Hello Pentaxians! From the looks of the new HD Pentax-D FA★ 50mm f/1.4 SDM AW lens (not-yet official name), your normal field of view is about to become much sweeter.
If you weren’t paying attention at Photo Plus Expo in New York City, you may have missed the new Pentax 50mm lens under the glass at the Javits Center. Fast forward to February, and the new lens is out of the cage at the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International Conference and Expo in Las Vegas, and we got our hands on it for a sneak peek.
My affinity for the 50mm lens is not a secret, so when a new one comes out, I get excited to update my article and think about the legions of photographers that will undoubtedly employ this latest Nifty Fifty.
The lens is officially announced by Pentax and is on the company’s lens road map, but it has yet to be officially released, so we have no real specs to share. I will say that it is a behemoth of a 50mm lens. When you think Nifty Fifty, you usually think of a small, lightweight, and portable lens. This new Pentax lens has a feel similar to a larger 85mm lens and, when compared to the current Pentax SMCP-FA 50mm f/1.4 and smc DA 50mm f/1.8 side by side, you can see how the younger brother definitely is the “big brother” to its siblings.
The lens feels solid and looks great on the new K-1II and it is well balanced on that body, but, if you are trying to travel light, you might want to plan on sticking with the SMCP-FA version of the lens. However, for the dedicated Pentaxian, this lens looks to have the makings of an ultimate optic for your Pentax camera.
