Site Supporter Registered: February, 2013 Posts: 456
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 20, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $70.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Solidly built, close focus, psychedelic macro bokeh, 3D | | Cons: | Not autofocus or PKA | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax K50
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This review is only for close focus and macro extension work. I suspect it's just fine as a normal 24mm, but I never use it that way. What always surprises me is the 3D effect that this lens produces. Sharp, bright, good colors - what's not to love. LR enhanced, but they started good. this lens is a great way to get out of a flower macro rut.
It is an open question concerning the actual maker of this lens since Spiratone was not a manufacturer. With a filter size of 52mm this is not a Sigma mini-wide or super-wide. It looks nothing like the Sigma Filtermatic which had internal filters but the same external filter size, min aperture and mfd. I'm going to guess that even if there is some similarity, the reviews are so bad especially for bokeh that this cannot be the same lens.
The Sun Optical Co. lens looks a lot like it including filter size, has the same YS mount and so my guess is that they're the actual manufacturer. A few other third party folks like Quantaray also have a version of this. So, there are not a lot of reviews and this may be a sleeper lens.
I'll let the pictures speak for me.
Two Rose of sharon shots in the rain. No extension tube wide open. Everything on a K50
And for the extreme of bokeh at close focus
 IMGP6157-Edit.jpg by David Miley, on Flickr
Smallest original Pentax PK extension tube shot wide open, Rose of Sharon
Middle original Pentax PK extensiontube wide open
Cleome
Crepe myrtle
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Junior Member Registered: August, 2009 Location: Lexington, KY Posts: 30 | | Review Date: January 4, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $25.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Good IQ, close focus, build quality, YS mount | | Cons: | Rare, odd 62mm filter size, only f/2.8 | |
This is an M42 lens tested on 14MP APS-C digital. The lens came attached to a Spotmatic ES for a total of $35 including shipping, so saying the lens cost $25 is really a little high.
Old wide angle lenses tend to be mediocre at best and the wider the less impressive. However, this is one of the few exceptions I've found. Despite Spiratone being known for low cost, this is one of those rare wide angles that can outperform a modern kit lens. It does so by providing very close focus along with solid IQ at all apertures.
Here's an image that shows close focus, sharpness, and bokeh:
The portion of the vase focussed on is quite sharp despite being shot wide open and not in the center of the frame. Note the out-of-focus chair and Christmas tree lights. The bokeh are quite neutral for a retrofocus lens, but show obvious signs of artificial vignetting. Vignetting is quite bad for a full frame lens on APS-C, and this lens definitely can give cat's eye PSFs and "swirly" bokeh.
Build quality is typical of the vintage; all metal and controls work silky smooth.
In summary, it is a very nice old lens for APS-C. Oddly, vignetting may make it problematic for the full frame format for which it was supposedly designed. APS-C IQ overall is more like 8, but I give it 9 for how it handles close-ups. Build is at least a 9 -- and YS means it can mount on almost any body.
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