with this DA21:

*istDS, 1/500s f/8.0

*istDS, 1/350s f/6.7

These are also available full sized on http://www.pbase.com/tcom/pentax_istd_samples

--
Dominique

http://www.pbase.com/tcom

Jonas B · Jul 27, 2006

Thank you for the pictures Dominique! And what a slick little lens!

But... it it only me finding the bokeh a little bit harsh? It reminds me about the bokeh from the FA28/2.8 and you can see some example of bright ring bokeh as well as the not very soft rendering between different things in the background.

Now I guess this is a problem only when focusing really close and at big aperture openings. But, sometimes one want to do just that...

Ah, I'm tempted as well but right now I stick with the FA20-35/4. Not much slower but quite versatile. (

What about flare? I have seen impressing examples (from Pentax) of a beach or a pir with lights on it. Is it that good?!

--
Jonas

Lance B · Jul 27, 2006

Great image Dominique!

It looks like the 21 Limited is keeping up the traditions of the LE line of lenses, ie great image quality!
--
Lance B

http://www.pbase.com/lance_b
GMT +10hours

Chyn · Jul 27, 2006

Fantastic pics, Dominique.

I was looking at the full size version of the first image, and came away impressed with the DA21's sharpness, especially from the rendering of the town buildings in distant. Thanks again for sharing.

--
http://www.pbase.com/chynyj

steve mallen · Jul 27, 2006

Hi Jonas,

I tend to agree about the bokeh in this example, it does seem a little bit 'brittle' (difficult to find adjectives to describe bokeh!). But it's not easy to evaluate a lens by looking at a resized, web jpg.

I have to say that it makes me wonder whether I should grab a DA 14mm instead - but then I'd lose the 'pocketability' of this lens.

It'd be nice to see some samples at a longer focus distance to compare...

Jonas B said:
Thank you for the pictures Dominique! And what a slick little lens!
But... it it only me finding the bokeh a little bit harsh? It
reminds me about the bokeh from the FA28/2.8 and you can see some
example of bright ring bokeh as well as the not very soft rendering
between different things in the background.

...

Jonas B said:
Jonas

tcom · Jul 27, 2006

Hi Jonas

Jonas B said:
Thank you for the pictures Dominique! And what a slick little lens!
But... it it only me finding the bokeh a little bit harsh? It
reminds me about the bokeh from the FA28/2.8 and you can see some
example of bright ring bokeh as well as the not very soft rendering
between different things in the background.
Now I guess this is a problem only when focusing really close and
at big aperture openings. But, sometimes one want to do just that...

On my closeup shots, I was not more than 25cm away from the subject. I guess that is the source of the little bit harsh bokeh. I could not test the lens well enough so far to see if it could be a problem.

Jonas B said:
What about flare? I have seen impressing examples (from Pentax) of
a beach or a pir with lights on it. Is it that good?!

I did not check the lens specially for flare until now. I have mainly checked it for purple fringing and am pretty happy with the result so far.

--
Dominique

http://www.pbase.com/tcom

tcom · Jul 27, 2006

Hi Lance

Thank you. I am really happy with the DA21.

Up to now, I used the DA16-45 as walk around lens. I might consider using the DA21 and DA40 instead...
--
Dominique

http://www.pbase.com/tcom

tcom · Jul 27, 2006

steve mallen said:
Hi Jonas,

I tend to agree about the bokeh in this example, it does seem a
little bit 'brittle' (difficult to find adjectives to describe
bokeh!). But it's not easy to evaluate a lens by looking at a
resized, web jpg.

Hi Steve

It was by far not the best shooting conditions, the sun was still quite low and I was nearly photographing directly against the sun.

BTW: the full sized image is on http://www.pbase.com/tcom/image/64171508
--
Dominique

http://www.pbase.com/tcom

John Bean (UK) · Jul 27, 2006

tcom said:
Up to now, I used the DA16-45 as walk around lens. I might consider
using the DA21 and DA40 instead...

How is the colour balance? I find the DA40 a little warmer than my other Pentax lenses, even warmer than my Sigma 17-70. Is the match between the DA40 and the DA21 quite close? Doesn't matter much with a zoom but I like the "look" to stay consistent if I'm swapping prime lenses.

--
John Bean

PAW 2006 Week 29:

Iindex page: http://waterfoot.smugmug.com
Latest walkabout (4 April): http://waterfoot.smugmug.com/gallery/1348582

LBA: DA21/3.2 Ltd (1 pic)

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