Evaluating what my favourite lenses are early in 2025 made me realise just how my tastes have changed in the last twelve months. A little over a year ago I had no idea that I was to move from an admirer of the Pentax DSLR system to a user. Writing this article in April 2024 was the defining moment and catalyst for stepping into the world of Pentax. At the time of writing about the 31mm Limited, my interest in small, precision made lenses was rekindled, influenced by my appreciation of the Olympus Zuiko lens system used when I shot film.
I appear to have reached a point in my life where decades of back and neck problems have taken their toll. Not being someone who wants simply to give up and accept the inevitably that this is leading to, adjustments to some aspects of life will hopefully prove beneficial.
After 35 and 50mm focal lengths, short telephotos are amongst my favourite lenses. Their versatility goes far beyond portraiture to become the third in a trinity of lenses that I covet. For decades I have kept one or two lenses of this criteria in my bag starting with 100 and 135mm Zuiko’s. As I moved into the digital world I added further short tele’s to my collection. Prior to getting into Pentax gear I purchased a Leica APO-Summicron-SL 75 f2 ASPH. And it is the disillusion that came with this lens that caused me to discover what has turned out to be one of my favourite short telephoto lenses of all time - Pentax’s D FA* 85mm F1.4ED SDM AW.
Since starting out in photography, long or fast telephoto lenses have been a perpetual attraction. My interest has always been borne out of curiosity rather than a requirement, as I have never been dedicated to specific genres that require their use on a regular basis.
As part of building my second camera system to tinker with, I drew up a list of lenses that I intended to add in the future. For me, a good 50mm lens is an essential core component as I find I gravitate towards this and the 35mm focal length often.
Pentax have produced a slew of 50mm lenses over the years, so there were rich pickings from which to make a selection. At the time of purchase I had only the APSC Pentax K3 mkiii, but it had always been my intention to add a larger 36x24mm sensor Pentax camera at a future point. It is how I built my Leica system; to have both APSC and 36x24mm formats allows two different focal lengths for the price of one to be exploited (assuming those lenses are designed for the larger format). It was with this in mind that I started researching the market to see what what out there.
Introduction and Background
In today’s age of mirrorless cameras, DSLR’s have become something of a dying breed and defined on the whole by mature examples provided by Nikon, Canon and Pentax. It appears to be the latter of these three brands who have taken on the task of creating a niche for themselves by shunning mirrorless technology in favour of the DSLR. While Nikon and Canon maintain a foothold in the space, they do so with products that are several years old. Pentax, however, have reiterated that they remain committed to DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) style cameras and continue to push the boundaries on very mature products.
Nine years have passed since Ethan first wrote his thoughts down about Pentax’s Limited 20-40mm zoom lens here on PhotoArk. And while he parted company with it several years ago in pursuit of other fine lenses from the Limited series, its loss to our collection left a somewhat unquantifiable hole. It wasn’t that we did not have the focal length covered; we had primes and zooms that plugged the gap. It wasn’t that the 20-40 was the sharpest tool in the box; most of our primes could best it in edge performance at most apertures. It wasn’t a speed demon either; the variable 2.8-4 aperture could be considered a little sedentary, and it didn’t have a very large zoom range, which is something it has been criticised for over the years.