14 DAY TRIAL // Ricoh, the owner of the Pentax brand, announced back in August that the company was releasing a refreshed version for some of its lenses that will feature Pentax's multi-layer HD (High-Definition) coating.
The lenses that benefit from this new feature are: HD PENTAX DA 15mm F4 ED AL Limited, HD PENTAX DA 21mm F3.2 AL Limited, HD PENTAX DA 35mm F2.8 Macro Limited, HD PENTAX DA 40mm F2.8 Limited, and HD PENTAX DA 70mm F2.4 Limited.
With Pentax's SP (Super Protect) and HD coatings, the company aims to improve the overall optical performance of these lenses and at the same time minimize flare and ghosting.
DxO Labs has recently tested the Pentax HD DA 35mm f2.8 Macro Limited lens in comparison with its direct competition, the Tokina AT-X M35 PRO DX AF 35mm f/2.8 Macro, as well as with its predecessor, the Pentax smc DA 35mm F2.8 Macro Limited.
The lens received a score of only 19 points due to its lower corner sharpness, which can be noticed throughout the entire aperture range.
When placed side by side with Tokina's AT-X M35 PRO DX AF 35mm f/2.8 Macro lens, which shares the same optical design, the Pentax is capable of matching the Tokina if tested on a sensor similar with Nikon's D7100. Regarding every other aspect, both lenses share the same results, with the Tokina having a slightly lower chromatic aberration mostly due to its different coatings and possibly the difference between sensors.
Compared with its predecessor, the new HD version gets a slightly lower score due to its lower sharpness across the field, and it seems that the new coating didn't really bring an improvement in terms of peak sharpness. The other aspects are the same as for the previous model, although chromatic aberration is slightly lower.
Pentax didn't bring almost any changes with the new HD coated version of its Pentax HD DA 35mm f2.8 Macro Limited lens but, on the other hand, the lens might be optimized for the company's future DSLR models with high pixel density sensors.
