Review: Pentax 50mm f/1,4 Super-Takumar 8-elements vs 7-elements vs Pentax Macro

fotoreporter1975 · 12-08-2012, 03:26 AM - **2 Likes**

Hi,
one of my favorite focal length is the 50mm. In the last years I've collected a few of them, so I decided it was time to put them one against each other to learn pros and cons of each lens.

I thought that may be of interest for other people too, so I just posted a comprehensive comparison - with 100% center and border crops at almost each stop - of the following 50-ish lenses:

- Pentax 50mm f/1,4 Super-Takumar 8-elements design
- Pentax 50mm f/1,4 Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 7-elements design
- Pentax 50mm f/4 M Macro
- Contax 60mm f/2,8 Zeiss Makro S-Planar
- Minolta 50mm f/1,7 Rokkor MD
- Olympus 50mm f/1,8 OM Zuiko

Happy pixel peeping everyone

Battle of the 50s: Contax 60 vs Minolta vs Olympus vs Pentax Takumars | | Addicted2light Addicted2light

elliott · 12-08-2012, 03:55 AM

We see a lot of tests looking for the best 50mm, I'd like to see the worst one, it seems to be pretty hard to make a truly bad 50mm lens for 135 format. How bad can a 50mm really be?

fotoreporter1975 · 12-08-2012, 04:30 AM

Originally posted by elliott

We see a lot of tests looking for the best 50mm, I'd like to see the worst one, it seems to be pretty hard to make a truly bad 50mm lens for 135 format. How bad can a 50mm really be?

I agree, in fact I did the test more to know the best field of use for each lens - some are best suited for landscape, others for portraits etc. - that for uncover a true "lemon".

More, each optical scheme has a peculiar signature that you may like or not, so it's best to know in advance than after having sprung for a new lens

Franky2step · 12-08-2012, 05:43 AM

Thanks for sharing your results!

fotoreporter1975 · 12-08-2012, 06:36 AM

Originally posted by Franky2step

Thanks for sharing your results!

You're welcome!

Jean Poitiers · 12-08-2012, 06:57 AM

Originally posted by Franky2step

Thanks for sharing your results!

Agreed & thanks ... it was an interesting read - J

panoguy · 12-08-2012, 07:03 AM

Originally posted by elliott

We see a lot of tests looking for the best 50mm, I'd like to see the worst one, it seems to be pretty hard to make a truly bad 50mm lens for 135 format. How bad can a 50mm really be?

Check out the Cosinon 50/2 sometime. Truly a paperweight!

stevebrot · 12-08-2012, 10:31 AM

Originally posted by elliott

We see a lot of tests looking for the best 50mm, I'd like to see the worst one, it seems to be pretty hard to make a truly bad 50mm lens for 135 format. How bad can a 50mm really be?

Pretty bad. Well, maybe not bad, bad, but definitely somewhere south of good. I have owned two (Rexatar 50/1.8 and Chinon 50/?.?) that were definitely off the mark for sharpness and contrast. Unfortunately I suffered with the Rexatar for over a decade. The Chinon, I had for only a day before it was returned along with the body it was mounted to.

That being said, your point is well taken. Most Japanese 50mm lenses share a common design heritage and most of the fast-50s (f/2.0 and faster) from name-brand makers are very good to excellent performers with some having an edge over the others.

To the OP...it would have been interesting to throw a couple of lenses into the mix that were not derived from the Zeiss Planar design. I was thinking specifically of one either a Zeiss Biotar or one of the better Helios 44 variants.

Steve

stevebrot · 12-08-2012, 10:36 AM

Originally posted by fotoreporter1975

Pentax 50mm f/1,4 Super-Takumar 8-elements design

So...is this the lens currently for sale through Amazon? If not, the seller quotes liberally from your blog!

Amazon.com: Pentax Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 8 Element Manual Focus Lens For Canon EOS EF Mount: Camera & Photo

Steve

fotoreporter1975 · 12-08-2012, 11:08 AM

Originally posted by stevebrot

So...is this the lens currently for sale through Amazon? If not, the seller quotes liberally from your blog!

Amazon.com: Pentax Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 8 Element Manual Focus Lens For Canon EOS EF Mount: Camera & Photo

Steve

I bought this Takumar out of curiosity, now they will have to pry it from my dead hands…so no, it's not for sale on Amazon!

Thanks Steve for pointing this out. I guess that to mention the source is no longer in fashion.

elliott · 12-08-2012, 12:30 PM

Originally posted by stevebrot

Pretty bad. Well, maybe not bad, bad, but definitely somewhere south of good. I have owned two (Rexatar 50/1.8 and Chinon 50/?.?) that were definitely off the mark for sharpness and contrast. Unfortunately I suffered with the Rexatar for over a decade. The Chinon, I had for only a day before it was returned along with the body it was mounted to.

