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Well the mailman had a present for me today. I took a few test shots with the lens and damn it's fast! It has razor thin DOF when wide open and seems very sharp.
I got it here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Pentax-55mm-f-1-2-1-1-2-f1-2-Cosina-Cosinon_W0QQitemZ160...d=p3911.c0.m14
Anyway these are just a couple of quickie test shots since I didn't have much time to use the lens. But well worth it and it's going to be fun to use!.
Metering is the same as all M series lenses, put in in manual mode and I took 4-5 shots in Av just to give it a try. The lens seems consistant and with about -1.7 Ev added in, it seems to expose just fine across the range.
Focus is smooth and it is built as well as the old Takumars. Solid and a great feel. No play in the focus ring what so ever. Nicely damped for fine focus. 58mm threads which match some Pentax lenses. Big plus since no extra filters are needed (CPL etc).
Aperture is accurate and it has 9 blades, a nice even and fairly smooth bokeh. OOF areas look very good. It's fun to look through it wide open off the camera. Just a huge glass tube!
I'll do some more tests this weekend as time permits. I like it though.
Wide open f1.2 ISO 400 1/125th
100% crop of above
Wide open ISO 100 1/4000
100% crop. The focus point was the reddish spot on the bud.
F8 1/125 ISO 100
100% crop and the focus point was the stems just under the bud where they meet the stalk.
Last edited by Peter Zack; 10-21-2008 at 12:33 AM.