[ogl]

New lens from shop. Bought in Japan. Assembled in Vietnam.

[Adam]

Interesting- so they still make the 50/1.2? Maybe just old parts put together at the new factory?

[ogl]

Mine - JAPAN at barrel of lens, MADE IN JAPAN at the box. Bought in 2007 in Japan.

[Samsungian]

Is it any good ?

Its well known as an exceptional lens, well the Japan examples are/were.

[lithos]

Mine - JAPAN at barrel of lens, MADE IN JAPAN at the box. Bought in 2007 in Japan.

On the ring in front of the aperture ring on that lens in your picture it clearly says "ASSEMBLED IN VIETNAM." Curious...if it were just NOS, I'd probably not be too flustered about having the box read "HOYA CORPORATION..."

It's weird. Are Hoya just getting rid of their spare parts?

Why start assembling out-of-production lenses and TCs? I'm not complaining - far from it - but it's just a little odd.

Anyone email Hoya about this?

[lesmore49]

Is it any good ?

Its well known as an exceptional lens, well the Japan examples are/were.

I'm sure it's just as good as the 50mm F 1.2 assembled in Japan. Most of my new Pentax equipment is assembled either in the Phillipines or Viet Nam.

I have lot's of older Pentax equipment assembled in Japan and to tell you the truth...I find no difference in Pentax equipment wherever it is assembled.

The quality is still very good.

[brecklundin]

realllly? Now THAT is interesting. Is there a way to verify it is genuine? Perhaps an email to Pentax? I ask only because one of the concerns over moving factory to Vietnam is the sense of, well, entrepreneurship in the country. One wonders if it might even be a CLA'd older version which was put into a, ahem, "custom made" box?

Now a DA* version of the 50/1.2 would be worth $600 over the 55/1.4 or even beside it?

[Blue]

Is it any good ?

Its well known as an exceptional lens, well the Japan examples are/were.

The DA ltd lenses are assembled in 'Nam.

[Blue]

Interesting- so they still make the 50/1.2? Maybe just old parts put together at the new factory?

I wonder if the elements for the FA 50mm f1.4 could be used to assemble the f1.2 lenses.

A f1.2


FA f1.4

[lithos]

The elements are a lot bigger in the f1.2, Blue. That's where most of the cost comes from (that, and keeping parity with similar lenses from other manufacturers.)

What's funny, is that I remember seeing an ad talking about how the K f1.2 (same formula, save for number of aperture blades,) was the world's first f1.2 50mm lens, and had been painstakingly engineered, etc, etc...and it's just a fatter f1.4.

[Blue]

Then again, with access to Hoya glass, Pentax should be kicking everyone's butt in this area! The blanks for the elements shouldn't be a problem.

[brecklundin]

I knew there was something about this listing which made little sense...I suspect the seller is trying to make it seem like the lens is NOS:

New Pentax A 50mm F1.2 K-7 K-m K-x LX MX Z-1 PZ-1 - eBay (item 180458914979 end time Feb-18-10 19:14:58 PST)

I know eventually that link will go away but for now it's a "New" A50mm/1.2, maybe now it's apparent why it's new?

[LeDave]

The DA ltd lenses are assembled in 'Nam.

Yes, and the DA*'s high percentage of optical defects are mainly isolated to the 16-50's. If there were a serious problem with Vietnam's ability to assemble lenses, it would affect all the DA Limiteds as well as all DA*'s and DA's. Of all the previous Pentax DA, DA LTD, and DA* that I've owned, none of them had optical problems. Therefore the DA* 16-50's defect is more than just being assembled in Vietnam, but could be a design flaw or being given improper tools to assemble the lenses.

Personally I don't care where it's assembled as long as it's assembled properly then that's all it matters. But as for other factors such as pricing, that's another story.

[lithos]

Then again, with access to Hoya glass, Pentax should be kicking everyone's butt in this area! The blanks for the elements shouldn't be a problem.

Aye. I'm wondering why Pentax isn't cranking out dozens of kick-arse designs, loaded with aspherics and LD elements every six months. Still wondering why there are gaps in the lineup.

Hoya Executive: I've been looking at some of these experimental design Pentax was working on before the merger. This 100-400mm f2.8 constant aperture zoom - why didn't you make it?
Pentax Exec: Well, it uses three aspherical elements, and four LD lanthanum elements...it was just too expensive.
Hoya Exec: What? Shouldn't cost more than 50,000 yen to make.
Pentax Exec: Er, we worked it out to be about four times that much. The glass was just too expensive.
Hoya Exec: Lanthanum? Really? My bathroom's worth more than I thought.
Pentax Exec: Excuse- excuse me? You're bathroom's tiled in lanthanum low-dispersion glass?
Hoya Exec: Oh, no. The tile's are aspherical crown blanks. My crapper's made from low-dispersion lanthanum. I'll get you one - you'll love it. Just don't let word get around. I keep getting phone calls from some rather...specialised adult film producers who keep wanting to use it for a video shoot.

[ogl]

interesting document from Hoya, February, 2, 2009

Pentax FA & A Lens price rise