[gump]

There appears to be an abundance of Pentax 50mm available new and used. I don't do portraits, in the formal sense, but who knows what may happen. My DAL 18-55 covers this but I have found quality waning either side of 35mm. With a K-70 I was leaning toward the DA 50 1.8 as the most appropriate with good/excellent reviews. KEH has a number of F's in 50mm. All are relatively cheap price-wise in terms of today's lens market. How about helping me build a top three, or even five, priority list. It really isn't money but rather doing it right the first time. Thanks

[twilhelm]

Each has their strengths and weaknesses, but optically, many of them are very similar.

I believe, for the money, the DA50 1.8 is the best option. It is inexpensive, modern coatings, and very sharp. After that, it’s all about how much money you are willing to spend on a 50mm, and whether or not you want auto focus. The DA*55 is a superb lens, but considerably more expensive. For manual focus, and inexpensive, one of my first options is the K55 1.8, followed by the K or M 50 1.4.

Options are endless...

[thazooo]

Another vote for the K 55 f1.8. Stunning OOF areas.

[pepperberry farm]

depends upon what you are looking for, your budget, MF or AF, and if you are shopping new or used...

I'll start off with the Forgotten Fifty - the D FA 50mm f2.8 Macro; razor sharp and readily available new or used....

[BigMackCam]

The DA50 f/1.8 is an excellent little lens, and probably your best choice if you want to retain auto-focus and keep the price down. Alternatively, the F and FA50's are great, though a bit more expensive...

[Wasp]

A brand new DA50 f/1.8 would be my choice.

[stevebrot]

• DA 50/1.8 is the value queen for AF APS-C
• The FA 50/1.7 is maybe a little better and has an aperture ring, but can be hard to find and costs more that the DA.
• An F 50/1.7 might foot the bill except for poor manual focus ergonomics. I also balk at its appearance.
• The A 50/1.7 would be a slam dunk for manual focus except for a pervasive (fixable) problem with the aperture ring failing. Note that even though the A-series lenses provide full support for automated exposure in all modes with a Pentax dSLR, P-TTL auto flash performance may be unpredictable when shooting high ISO and/or close up.
• The M 50/1.7 remains the value queen for manual focus despite not being able to make reasonable use of your camera's exposure system and not supporting P-TTL flash at all. Points are made for build, compactness, and ergonomics.
• A K 55/1.8 would also work nicely, though in a larger package than the M.

One is probably wondering where the f/1.4 models are and why I ignored M42 options. The reasons are simple. The f/1.8 and f/1.7 models perform better at all shared apertures than the f/1.4 stablemates, D FA 50/1.4 excepted (and possibly the DA*55/1.4). Unless one truly needs the additional 1/2 - 2/3 stops low light performance and/or more limited depth of field, the extra money for the larger aperture is being paid for dead weight. As for M42, there is some wonderful glass out there, but for portraiture, the lack of automatic aperture actuation sort of kills the deal from my point of view. (FWIW, I shoot a lot with M42 glass, just not portraits or fast work.)


Steve

[kernos]

The DA 50mm 1.8 is fine and great for the money. The DA* 55mm 1.4 is really not much better for a whole lot more money. If you're not doing portraits but using it for a walk about lens, the FA43 has nicer rendering than both the previous but with busy bokeh in some situations. If you don't mind manual focus, take a look at either the Helios 44 58mm series (later is sharper and less swirly) or the Helios 77 50mm (sharper than all but the last Helios 44's and with even less swirly bokeh) . The best thing really is to look at Flickr and see what sort of results people are getting from the lenses you are interested in. Here's a photo from my favorite Russian photographer using the Helios 77M on Canon 4ti

[twilhelm]