That being said, your point is well taken. Most Japanese 50mm lenses share a common design heritage and most of the fast-50s (f/2.0 and faster) from name-brand makers are very good to excellent performers with some having an edge over the others.

I do have a Yashinon 50mm f1.9 that I don't really like, it just doesn't seem to render colors the way I like, but I still wouldn't call it bad. It is definitely sharp and doesn't do terrible wide open, but it just can't compete with my Pentax glass on color rendering.

Originally posted by stevebrot

To the OP...it would have been interesting to throw a couple of lenses into the mix that were not derived from the Zeiss Planar design. I was thinking specifically of one either a Zeiss Biotar or one of the better Helios 44 variants.

A simple and slow Tessar design like the Industar 50-2 would be good to throw in there too, I've been meaning to buy one of those.

stevebrot · 12-08-2012, 02:10 PM

Originally posted by elliott

A simple and slow Tessar design like the Industar 50-2 would be good to throw in there too

Oh, I guess I forgot my Industar-61 52/2.8 when I was making a list of bad 50s. My copy in M39 (LTM rangefinder) is pretty much incapable of rendering a sharp image. Fortunately, I have a Jupiter-8 50/2 to use instead.

Steve

fotoreporter1975 · 12-08-2012, 04:39 PM

Originally posted by stevebrot

To the OP...it would have been interesting to throw a couple of lenses into the mix that were not derived from the Zeiss Planar design. I was thinking specifically of one either a Zeiss Biotar or one of the better Helios 44 variants.

I am curios about the Biotar too, at least judging by the pictures I've seen so far. But at the moment it is fetching prices out of the realm of reality, at least on the *bay.

Instead I managed to try an Helios 44 when I had a Nikon D300; even on a cropped sensor it was pretty bad in the corners, and it didn't impress me much at all. In all fairness I shot with it only to test it, and when performed so poorly I ended up "looting" its optical elements to assemble a DIY Zacuto-like magnifying finder… The problem with the soviet era lenses is that the quality control, I gather, was pretty lousy; so you may ended up with a great lens and I with an absolute lemon.

12-08-2012, 03:26 AM - 2 Likes	#1
fotoreporter1975 Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Cosenza Photos: Albums Posts: 42	Review: Pentax 50mm f/1,4 Super-Takumar 8-elements vs 7-elements vs Pentax Macro Hi, one of my favorite focal length is the 50mm. In the last years I've collected a few of them, so I decided it was time to put them one against each other to learn pros and cons of each lens. I thought that may be of interest for other people too, so I just posted a comprehensive comparison - with 100% center and border crops at almost each stop - of the following 50-ish lenses: - Pentax 50mm f/1,4 Super-Takumar 8-elements design - Pentax 50mm f/1,4 Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 7-elements design - Pentax 50mm f/4 M Macro - Contax 60mm f/2,8 Zeiss Makro S-Planar - Minolta 50mm f/1,7 Rokkor MD - Olympus 50mm f/1,8 OM Zuiko Happy pixel peeping everyone Battle of the 50s: Contax 60 vs Minolta vs Olympus vs Pentax Takumars \| \| Addicted2light Addicted2light

12-08-2012, 04:30 AM	#3
fotoreporter1975 Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Cosenza Photos: Albums Posts: 42 Original Poster	Originally posted by elliott We see a lot of tests looking for the best 50mm, I'd like to see the worst one, it seems to be pretty hard to make a truly bad 50mm lens for 135 format. How bad can a 50mm really be? I agree, in fact I did the test more to know the best field of use for each lens - some are best suited for landscape, others for portraits etc. - that for uncover a true "lemon". More, each optical scheme has a peculiar signature that you may like or not, so it's best to know in advance than after having sprung for a new lens Last edited by fotoreporter1975; 12-08-2012 at 04:35 AM.

12-08-2012, 10:31 AM	#8
stevebrot Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Vancouver (USA) Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 42,007	Originally posted by elliott We see a lot of tests looking for the best 50mm, I'd like to see the worst one, it seems to be pretty hard to make a truly bad 50mm lens for 135 format. How bad can a 50mm really be? Pretty bad. Well, maybe not bad, bad, but definitely somewhere south of good. I have owned two (Rexatar 50/1.8 and Chinon 50/?.?) that were definitely off the mark for sharpness and contrast. Unfortunately I suffered with the Rexatar for over a decade. The Chinon, I had for only a day before it was returned along with the body it was mounted to. That being said, your point is well taken. Most Japanese 50mm lenses share a common design heritage and most of the fast-50s (f/2.0 and faster) from name-brand makers are very good to excellent performers with some having an edge over the others. To the OP...it would have been interesting to throw a couple of lenses into the mix that were not derived from the Zeiss Planar design. I was thinking specifically of one either a Zeiss Biotar or one of the better Helios 44 variants. Steve Last edited by stevebrot; 12-08-2012 at 11:01 AM.

