I finally got it! DA 21mm f/3.2 AL

This is the last missing piece in my ‘quest’ to own all three Pentax pancake DA lenses. I love the pancake lenses for its small physical sizes, and covers all the important focal lengths. This is especially useful and beneficial for me when I travel during my business trips where I don’t have to carry a big camera bag.

One of my favourite camera bag is (you won’t believe it) the Lowepro Apex 110AW. It’s the smallest in the series, however with the pancake lenses, I am able to pack in a DA 70mm f/2.4 AL together with either a DA 40mm f/2.8 AL or DA 21mm f/3.2 AL attached to the camera (without battery grip).

This is the bag,

Back to the DA 21mm, it’s one very sharp lens! According to photozone.de, the MTF is highest at f/5.6, which I took (advice) literally when I shot this at the top level of a 17th storey apartment in KL,

Click here for the full size image.

When I showed this image to one of my photographer friend, he was so amazed at its quality and sharpness, and the amount of details it captured, and asked if I had taken the shot at f/9 or f/11. He was dumbfounded when I told him….f/5.6!

In fact, the shot of the Lowerpro bag was done with the DA 21mm too, at wide open aperture of f/3.2, 1/40s, with bounced flash.

I know I’m gonna love this lens, more happy with the thought that I’ve now owned the all the three pancakes!