• DA 50/1.8 is the value queen for AF APS-C
• The FA 50/1.7 is maybe a little better and has an aperture ring, but can be hard to find and costs more that the DA.
• An F 50/1.7 might foot the bill except for poor manual focus ergonomics. I also balk at its appearance.
• The A 50/1.7 would be a slam dunk for manual focus except for a pervasive (fixable) problem with the aperture ring failing. Note that even though the A-series lenses provide full support for automated exposure in all modes with a Pentax dSLR, P-TTL auto flash performance may be unpredictable when shooting high ISO and/or close up.
• The M 50/1.7 remains the value queen for manual focus despite not being able to make reasonable use of your camera's exposure system and not supporting P-TTL flash at all. Points are made for build, compactness, and ergonomics.
• A K 55/1.8 would also work nicely, though in a larger package than the M.

One is probably wondering where the f/1.4 models are and why I ignored M42 options. The reasons are simple. The f/1.8 and f/1.7 models perform better at all shared apertures than the f/1.4 stablemates, D FA 50/1.4 excepted (and possibly the DA*55/1.4). Unless one truly needs the additional 1/2 - 2/3 stops low light performance and/or more limited depth of field, the extra money for the larger aperture is being paid for dead weight. As for M42, there is some wonderful glass out there, but for portraiture, the lack of automatic aperture actuation sort of kills the deal from my point of view. (FWIW, I shoot a lot with M42 glass, just not portraits or fast work.)


Steve

I don’t know how I left the A or M 50 1.7 out of my post. I have used my M50 1.7 (or A equivalent) more than any other 50. Even having several 50 1.4 variants, the 1.7 lenses are better.

[pakinjapan]

I only have experience using 3 of Pentax (around) 50mm lenses and maybe test 40, 43, and other 50 mm but didn't buy them.

My 2 cents:
Out of all I ever had my hands on, I would pick the 50 macros if I don't mind the weight and slow autofocus. It is still a lot faster and more accurate than DFA100wr though. The F, FA, and DFA 50 macros are identical in term of optic design, and all of them are good. F has a very beautiful barrel design (to me), but it is not easy to find. On the other hands, the FA barrel design is ugly, lol I used to have that one. Despite its ugliness, I really like it and it was one of my most used lens. Very sharp, very well built, and it is not that expensive. I use it for street and urban landscape type of photography, never use it for macro shooting. It is not the best choice for the walk around and street photo because of its weight and slow autofocus. But for macros and landscape works, it could be one of the best money can buy.

If you need WR lens, you either have to go with DA*55 or the new DFA*50 (overkill if you use APSC). Both are more expensive but very beautiful looking lenses, fast and well build. Being the star lenses mean they are the best of the best Pentax can offer. I just switch to the DA*55 f1.4 because I want a WR lens. I use it mainly for low light shooting, night urban landscape and whenever it rain. it is a versatile lens. It doesn't disappoint me but I still think, If I didn't need a WR lens, I would still be very happy with the 50 macros.

DA40 Limited is another one you might want to look at. I have never owned a 40 ltd but I test it in the store quite often along with 43ltd. I think both can be very good walkaround lenses. 40 autofocus is faster and its daytime image rendering looks very good to me. I am a kind of like it more than 43 for daytime shooting, but many night photos from the 43 I have seen on the internet look somewhat more attractive to me than those from 40ltd. I didn't pick either one of them because the 50 macro seems to do better for my style. if you do street photography, either 40 or 43 can potentially be a better choice than 50 macros.

M50 f1.7 is another 50 I used to have. It is an incredible lens. Its built quality seems to be better than both of my 2 DA limited lenses and it was very cheap, super sharp at f5.6 - 8. My eyes are not that good so I need autofocus when I am not on a tripod. Therefore I didn't use it as much as I should and later sell it.

[pinholecam]

There is no such thing as 'one' 50mm lens

But if you want an all rounder, get the FA50/1.4.
FF compatible, f1.4 aperture, shallow DOF if you need it, sharp all thru if you need it for stopped down shooting.
Generally good bokeh in many situations, small in size for a f1.4 and has AF.
Not expensive too.