Best lens for Portraits….only the DA70!

You might have read about lens choices for portraits in many Pentax forums. While the DA50-200 and the new DA*50-135/2.8 offer a lot of flexibility with good wide open aperture, personally, my vote always go to the DA70.

Even at the wide open aperture of f/2.4, the lens is outright sharp already! Coupled with its small size, it’s easy to handhold, without the hassle of long protrusion, especially in a very crowded situation. I encountered this yesterday, at a recently concluded annual Photo Fair held at Berjaya Times Square. There were so many people and most of them will be holding their big guns (70-200/2.8), and I was knocked a few times on my head with those big lenses. I really appreciate my small ‘package’, and manage to get the shots I wanted.

The photo above is out of camera, taken in RAW (DNG) and converted/resized for web display. Skintone is excellent. As the ambient lighting was poor, I used my Metz 54 flash in bounced position. The bokeh is another great virtue of this lens, it’s silky, creamy smooth. I only remember seeing this quality from possibly the Nikon 85mm f/1.4 or a Zeiss/Leica equivalent. To note, I was never impressed with Canon’s 85mm f/1.2 USM. I think the Pentax DA70mm f/2.4 can take it on anytime!

This lens is very reasonably priced at a local currency of RM1,380. I can never think of any other lens at that focal length that can be had at that price, not even the Sigma 70mm f/2.8 macro!

Give this lens a try if you’re seriously into portrait photography. You will be fully rewarded!

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