The Pentax DA 70mm f/2.4 Limited Lens is exclusively designed for use with Pentax digital SLR cameras, and features an ultra-thin “pancake” design, along with uni-focal, medium-telephoto optics. With a medium-telephoto perspective, this lens is ideal for many applications, including landscape and portraiture. High-performance optics ensure outstanding image quality, and provide distinctive visual expression.

Materials used for this lens are selected for optimum holding comfort and operability. This lens is designed to be extremely thin and lightweight, for take-along portability for casual, day-to-day snapshot photography.

Note! Not compatible with “full-frame” (35mm size) cameras

• Focal length equivalent in 35mm format is 107mm
• Ultra-thin pancake design, measures only 1″ (26mm)
• Weighs a mere 4.6 oz (130 g)
• Lens barrel, hood and cap are all made of a high-grade aluminum material, shaped for perfect proportions
• Quick-Shift Focus System for instant switching to manual-focus operation after the subject is captured in focus by the AF system
• SP coating to protect the lens against water and grease
• Nine-blade diaphragm for natural out-of-focus description

Read more at Pentax

Reviews

Pentax SMC-DA 70mm f/2.4 Limited – Review / Test Report by photozone.de

The Pentax SMC DA 70mm f/2.4 Limited is an great lens with no really significant technical weakness. The resolution characteristic is generally excellent regardless of the (tested) aperture setting and the resolution distribution is much more harmonic compared to the SMC FA 77mm f/1.8 Limited although it sacrifices a tiny bit of peak performance. The vignetting is slightly more pronounced than desirable at f/2.4 but not really an issue beyond. Neither distortions nor CAs are field-relevant. You may be able to spot some traces of purple fringing. An interesting aspect of a large aperture tele lens is quality of the bokeh (the out-of-focus blur). Similar to its alcoholic counterpart it is a matter of taste to some degree – I’d say it is very good but not excellent. Here and there some of the out-of-focus halos seem to be a bit hard edged. The degree of background/foreground blur is also a bit limited by the comparatively small max. aperture (for a moderate tele lens). Typical for all Pentax Limited lenses the build quality is excellent and it is a joy to use such a high quality lens in the field. The price (around 500€/US$) is quite fair in relation to what you get here. Now is it a “better” lens than the FA 77mm f/1.8 Limited ? I’d be hard pressed to provided a real guidance here. Technically the DA 70mm is a bit better (more even resolution, less purple fringing) whereas the FA 77mm has a slight edge regarding the bokeh due to its larger max. aperture.

Pentax DA 40mm and 70mm Limited lens review, tested with Pentax K10D by cameralabs.com

But that said the DA 70mm did prove to be the sharper of the two in our tests, and despite coloured fringing being visible even in the middle of the frame on some occasions, it was the model we ultimately preferred. Its longer focal length and brighter aperture allow for a very small depth-of-field and it unsurprisingly excels for portraiture.

Beyond a little fringing on the DA 70mm and some softness on the DA 40mm samples we tested, there’s not many bad points to mention. Their tiny dimensions unsurprisingly mean there’s not a great deal to hold onto, and if you inadvertently grip the focusing ring you’ll get a nudge as they turn during auto-focus, The focusing with the K10D was also quite audible, but that’s more a criticism of lenses without internal focusing motors.

Pentax DA 70mm f2.4 Limited

Good points

• Very thin lens – only 26mm thick
• Fast f2.4 aperture
• Quality construction
• Aluminium lens hood and cap supplied

Bad points

• Coloured fringing seen across frame
• Not much to grip onto
• Audible auto-focusing with K10D
• Lens cap only fits over lens hood