Pentax smc DA 70mm F2.4 Limited Lens Review

Introduction

Pentax smc DA 70mm f/2.4 Limited is yet another Limited pencake lens Pentax designed for the exclusive use  with its APS-C type SLR bodies. The lens was introduced back in 2006 and went into mass production around  the end of that year. the lens currently retails for ~US$500 and at this price level is clearly oriented towards  prosumer and professional users, rather then beginners.

The optical construction of the lens consists of 6 elements in 5 groups. Like all DA Limited lenses, the smc DA 70mm f/2.4 sports a lightweight aluminium barrel designed to withstand quite a bit of abuse. The lens is very light and compact, weighing only 130g (4.6oz) and measuring 63x  26mm (2.5 x 1in) - this is easily one of the smallest medium telephoto lenses currently available on the market. The lens supports both auto as well as manual focusing. Since there is no motor in the lens itself, the auto-focus is possible only on cameras that have a focusing drive pin. The pin locks into a slot on the base of lens  mount and rotates the elements back andforth until the camera catches the focus. The manual focusing is possible at any time, without the need to switch the lens from auto to manual focusing (there's even no A/M swtich on the lens). This is possible because of the 'QUick-Shift Focusing System', which is a big name for full-time manual focus override.

The smc DA 70mm f/2.4 Limited sports a fully electronic aperture and all settings are controlled directly from the camera. This is a common trait for all DA lenses, which also makes it impossible to use the lens on alternative mount cameras - while it might be possible to mount the lens physically on say Olympus Four Thurds system, the lens can be operated only in wide open aperture mode, since there will be no coupling between the lens and the camera. The minimum aperture setting is f/22. The minimum focusing distance is 44cm. The lens accepts 49mm screw-in type filters.

As mentioned, Pentax smc DA 70mm f/2.4 Limited was designed specifically for APS-C type bodies. This means the equivalent field of view of the lens is actually 105mm in traditional, full frame camera terms. The factory box includes the smc DA 70mm f/2.4 Limited lens, front and rear lens caps, lens hood MH-RB and DAT 70mm soft case.