[SaikouShadou]

I'm torn apart from two 50mm 1.4, they both are different in their own ways.

Disregarding the price differance of the two lens. I need help on deciding on which I should rather get.

Pentax FA 50mm f1.4 vs Carl Zeiss 50mm f1.4 Planar-T

The major differance of the two is one is has Autofocus and the other Manual, I do use manual focusing alot with my DA 40 and 18-55 WR, but it is handing having AF.

Why I picked car zeiss is the long focus ring (is that what you call it?), it'll feel nicer when focusing, which this lens itll feel nice when I'm on video mode on the K-7 (since there is no af during recording).

What I would like to know is, which of the two is better in IQ, Bokeh (love it), sharp, or smooth?

If the FA 50mm 1.4, how does the pentax-m 50mm 1.4's focusing feel like? long like the carl zeiss?

thanks in advance.

[Docrwm]

Manual focus on the FA50/1.4 is not the strong point of the lens. It's a great lens, and I enjoy using mine but its focus ring is tiny making manual focus a chore.

[gtl]

The DA* 55mm MF feel is excellent. Plus it has AF. And a better focal length on APS-C IMHO. With the weather seal, why not considering that if you are willing to pay for a Carl Zeiss 50mm?

[gofour3]

I'm torn apart from two 50mm 1.4, they both are different in their own ways.

Disregarding the price differance of the two lens. I need help on deciding on which I should rather get.

Pentax FA 50mm f1.4 vs Carl Zeiss 50mm f1.4 Planar-T

The major differance of the two is one is has Autofocus and the other Manual, I do use manual focusing alot with my DA 40 and 18-55 WR, but it is handing having AF.

Why I picked car zeiss is the long focus ring (is that what you call it?), it'll feel nicer when focusing, which this lens itll feel nice when I'm on video mode on the K-7 (since there is no af during recording).

What I would like to know is, which of the two is better in IQ, Bokeh (love it), sharp, or smooth?

If the FA 50mm 1.4, how does the pentax-m 50mm 1.4's focusing feel like? long like the carl zeiss?

thanks in advance.

The K50/1.4 has a nice sized focusing ring. The K50/1.4 is slightly larger than the M,A,F & FA versions, so the size difference may appeal to you.

Phil.

[stevebrot]

The K50/1.4 has a nice sized focusing ring. The K50/1.4 is slightly larger than the M,A,F & FA versions, so the size difference may appeal to you.

Phil.

What he said...

The Zeiss is a great lens, but the K50/1.4 is in the same league. I will muddy the waters a little more by suggesting the Voigtlander SLII 58/1.4 Nokton as well. It is out of production, but is still available new from existing stock. Build and optical quality are similar to the Zeiss (both made by Cosina).


Steve

[SylBer]

Here is a comparaison between the two. In french but the pictures give a good idea of the strenght and weakness of each.

Test_fa50

There is also a comparaison between the Zeiss and the Voigt.

Test_zeiss_voiglander_50/58mm

[vrrattko]

I had once Zeiss Planar 50/1.7....and it is absolutely wonderful lens, so I'm sure Planar 50/1.4 will be as good as well....however, focusing for street photography wasn't easy with Planar.....it has nice smooth focusing ring, but you need to be exact and 50mm lens doesn't provide such magnification in viewfinder to make it easy. But it is also a matter of practice...

[TOUGEFC]

Like posted above, if your willing to pay for the Carl Zeiss consider the DA*55 f/1.4 , I use it for MF on my videos and its a dream to use. Plus has weather sealing, silent AF, much sharper wide open than the FA50 and creamer bokeh too, due to its 9 rounded aperture blades

Be sure to check out this thread and see for yourself-
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/lens-sample-photo-archive/153258-pentax-d...4-samples.html

[SaikouShadou]

wow thanks for the informative responses ! especially those who have field exprience.

I originally had the sdm 55 1.4 in the list but found out that it didn't have full frame support =( WR sure is a bonus though. and the quality seems to be better then the FA 50.
I dont mind if the 55mm's af is slower (i don't really know how slow it is), but an reason the made me step back away abit is the quality control issue that 55mm has lingering in my mind, but the 9 blades does appeal if compared to the FA 50's 8 blades.

