Bob S wrote: "Is it for similar reasons that the limited lenses (43mm & 77mm) are outrageously expensive? They seem to be extraordinarily well made and modern compromises to hold the price down seem infrequent in their design. But there are also some nagging questions about how sharp they are wide open. And we seem to imbue them with other special optical properties like "3 dimensional" rendition. Could it be that these lenses are just a modern return to the level of quality presented in the old screwmounts? (Also with some updates for optical qualities)" REPLY: The Limited lenses are certainly a look back. Its also no coincidence that the Limited lenses (so far) are close to sought after, collectible K-mount lenses; eg. 85/1.8 (77/1.8), 40/2.8 (43/1.9), and 30/2.8 (31/1.8). However, their optical properties is born from an even earlier eras optics. The special 3D qualities is present in the classic japanese lenses for rangefinders (40's- 50's) due to various abberations usually corrected in newer lenses. I guess this qualities may have been present in the lenses for the Asahiflex and the earliest M42 Takumars. So Pentax have fine tuned various abberations in the Limited lenses in order to get the same pleasing effect. The Limited lenses wide-open performance may not be great, but how many lenses are sharp wide open? I've never seen a fast lens thats sharp wide open. The sharpest lenses wide open I have tried are the Macro lenses. Some super telephotos are also rather sharp wide open, but they are not fast in absolute terms, only relatively. I've never seen a F:1.someting that was sharp at those wide apertures. Pål - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org.
