Originally posted by Livio Hi
If you want a small lens, the FA 50mm F1.4 is a cheap and good option. If you work over F2.8 you can get very good results. It's old and also a bit slow in focus.
Good luck with your search for a fixed focal lens.
I already have the FA.
I want to find a 50mm at a decent price, second hand, that has good performance wide open, and is at least f/1.4.
I have plenty of lenses in this focal range (50/58mm) but none of them is really sharp wide open.
Only very recent designs can offer this level of performance.
Over time my purchases have almost always addressed my interest for bokeh. I hate the word, but I can't find another way to generalise without going too much in detail.
Maybe I should just say that I value smooth/pleasant rendering over absolute sharpness.
At this point I want to play with a fifty that has other characteristics. I have covered the soap bubble bokeh, swirly bokeh, the strong separation of plains of focus. Now I want to shoot very sharp keeping the aperture as wide as possible, cause I like to blur backgrounds (and sometimes foregrounds).
Last minute I decided to go for the Samyang (I have a few Sammyes, and I love them!), and bid $177.
I knew it was too low, cause the lens was really like new. I expected a price much higher.
In the end it got sold for only $180!
I found a raving review of the Samyang (non-AF) only after the auction was over. Maybe it is for the better, maybe I'll find a DA* for a dirty cheap price, who knows...
Though I'm just afraid that all SDM lenses will eventually fail one day. It's possible, maybe even very likely.
This thought bugs me a lot. Good lenses have to last!
My A* 1.4/85mm works exactly as the day I bought it, long long ago, and its performance can still be considered almost as terrific as when it was released. Back then I had the funds to buy it second-hand, now it would be out of reach, so I am glad I could afford such a beautiful, durable optic.
I guess you understand why buying a lens that has (or could have) an expiry date makes me feel uneasy, especially if it's not dirty cheap.
I feel it is time to enjoy the pluses of modern AF primes. Fast and super sharp. Though I don't know if I'm ready for the minuses, that I've already found do exist.
The Samyang could have been a sensible choice, being sharp and manual, but I've been too cautious.
I guess I wasn't really fully convinced.
I have no idea when a new opportunity will arise, it seems very very few Pentax users have bought one.
At $299 new (close-out price) it's too close to the current price of a good used DA*.
I've already asked a few vendors about the health of the SDM. All say it's fine... but I'm still doubtful