If the choice I had to make though, DA* 55mm 1.4 vs Carl Zeiss Planar 1.4 I think I would've gone with zeiss, for its quality build (though DA* i'm sure is quality built is right up there) but also for it's FF support.

but still need moar thought on which. to go @_@

[TOUGEFC]

wow thanks for the informative responses ! especially those who have field exprience.

I originally had the sdm 55 1.4 in the list but found out that it didn't have full frame support =( WR sure is a bonus though. and the quality seems to be better then the FA 50.
I dont mind if the 55mm's af is slower (i don't really know how slow it is), but an reason the made me step back away abit is the quality control issue that 55mm has lingering in my mind, but the 9 blades does appeal if compared to the FA 50's 8 blades.

If the choice I had to make though, DA* 55mm 1.4 vs Carl Zeiss Planar 1.4 I think I would've gone with zeiss, for its quality build (though DA* i'm sure is quality built is right up there) but also for it's FF support.

but still need moar thought on which. to go @_@

The DA*55 has been tested on FF (film) and has been confirmed to be fine (it's rear element is huge afterall) the only thing that wont work is AF.

Not only does it have 9 blades but there are rounded too opposed to the normal straight blades.

Also try and look at as many examples as you can taken by both lenses too before making any decisions

[SaikouShadou]

The DA*55 has been tested on FF (film) and has been confirmed to be fine (it's rear element is huge afterall) the only thing that wont work is AF.

Not only does it have 9 blades but there are rounded too opposed to the normal straight blades.

Also try and look at as many examples as you can taken by both lenses too before making any decisions

well that makes things interesting .
I'll continue looking at more examples

[axl]

Out of the choices you have I'd second the DA*55. Technically perfect lens, although I never warmed up to it as much as to FA43 or K50/1.2. IQ is top notch, it's been indeed confirmed to be FF capable, WR and SDM are bonuses.

I'd disagree that it's much sharper than FA50/1.4. I had both (both in 2 copies) and found the FA just as sharp in the centre as the DA*. The DA* wins in the edge of frame shrpnes below f4 though. As for OOF both can get busy.

If you are willing to go manual, look at K/A 50/1.2. Easily the best 50s Pentax has ever made. IQ wise my old K50/1.2 stomped DA* to the ground.

Regards
Peter

[TOUGEFC]

Out of the choices you have I'd second the DA*55. Technically perfect lens, although I never warmed up to it as much as to FA43 or K50/1.2.

If you never warmed up to the 55 Peter, then why did you buy and try all those
FA43's (whilst owning the 55) and they all ended up being sold and the 55 (then at the time) was the one you decided to keep?

No offence, just confused??

[DaveHolmes]

The DA* 55mm F1.4 would deffo be on my wishlist in your situation...

It's on my wishlist in my situation!

[axl]

Trust me I was as confused as I'm making you now
Here it goes:
Back in a days I had K50/1.2, K55/1.8 and FA43 on K10D. I bought DA*55 and returned it within days as it wasn't as good as I wanted. I sold K55 as it rarely made it's way onto the camera.
Then I got K-7 and for some reason, even with the same split prism type screen as on my old K10 I couldn't MF anything. Could have been dud screen, or me or my failing eyesight (I started to wear glasses at just about that time and found it all very discmforting - glasses on, off when shooting etc...) So the K50/1.2 went. I kept 43 because I loved the output but focal length felt bit short. At the same time I had 77 too. I wasn't too bothere with the constant swapping. So I decided to try 55 again. After I got it I sold off 77 and shortly after 43 too. Focal length wise 55 is great on crop body but reviewing my pictures, 43 pleases my eye better. So I bought black MIJ 43, which wasn't up to standard IQ wise for me so I sold I off quickly. Then I bought another good copy of silve MIJ at very cheap and since I needed cash I resold it with nice profit. Why I didn't sell 55? I bought that one new and selling it would (and still will) incure big loss! After selling the 3rd copy I missed the IQ so I got myself 4th copy, and roughly at the same time I bought FA*28-70. Immediately fell in love with that one and since I needed to cover the expenditure, guess what lens I could sell with profit?... So there you go, that's why I have kept the 55 until the end..43s come easy so I was never afraid I would not be able to buy another one. 55s come used very rarely in UK and as I said, selling my new one will incurr loss. I'll end up selling it for less than used 43s go, and by quite some margin.

Knowing what I know now, if coming back to Pentax, I'd go with FA*24, FA43ltd and most probably FA100/2.8 macro...

Regards
P