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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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100% of reviewers
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$340.17
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8.7
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supersize
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Description:
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This is the orignal version of Pentax's fastest SLR lens; it also comes in a gold-plated version. It was later replaced by an A counterpart.
| Weight | Length | Filter Diameter | Min. Focus | Max. Magnification | | 385 g | 4.85 cm | 52 mm | 45 cm | 0.15x | | Diagonal FOV (APS-C) | Horizontal FOV (APS-C) | Max. Aperture | Min. Aperture | Optical Construction | | 32 degrees | 27 degrees | f/1.2 | f/22 | 7 elements, 6 groups, 8 blades | | Diagonal FOV (24x36) | Horizontal FOV (24x36) | | | | | 47 degrees | 40 degrees | | | |
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Author
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countzero
Junior Member
Registered: June 2007
Location: Bucharest, Romania
Posts: 40
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Review Date: Fri July 6, 2007
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Would you recommend the lens? Yes |
How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $400.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Fast , Creative DOF, Sharpness, Build quality
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Cons:
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Hard to manual focus (inherent to aperture), Non-A lens
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This one is all about the 1.2. I have the FA 1.4 and the M 1.7 also, and you would be hard pressed to find significant differences between them from f/2 upwards. What this one brings to the table (aside from the obvious light-guzzling ability) is decent sharpness at 1.2 and 1.4, and the creative aspect of the shallow DOF and strong bokeh in situations where you wouldn't normally expect it. All in all, it offers composition choices that just aren't available in any other way. And MASSIVE bragging rights 
One thing that surprised me was that (to me at least) it seems that, although the resolution is close to superb, contrast and saturation are rather muted - of course, in our digital raw post-processing age, this could count more as a strong point, giving the shooter more leeway.
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spyglass
Pentaxian
Registered: June 2007
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Posts: 680
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Review Date: Wed March 19, 2008
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Would you recommend the lens? Yes |
How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $375.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Fast, Low Light Ability, Extreme Shallow DOF
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Cons:
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Manual Focus,
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The build quality of this lens is incredible (easily 2-3 times the weight of a kit 18-55mm lens). The lens is fast. It can capture subjests in low light situations with little trouble. I was surprised to see that it was quite sharp wide open. The real treat with this lens is the extreme shallow depth of field that it can bring to the table. The bokeh is like no other. You can sit at a table snap a picture of a friend and reduce everything but your subject into a pleasant out of focus bokeh blur. Great for shooting in clutered or tight areas where you need to obsure the background. The other feature with this lens is that you can stop it down and get good depth of field which makes it a real double edged sword. And like the review before me stated, the lens comes with bragging rights.
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vizjerei
Pentaxian
Registered: May 2007
Location: Toronto
Posts: 1291
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Piotr
Pentaxian
Registered: January 2007
Location: Warsaw
Posts: 218
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Review Date: Thu May 15, 2008
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Would you recommend the lens? Yes |
How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $300.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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it is f1.2, it is unique, creative DOF and bokeh
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Cons:
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manual focus
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It is old, it is heavy, difficult to focus because narrow DOF.
It creates beautiful bokeh, more smoothly than that from FA50/1.4 even with bigger apperture.
It is full metal with quality of typical K series lens.
Pentax *ist DS ,Pentax SMC 50mm 1:1.2
1/500s f/2.0 at 50.0mm iso200
Pentax *ist DS ,Pentax SMC 50mm 1:1.2
1/750s f/1.2 at 50.0mm iso200
more shots are here http://www.pbase.com/piotreks/k50
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Youngster
Site Supporter
Registered: August 2007
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 133
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Review Date: Tue July 1, 2008
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Would you recommend the lens? Yes |
How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $350.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Fast. Beautiful Construction. Smooth Bokeh. Bragging Rights.
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Cons:
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No "A" setting means no EXIF data. No better than other 50mm's when stopped down.
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Softness Controversy: Contrary to reputation, this lens isn't really soft wide-open. It is quite usably sharp. Three factors contribute to the "softness" reputation:
1. The depth of field when used on an APC camera at f1.2 and about 6' distance is roughly 3". (For those nice flower pictures others have posted, the distance is about 3' and dof is about 1/2"). Given that almost any 3-D object you photograph will be bigger and deeper than a couple of inches (that includes a person's face), some portion of the picture will always be "soft".
2. There is a certain type of spherical aberation that shows up as a "coma" around pictures taken at f1.2 (it only shows under certain lighting conditions), but it contributes to the "softness" factor.