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12-08-2012, 03:55 AM	#2
elliott Inactive Account Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: North Carolina Photos: Albums Posts: 1,720	We see a lot of tests looking for the best 50mm, I'd like to see the worst one, it seems to be pretty hard to make a truly bad 50mm lens for 135 format. How bad can a 50mm really be?

12-08-2012, 05:43 AM	#4
Franky2step Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Niagara Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 793	Thanks for sharing your results!

12-08-2012, 06:36 AM	#5
fotoreporter1975 Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Cosenza Photos: Albums Posts: 42 Original Poster	Originally posted by Franky2step Thanks for sharing your results! You're welcome!

12-08-2012, 06:57 AM	#6
Jean Poitiers Pentaxian Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Lost in translation ... Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 18,076	Originally posted by Franky2step Thanks for sharing your results! Agreed & thanks ... it was an interesting read - J

12-08-2012, 07:03 AM	#7
panoguy Pentaxian Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Washington, D.C. Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,327	Originally posted by elliott We see a lot of tests looking for the best 50mm, I'd like to see the worst one, it seems to be pretty hard to make a truly bad 50mm lens for 135 format. How bad can a 50mm really be? Check out the Cosinon 50/2 sometime. Truly a paperweight!

12-08-2012, 10:36 AM	#9
stevebrot Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Vancouver (USA) Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 42,007	Originally posted by fotoreporter1975 Pentax 50mm f/1,4 Super-Takumar 8-elements design So...is this the lens currently for sale through Amazon? If not, the seller quotes liberally from your blog! Amazon.com: Pentax Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 8 Element Manual Focus Lens For Canon EOS EF Mount: Camera & Photo Steve

12-08-2012, 11:08 AM	#10
fotoreporter1975 Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Cosenza Photos: Albums Posts: 42 Original Poster	Originally posted by stevebrot So...is this the lens currently for sale through Amazon? If not, the seller quotes liberally from your blog! Amazon.com: Pentax Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 8 Element Manual Focus Lens For Canon EOS EF Mount: Camera & Photo Steve I bought this Takumar out of curiosity, now they will have to pry it from my dead hands…so no, it's not for sale on Amazon! Thanks Steve for pointing this out. I guess that to mention the source is no longer in fashion.

12-08-2012, 12:30 PM	#11
elliott Inactive Account Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: North Carolina Photos: Albums Posts: 1,720	Originally posted by stevebrot Pretty bad. Well, maybe not bad, bad, but definitely somewhere south of good. I have owned two (Rexatar 50/1.8 and Chinon 50/?.?) that were definitely off the mark for sharpness and contrast. Unfortunately I suffered with the Rexatar for over a decade. The Chinon, I had for only a day before it was returned along with the body it was mounted to. That being said, your point is well taken. Most Japanese 50mm lenses share a common design heritage and most of the fast-50s (f/2.0 and faster) from name-brand makers are very good to excellent performers with some having an edge over the others. I do have a Yashinon 50mm f1.9 that I don't really like, it just doesn't seem to render colors the way I like, but I still wouldn't call it bad. It is definitely sharp and doesn't do terrible wide open, but it just can't compete with my Pentax glass on color rendering. Originally posted by stevebrot To the OP...it would have been interesting to throw a couple of lenses into the mix that were not derived from the Zeiss Planar design. I was thinking specifically of one either a Zeiss Biotar or one of the better Helios 44 variants. A simple and slow Tessar design like the Industar 50-2 would be good to throw in there too, I've been meaning to buy one of those.

12-08-2012, 02:10 PM	#12
stevebrot Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Vancouver (USA) Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 42,007	Originally posted by elliott A simple and slow Tessar design like the Industar 50-2 would be good to throw in there too Oh, I guess I forgot my Industar-61 52/2.8 when I was making a list of bad 50s. My copy in M39 (LTM rangefinder) is pretty much incapable of rendering a sharp image. Fortunately, I have a Jupiter-8 50/2 to use instead. Steve

12-08-2012, 04:39 PM	#13
fotoreporter1975 Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Cosenza Photos: Albums Posts: 42 Original Poster	Originally posted by stevebrot To the OP...it would have been interesting to throw a couple of lenses into the mix that were not derived from the Zeiss Planar design. I was thinking specifically of one either a Zeiss Biotar or one of the better Helios 44 variants. I am curios about the Biotar too, at least judging by the pictures I've seen so far. But at the moment it is fetching prices out of the realm of reality, at least on the *bay. Instead I managed to try an Helios 44 when I had a Nikon D300; even on a cropped sensor it was pretty bad in the corners, and it didn't impress me much at all. In all fairness I shot with it only to test it, and when performed so poorly I ended up "looting" its optical elements to assemble a DIY Zacuto-like magnifying finder… The problem with the soviet era lenses is that the quality control, I gather, was pretty lousy; so you may ended up with a great lens and I with an absolute lemon.