Some time back, I said I would write a series of brief reviews for each of the passel o’ Pentax lenses I purchased. Time has passed, and I am finally getting around to the first of those. Up for inspection: the 28mm f2.8, a lens much less common to see on the used market than, say, the Pentax-M 28mm f2.8 manual-focus lens, but well worth picking up if you find it.
Up first, some photos:
Handling: this lens handles much like the other small primes in the F line: lightweight, compact, simple. It has a tiny focus ring, should you choose to manually focus. Unlike some of the other lenses in the series, like the 50mm f1.4 and f1.7, it’s not terribly hard to focus manually, since you have broader depth-of-field with this wide-angle lens. But it’s still not the easiest. If you really want a 28mm for manual focus, the M series lens would be a better pick.
Optically, it’s really quite good. Incidentally, I tried an M-series version years ago on another APS-C camera (the KP), and found it rather lacking for contrast and sharpness. That could have been haze or other imperfections in my copy. It’s hard to say. But this Pentax-F lens is plenty sharp, and has pleasing contrast, save under heavy front lighting, where it can pick up some veiling flare (a common refrain in these older lenses). A Lens hood might help, but sourcing an official Pentax one might be difficult. A wide-angle screw-in 49mm generic lens hood might do the trick, though I haven’t tried it yet.
One thing to note about this lens is the rather large amount of barrel distortion. Being a prime, it’s relatively easy to edit away the distortion in Lightroom or similar editing programs.
Overall verdict: this lens is small and light, and performs quite well, especially given its age. It’s easy to carry as a wide-angle backup when you’re primarily shooting with a different lens, which is how I often use it. The resolving power might start to be stretched by the 36mp K-1 mark II in a few situations, but, as is the case with most vintage lenses, any shortcomings have a pleasing character as long as you don’t expect modern, high-end lens perfection.
The Sprocket Docket 