A couple of days ago I received my smc Pentax FA 77mm F1,8 Limited lens. Now, every new lens is a joy to receive and use of course. But what’s so special about the FA 77? Forums and blogs are full of raving reviews and superlatives. The lens is considered as one of the best lenses in the world. But the thing is, you really can’t tell what’s so special about it, until you have used it.
First off, the FA 77 is a beautiful lens, in my opinion. The dedication and craftsmanship with which it was made, is clearly visible. I own the silver version, and there also is a black version of this lens. I know it’s a matter of taste, but I find that the silver version is not only a classic beauty, but also emanates it’s ‘Limited’ designation superbly and fittingly. Snobby perhaps, but I like this a lot. And I don’t see any real world disadvantage to the silver color. The silver version is considered a bit more obtrusive than the black version, but I think that this is a disadvantage only in some very rare cases where the only thing grabbing a person’s attention would be the silver colored lens instead of the camera or photographer as a whole. I consider this ‘disadvantage’ to be highly theoretically.
Although the FA 77 has some weak points (too small lens hood, and some purple fringing at wide open aperture at harsh contrasts), the image quality is awesome. The pictures taken with the FA 77 often seem to come to life. That is because of the phenomenal rendering of texture and shape that this lens is capable of. And it’s very sharp too. If you don’t know the lens, I stop boring you here. And if you do know the lens, there’s no reason to go either, because you know what you’ve got.
As with a lot of these ‘I have a new toy and I’m happy with it’ posts, the first samples aren’t great photos. That has to grow over time. A quick and dirty sample is here though:
FA 77 Limited @ F5,6 1/90 ISO 400, Pentax K10D. A 100% crop is here too:
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