3. Contrast is lower at f1.2, so it appears less sharp. (This is true even if using the FA1.4 wide open).
Those three points aside, if you take a picture wide open against a flat object using a tripod, I think you'll be surprised at the wide-open sharpness of this lens. I have a large collection of autofocus and manual 50mm lenses, F, FA, DFA, A, M in 1.4, 1.7, 2.0, 2.8, flavors and the 1.2 will hold its own against any of them. (Stopped down, they all perform very similarly)
The Bad: The reality of it is at f1.2, if you do the mathematical calculations for f stops (in terms of how much light area being let in), it really is only 1/3 stop faster than an f1.4 lens. In fact, in actual usage, I discern little to no difference in speed difference between this lens and my FA1.4. Disappointing, but true.  (Update 2/10/09: I have upgraded to a K20 and strangely enough, I can now see a clear difference in brightness of the pictures between my FA@1.4 and K@1.2  )
The Good: If this lens is no faster (in practice) than a 1.4, why am I recommending it? This lens is a joy to use. It is more than just the smooth focusing, the feel of the metal and the low light ability (which I have in almost all K and M series lenses). The relatively rarity of this lens, the reputation, the nice bokeh, the shallow DOF, and even the weight lends a certain excitement and challenge to using this lens which just makes it so much more fun than just "taking a snapshot" using an autofocus lens. (Or perhaps it is just the price, 4x that of a M f1.4 lens, which is very nearly as nice in most regards.)
Useful Tip (No Stop Down Metering Necessary!): Most people probably never bother using M and K series lenses under the camera's AV mode. This is because Av mode can only be used wide open for lenses that don't provide "A" functionality. However, in the case of THIS lens, the Av mode is invaluable because why else did you want a f1.2 lens? To use it WIDE OPEN of course. So in essence, the most useful f-stop setting (f1.2) is available for use in Av mode on this lens. (It still won't work with the flash, but then again, you didn't get a f1.2 lens to use with a flash did you?) So no more green button! 
Update 2/10/09: I recently found out from some other forum members that you can apply a piece of scotch tape to the area on the lens where the camera contacts are to prevent them from shorting. The result is you can now use all "K" and "M" lenses in Av mode for the first 3 stops by adjusting the aperature ring and compensating by setting the Exposure compensation by the same amount. This allows much more accurate metering and faster usage than the "Green" button stop down method. It works really well and does not damage the lens in any way!
When you decide to get your own 50mm f1.2 lens, don't fool yourself. For quick and efficient work, this lens is no match for a FA1.4. The purpose of this lens is for thoughtful composition, use of creative DOF, interesting bokeh, and possibly most important, to have a unique piece of Pentax history. If you're going to stop it down all the time, why bother? Any of the other 50's will do and probably be much cheaper.
Oh yeah, and I recommend getting a hood due to the extremely large and exposed front element causing flare and reduced contrast.
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zorroz
New Member
Registered: January 2009
Location: Italy
Posts: 12
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Review Date: Sat May 2, 2009
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Would you recommend the lens? Yes |
How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): None indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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very fast, great bokeh, colour rendition
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Cons:
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nc
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Excellent 
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gofour3
Site Supporter
Registered: October 2008
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Posts: 555
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Review Date: Fri August 7, 2009
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Would you recommend the lens? Yes |
How much did it cost? (U.S. Dollars): $266.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Speed, quality, sharpness & bokeh.
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Cons:
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Perfection comes at a price!
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To be honest when I bought this lens about a year ago, I wasn’t overly impressed. I already had the K50/1.4 & K55/1.8, which I both liked and I mostly bought the K50/1.2 to complete the set of K series standards released in 1975. The K50/1.2 is the biggest of the three standards and even for a K series lens seemed rather large and heavy, more like a telephoto. (Of course the size and weight is due to the optics required to produce an f1.2 lens, notice there is no “M” version of this lens.)
I travel a lot and seemed to always take the smaller K50/1.4 or K55/1.8, so the
K50/1.2 did not get a lot of use. A few months back I started to really use this lens around town and have completely changed my opinion. This is a totally different lens than the other K series standards and is more of a creative specialty tool.
Reasons:
- The fast f1.2 makes for an incredible bright view finder even when shooting at night.
- Amazing 3D images that you can create when you play around with the DOF.
- The incredible bokeh, with or with out using a ND filter.
- Sharper than the K50/1.4 and equal or better than the K55/1.8.
I also do not think it is fare to dock points when reviewing this lens, because it’s a manual focus or does not do this or that on a DLSR. Would you criticize a 35 year old Ferrari because it does not have an AUX jack for a MP3 player? My review is based solely on using this lens on a KX & K2 film camera.
The K50/1.2 was a revelation when it was released in 1975, “The Worlds First 50/1.2 Lens” and almost 35 years later it is still (along with the "A" version) the fastest Pentax lens ever produced. This lens belongs in the optical hall of fame and giving it a rating less than 10 is an insult to Pentax. Yes it’s that good.
PS: Make sure you get either the square or round dedicated Pentax lens hood, which fits the other K series standards. (52mm filter size)
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