Designed by the legendary designer Jun Hirakawa who was responsible for several of Pentax's best lenses, this lens is often over-shadowed by the later DA15, but although this lens is larger and heavier it does have the advantages of the faster maximum aperture and closer minimum focus. I sold my first one when the DA15 was released, but acquired another copy at the same time as having both versions of the DA15
It has been given some poor reviews by some users, yet others think highly of it. Although it is often compared to the DA15 (as it is only 1mm different) I think the "look" it gives is very different - sometime the results are a little disappointing, other times there are some great shots from it.
Here are a few snaps from the garden this morning - I've used the LR lens profile (I think it corrects the UW distortion nicely) and a bit of messing with shadows and highlights, but there is no sharpening on any shots.
1. use of the close focus (f8):
2. and again (f11):
3. the unusual 6 pointed highlight created by the 6 bladed aperture:
4. performance at f2.8 (sometime criticised as "soft"):
5. similar shot but at f6.3:
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