Round 1.
Contestants:
.....SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4..............Pentax-F 50mm F1.7........................Sigma 50mm F1.4................+ Pentax DA* 16-50 (just for fun)
First conclusion that I can draw: this will be the first and last time I did a comparison like this. I don't know how many hours I wasted on making the crops, renaming each of them, putting them in seperate folders, then uploading them and reformatting again...
But now I have the lay-out together so maybe I will present the other rounds here as well.
Reminder: this is round 1 - and I have shot 8...
Another thing I have to mention:
even though I focused every lens manually using live view and 4x magnification, the Pentax-F 50mm F1.7 seems to be front focues in this whole series.
So it may not be that representative for this lens' performance.
My 16-50 seems to be decentered...badly. The upper right corners generally look much better but are still poor.
Target as you can see was a plain newspaper taped to my TV (walls aren't nearly as flat). Shots were of course taken with a tripod and mirror lock-up.
But since there is no tethering tool for my camera I had to touch it for every consecutive aperture setting. I tried not to move it but my tripod is highly overstrained holding this quite heavy set-up in place. With the 16-50 it even tilts forwards...
I'm too annoyed to write down my other findings right now, so built up your own opinions.
Done in Lightroom 2.2
Resolution test settings (round 1-7):
White balance reference: Pentax-F 50mm F1.7
White balance set for this lens then applied to the others. Differences you see are really the lenses' coatings!
exposure: +1EV (Exposure setting were the same for each lens. Differences in brightness are the lens' fault!)
black: +5
clarity: +30
contrast: +20
standard sharpness settings
Subject distance ~1.75m
The whole page
All pictures except the first one are just the thumbnail views!
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f/1.4
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f/1.4 upper left corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4
f/1.4 lower right corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4
f/1.4 center
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4
SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4
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f/1.7
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f/1.7 upper left corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7
f/1.7 lower right corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7
f/1.7 center
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7
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f/2
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f/2 upper left corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7
f/2 lower right corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7
f/2 center
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7
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f/2.8
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f/2.8 upper left corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
f/2.8 lower right corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
f/2.8 center
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
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f/4
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f/4 upper left corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
f/4 lower right corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
f/4 center
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
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f/5.6
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f/5.6 upper left corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
f/5.6 lower right corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
f/5.6 center
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
If you're not satisfied with my choice of crops then just do the comparison yourself!
Here are the images of round 1 in full size for
DOWNLOAD.
Round 2
Subject distance 0.66m
Everything else just like before.
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f/1.4
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f/1.4 upper left corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4
f/1.4 lower right corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4
f/1.4 center
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4
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f/1.7
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f/1.7 upper left corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7
f/1.7 lower right corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7
f/1.7 center
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7
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f/2
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f/2 upper left corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7
f/2 lower right corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7
f/2 center
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7
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f/2.8
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f/2.8 upper left corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
f/2.8 lower right corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
f/2.8 center
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
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f/4
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f/4 upper left corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
f/4 lower right corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
f/4 center
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
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f/5.6
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f/5.6 upper left corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
f/5.6 lower right corner
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
f/5.6 center
........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
Here is round 2 for download in full size.
I really encourage you to download them and make your own conclusions.
Round 7 (3 to 6 were resolution tests with my other lenses)
Distance ~0.7m
Settings:
-0.2EV
recovery: 5
black: 5
brightness: +50
contrast: +25
clarity: +20
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f/1.4
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........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4
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f/1.7
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........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7
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f/2
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........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7
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f/2.8
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........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
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f/4
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........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
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f/5.6
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........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7..........................................Pentax DA* 16-50mm
Again, full size pictures of round 7 and 8 packed for
DOWNLOAD.
Round 8
Distance 0.8m(?)
Settings:
-0.9EV
fill lights: 5
black: 6
brightness: +101
contrast: +37
clarity: +20
livelyness: +20
high tones: -24
middle tones: +2
low tones: -17
standard sharpness setting
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f/1.4 and f/1.7 for the Pentax-F
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........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7
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f/2
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........................Sigma 50mm F1.4...............................................SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4.........................................Pentax-F 50mm F1.7
Estimated focal lengths based on my tests:
Pentax DA* 16-50...............45mm
Sigma 50mm F1.4...............47mm
SMC Pentax 50mm F1.4........49mm
Pentax-F 50mm F1.7............51mm
Last edited by Egg Salad; 03-15-2011 at 09:10 AM.