Pentax HD DA 70mm F2 4 Limited Review | 54 Data compared

The HD PENTAX-DA 70mm f/2.4 Limited is a compact "pancake" lens for APS-C, offering outstanding, high-contrast image quality, premium all-metal construction, and a very respectable f/2.4 aperture. While delivering excellent sharpness that becomes visually uniform by f/5.6, the lens features a noisy, screw-driven autofocus system, minor corner softness wide open, and requires removing the telescoping hood for filter access. Key advantages include its small size, low distortion (0.35% pincushion), and high resistance to flare from its HD coating, although it lacks weather sealing. The lens is ideal for portable portraiture, providing a 107mm equivalent focal length in a 130g package.

The HD Pentax-DA 70mm f/2.4 Limited lens is a highly compact, aluminum-built prime for APS-C DSLRs that offers excellent contrast and color rendition via HD multi-coating. Its standout features include superb sharpness, a lightweight 130g design, and a unique telescoping lens hood, making it ideal for travel and portraits. Drawbacks include a noisy screw-driven autofocus system, a rotating focus ring during AF, and a lack of weather sealing. While performing exceptionally, the lens may show mild softness in the corners and slight chromatic aberrations when used wide open at f/2.4.

The Pentax 70mm f/2.4 Limited HD DA is a highly compact, lightweight short telephoto portrait lens featuring an all-metal construction and retro styling. It serves as a refreshed version of its predecessor, replacing the older Super Multi Coating with a new High Definition (HD) coating that successfully reduces lens flare while enhancing image contrast and saturation. Optically, the lens delivers excellent center sharpness wide open at f/2.4, and reaching its uniform "sweet spot" across the entire frame at f/5.6. It effectively minimizes optical flaws, showing only minor corner vignetting at wide apertures and negligible barrel or pincushion distortion, while an updated 9-blade rounded aperture diaphragm provides a more pleasing background bokeh. Despite its strong performance, the lens has several distinct limitations. Its primary drawback is a legacy screw-drive autofocus motor that is notably noisy and produces a whining sound, making it unsuitable for quiet or stealthy environments—even though it still focuses rapidly under one second. Additionally, it lacks weather-sealing or a rubber mount gasket, is poorly suited for macro photography due to a limited 0.12x magnification at a 70cm minimum...

The Pentax HD DA 70mm F2.4 Limited is a highly compact, short telephoto lens designed specifically for Pentax APS-C format SLR cameras, offering an equivalent 105mm field of view that makes it ideal for shallow depth-of-field portraiture. In laboratory testing, the lens demonstrated exceptional performance, achieving a sharp 2,003 lines at its maximum f/2.4 aperture and peaking at an edge-to-edge tack-sharp 2,396 lines when stopped down to f/5.6. It features an improved HD lens coating, rounded aperture blades, a durable all-metal barrel, and a quick-shift manual focus ring that can be turned at any time. While optimized for APS-C sensors, it can also be used on full-frame cameras like the K-1, though users will experience a moderate vignette and soft outer corners at wider apertures. The lens boasts several notable pros, including its very sharp optics, minimal distortion of just 0.5%, compact design measuring only 1 by 2.5 inches, and premium metal construction. However, there are some distinct cons to consider, such as the complete omission of weather sealing—a feature standard on many Pentax camera bodies—and a screw-in telescoping metal...

The HD Pentax-DA 70mm F2.4 Limited is a unique, ultra-compact pancake telephoto lens designed specifically for Pentax APS-C DSLRs, offering a 105mm equivalent focal length and an unusual f/2.4 maximum aperture. Built with a simple optical design of 6 elements in 5 groups, the lens features a detachable retracting lens hood with a telescopic section for flare protection, making the physical body exceptionally slim when removed. It provides a lightweight, "occasional telephoto" option that easily fits into a coat pocket, making it highly portable for travel and street photography. However, its performance highlights several notable drawbacks, particularly its reliance on the camera body's crude, noisy, and sometimes hesitant mechanical autofocus drive, as it lacks an internal AF motor. While the lens produces attractive background blur and a perspective-flattening effect, lab tests indicate that its optical sharpness is acceptable but never truly impressive, with visible softness at the edges and a tendency toward lateral chromatic aberration and pronounced purple fringing in bright areas. Ultimately, while its tiny dimensions and f/2.4 aperture serve as major pros, its rough autofocus and the niche...

The HD Pentax-DA 70mm f/2.4 Limited is a highly compact, all-metal, 130-gram APS-C pancake lens providing a 105mm equivalent focal length. It is praised for outstanding center sharpness, minimal distortion, vibrant color, and an integrated, retractable metal hood, enhanced by HD coating for superior contrast. Limitations include minor corner softness wide open and visible longitudinal chromatic aberration in high-contrast scenes. Additionally, the lens features a noisy, slower screw-drive autofocus system, a 70cm minimum focus distance, a moderate f/2.4 aperture, and lacks weather sealing.

The Pentax HD DA 70mm F2.4 Limited is a highly compact, short telephoto prime lens designed for Pentax APS-C SLR cameras, offering a 105mm full-frame equivalent field of view that is excellent for portraiture. Built to a high standard, it features a sturdy, premium all-metal barrel and an improved HD lens coating with rounded aperture blades. Optically, the lens delivers exceptional sharpness, recording 2,003 lines at its maximum f/2.4 aperture and reaching tack-sharp performance from edge to edge when stopped down to f/4 and f/5.6. Additionally, it exhibits virtually non-existent distortion at just 0.5% and maintains relatively even illumination across the frame. Though optimized for APS-C sensors, its image circle is large enough to cover full-frame bodies like the K-1, though users will encounter a moderate vignette and soft edges at wider apertures.