[Finn]

I recently bought a VERY beat up old M 50/1.7 on ebay, with lots of dust inside, smudges and fine scratches on the glass, and the rubber separating from the focusing ring (listed, in true e-prey fashion, as "very nearly mint" ).

I snapped off a few pics of my one-year-old son playing in a window earlier today, and all I can say is WOW! Forgive the FF in this shot, but the sharpness, color, bokeh, and contrast this lens gives is pretty damn sweet.



I'm gonna have to get me another one in better shape. Now, off to KEH...

[Ivan Glisin]

Also consider A50/1.7, F50/1.7 or FA50/1.7: they are all optically identical to M50/1.7. However, I prefer the mechanical construction of M lenses over A, so if "feel" is what you are after then go with M. (BTW, M50/1.7 was the first Pentax lens I have used some 20 years ago.)

[Finn]

Yeah, I've owned a couple of copies of the A 50/1.7, but sold both because of the cheap plastic feel. Crappy build quality has a way of diminishing the positive qualities of a lens, I've found. Using the A version was just never as satisfying as it is using the M.

[maj0rglitch]

I am cursing that lens. Because of that lens I ended up buying two more primes and I never felt the same way with my zoom lenses again.

[little laker]

I can relate to that maj0rglitch,

I had one of my Zooms on my camera last week, and it took the worst picture by far

It isn't a bad lens, but it has a couple of flaws that I can live with but don't like