The smc P-DA40mm … 60mm view

Posted by David Chin on May 20th, 2007 in Pentax K10D Images

Pentax smc P-DA 40mm f/2.8 Limited lens

I haven’t really gotten into the ‘rhythm’ of using the Pentax DA40/2.8 pancake lens ever since I bought it.

First of all, the field of view in 35mm terms is equivalent to 60mm, which is not really standard lens range, and the primary reason I got it is because it is very sharp at wide open aperture, and it makes the Pentax K10D look real cool!

As others would prefer to show off long and big (physically) lenses, I think the reverse is equally eye-catching.

I remember David’s expression when he first saw this lens mounted on my K10D…”I thought you had the lens mounting cap on!”.

I recently went to Iran for a business trip, and decided to bring the gears a long. Not wanting to add too much weight on my notebook backpack, I opted to bring just the DA40/2.8, DA70/2.4 and just in case I need wide angle, the Pentax DA 10-17/3.5-4.5 fisheye zoom.

The other reason is to ‘force’ myself to start learning to use the DA70 more effectively. Initially, it’s quite frustrating experience trying to use this lens as a walk-about/street photography lens, nevertheless I kept reminding myself this is 60mm field of view. So I adjusted my working distance and learned along the way.

The DA40 is effective if you want to focus on a certain subject within a ‘wider’ frame. To further illustrate this, take for example this photo taken at the Dubai airport:

I want to capture the full height of the artificial palm tree while relating it to the size and ambience of the airport departure hall. It provided enough depth of field even when this shot was taken at f/2.8. (1/80s, ISO 400).