The type of photography that you are planning to use is an important decision factor. Here we have evaluated the Lensbaby Velvet 56 and the Pentax DA 55mm F1.4 SDM for their suitability to various photography scenarios:
Size and Weight Comparison
Size of a lens is an important deciding factor when comparing two lenses.Lensbaby Velvet 56 is the longer of the two lenses at 86mm. The Pentax DA 55mm F1.4 SDM with a length of 66mm is 20mm shorter. Besides being longer, the Lensbaby Velvet 56 also has a larger diameter of 72mm compared to Pentax DA 55mm F1.4 SDM's 70mm diameter.
Weight of a lens is as important as its external dimensions, especially if you are planning to hand hold your camera and lens combination for longer periods. Pentax DA 55mm F1.4 SDM weighs 375g, 6% (25g) lighter than the Lensbaby Velvet 56's weight of 400g.
Below you can find the dimension and weight table of the 'Standard Prime Lenses in Pentax KAF3 Mount for size comparison purposes.
Standard Prime Lenses in Pentax KAF3 Mount for Size Comparison
Lens Mounts
Both Lensbaby Velvet 56 and Pentax DA 55mm F1.4 SDM has the same Pentax KAF3 lens mount. Some of the latest released cameras that are compatible with the Pentax KAF3 lenses are Pentax KF, Pentax K-3 III and Pentax K-1 II.
Lensbaby Velvet 56 is also available in Canon EF , Fujifilm X, Micro Four Thirds, Nikon F (FX), Samsung NX, Sony Alpha and Sony E mounts.
Focal Range
Lensbaby Velvet 56 is a prime lens with fixed focal lenght of 56mm. When it is mounted on an APS-C sensor camera with 1.5x crop, it provides an 35mm (FF) equivalent of 84mm.
Pentax DA 55mm F1.4 SDM is a prime lens with fixed focal lenght of 55mm which has an effective (full-frame 35mm equivalent) focal range of 82.5mm when used on a APS-C / DX format camera.