The M Club!

[baltochef920]

Originally Posted by 8540tomg

Brian,

On my monitor the FA 77 appears to be a bit sharper but the M 100 has the more pleasing skin tones. I agree with Bruce on this score. I always liked the M 100 2.8. Like a bloody fool I sold it ages ago.

Cheers,

Tom G

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tom--Om my monitor I'm getting more detail from the M 100mm f2.8 than I am from the FA77mm LTD..The creases & lines in this beautiful woman's forehead, the individual strands of her hair, the texture of the strap of her halter top, greater depth & tonality in the brunette colors of her hair on the left side of her face from above the hairline to the level of her eyes, & the details of the left side of her neck in the hollow shadow pocket created by the drape of her hair..The M 100mm f2.8 is just flat out-rendering the FA 77mm LTD..

Bruce

[Nesster]

the 100 must be at a smaller aperture as the DOF seems much deeper, plus I don't see the 77 as resolving more, if anything the opposite is true. Which however unless you want to show all crevice makes a better portrait. But in my eyes, in this comparison, the 100 is sharper than the 77

[augustmoon]

Originally Posted by Nesster

the 100 must be at a smaller aperture as the DOF seems much deeper, plus I don't see the 77 as resolving more, if anything the opposite is true. Which however unless you want to show all crevice makes a better portrait. But in my eyes, in this comparison, the 100 is sharper than the 77

Ah, manual aperture, yes I realized after it was shot that the FA77 was at f2.8 and the M100, which I can physically pickup now and see is at f4.0? (halfway between 2.8 and 5.6) So yes, the M100 should have a larger DOF, but I was more interested in testing out skintones and just overall look. I've been noticing that some of my better M series lenses handle highlights and shadows better than my newer lenses. So I wanted to test that as well.

But this M100 2.8 lens is actually, when it's stopped down to like 5.6 is one of the sharpest lenses I own, with except the Tamron 90 Macro.

I have another test post coming up soon here, with an M-50 f1.4 and the DA70 Ltd.

[augustmoon]

Both were at F4.0, I know that green foliage setting not the best for skintones.

Both images unprocessed except for cropping. I also have the same image shot with an FA50 1.4 if anyone's interested.



My purpose in these comparisons is simply to illustrate how capable some of these better M-series lenses are (I've yet to acquire some good K lenses), even today on a K20D, and even compared to the recent top lenses that Pentax makes today. I really think that Pentax makes and has made for a long time, some really terrific lenses. The current updates of auto-aperture and auto focus are great and make the lenses much more versatile and competitive. But some of these core older lenses can still compete optically.

[8540tomg]

Brian,

When Jay started the M club a few months back he began by saying:

“We (I myself included) tend to get caught up in all the anticipation and hype over
the newest/best/priciest glass out there and soon to be out there. I'd like to
take some time now to give a little appreciation the humble Pentax SMC-M's
- All manual, no A setting, they're not new, and they're not Super Taks - kinda the
Jan Brady of the Pentax lens lines.

Next couple days or so I'm going to try to find the time to walk around with
one of these four on my camera and take some snapshots, and post them here. We can't let these little beauties go unappreciated. “

Mission accomplished Jay!

We have now had 378 posts in this thread and almost 12,000 views of the activity to be found here. I think we have had shots from every M series prime now and the results have been very impressive in my mind. The same is true of the K series thread. I suspect the fact we have to take more time with this old glass and think about the shot, aperture and shutter speed has something to do with it. Pentax has a long history of making fine lenses. They still do today. As Mike Johnson said in his 2002 article when writing about the Pentax Limiteds:

sm-02-05-02

“when it comes to the best autofocus lenses in the world, whether for a viewfinder camera or SLRs, it's still Zeiss and Pentax, baby, same as the old days.”

The secret is out guys. The Ms are from the “old days” and they are pretty damned good.

Cheers,

Tom G

[Nick_b]

Great shots everyone! I've got a P30 with a 50mm 2.0

[jsherman999]

Originally Posted by 8540tomg

Brian,

...

We have now had 378 posts in this thread and almost 12,000 views of the activity to be found here. I think we have had shots from every M series prime now and the results have been very impressive in my mind. The same is true of the K series thread. I suspect the fact we have to take more time with this old glass and think about the shot, aperture and shutter speed has something to do with it. Pentax has a long history of making fine lenses. They still do today. As Mike Johnson said in his 2002 article when writing about the Pentax Limiteds:

sm-02-05-02

“when it comes to the best autofocus lenses in the world, whether for a viewfinder camera or SLRs, it's still Zeiss and Pentax, baby, same as the old days.”

The secret is out guys. The Ms are from the “old days” and they are pretty damned good.

Cheers,

Tom G

Any camera company can put out expensive new AF glass as fast as
people can buy it up. But they're not making any more M's (or Super Taks, or K's...)

Collecting these lenses is affordable, shooting them is a blast, and being
involved in an online community of like-minded folk makes it even more
fun.

Cheers Tom, keep the images coming!


.

[Jewelltrail]

The M 50mm f 1.4


Regards

[knyghtfall]

My first image with the M 135 / 3.5 on my new K20D - was using it on film before this. I had known that this lens was good before, but this image really impressed me, nonetheless.

wide open at f3.5. There are signs of purple fringing in the shot, in the twigs behind the flowers.

[knyghtfall]

and here's just one more to show how the M 135 /3.5 performs on film (which made it one of my fave lens)

Ilford HP5 Plus, again at f3.5

[Wombat]

Mind if I join in? I've just got back from a trip to the mainland (I live on an island), clutching an M100 f2.8 to my quivering breast. I picked it up, complete with original leather case, front and back caps, UV filter and lens hood for $95 Australian. It's in pristine condition and I'm really chuffed. Although it's now late into the night I just had to take a photo. Best I could do was this shot of my Buddha statue's head. The settings were sheer guesswork and I had to use the flash and haven't had time for any pp, but here it is as my entry fee offering to the M Club:



Er, how do you work this bloody thing....? Do you set it on M or P and how do you figure out your aperture and shutter speed without a meter? Cheers.

[knyghtfall]

Originally Posted by Wombat

Er, how do you work this bloody thing....? Do you set it on M or P and how do you figure out your aperture and shutter speed without a meter? Cheers.

On a K10D or K20D -

(i) permit use of aperture ring under the customs functions page under the menu (its by default on)

(ii) use the camera in M mode

(iii) adjust aperture ring to desired aperture

(iv) press the green button (beside the shutter release button) to take a stopped down metering of the exposure to determine correct shutter speed

(v) press shutter to take picture

and voila! u need to try a bit to test it out tho.

For k100d, k200d - no idea. though since the k200d is similar to k10d, the same might apply.

[Zou]

Shot wide open with K100D, SMC-M 50mm f2.




Shot wide open with K100D, SMC-M 135mm f3.5.

[Fritz]

Just so my M club membership doesn't get revoked, I figured I'd better add another picture to this thread. Yay Pentax!

M 50mm f1.4, ME-Super on Kodak BW400CN

[jsherman999]

Awesome shots, Zou, Jeweltrail, Fred!

Knyghtfall, I don't see any shots here?

Wombat, that was a great deal on the 100 2.8 - I paid $130+shipping for mine.


.