Are the Focal brand name lenses any good?

broken_sabre · 12-11-2019, 08:15 PM

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Hello, I've located a couple of Focal brand name lenses on ebay, and I'm not familiar with this brand so I was wondering if they were good quality lenses. They look very much like the lenses Sears sold in the 1980's, and they were made in Korea as were the Sears lenses. Any information y'all can provide will be much appreciated.

broken_sabre · 12-11-2019, 09:18 PM

Maybe this will help y'all out, here's the url to one of the lenses I'm looking at: Focal Compact Macro Auto Zoom 3.5-4.5 / 28-70 mm Lens Ricoh PK KA Mount (LN-106) | eBay I'm trying to get back into photography after being out of it for longer than I care to think, and I'm trying to build up a decent set of lenses, not real expensive because I'm disabled now, but lenses that will make decent pictures.

Pentaxrookie · 12-12-2019, 12:58 AM

Hi,
I am not familiar with this brand and if I could only have one or two lenses, I would take the 28-105 mm from Pentax. You can get this quite cheaply used.
Hope this helps, as it is not a real answer to your question.

krazny · 12-12-2019, 01:03 AM

Focal Brand Lens - PentaxForums.com

I'd personally say that 20$ is just the very minimum I'd expect to pay for glass to be able to operate.

I would not expect any good results, so all good frames would be a bonus.

Googled a bit. Focal may have been a brand name slapped on prducts from various factories to be sold in kmart/sears etc (as you already knew) . If you have 20$ to experiment with give it a go, otherwise for 50-100 I guess you get the official K/mount equivalent of known quality.

Wasp · 12-12-2019, 01:59 AM

Historically, there are very few third party primes that can match the ones branded as Pentax or Takumar.

The Vivitar Seies One lenses have a good reputation. I can't think of any other ranges at the moment.

In general, a big aperture is an indication of something special. Tamron made a 180mm f/2.5 back in the eighties for instance.

A third party prime e.g. 135mm f/2.8 is unlikely to be anything out of the ordinary. It won't be terrible either, especially if the price is right.

As for old school film era zooms such as this Focal, I wouldn't bother. Even the Pentax offerings from those days weren't very good.

This one would be fun if it was cheap. You can use it to see just how bad it is. It might even turn out as "not too bad," but that is about as good as it gets.

For the record, I was a real anti-zoom snob in the film era. I traveled with a bag of primes, not a stack of primes, i.e. 20, 28, 50 macro, 100, 200, 400. I zoomed with my feet. Yes, all that glass can really fit into one bag. They are (I still have them) all Pentax M or A and that made a difference. The M in SMC Pentax M 28mm f/2.8 stands for miniature after all.

**aslyfox** · 12-12-2019, 02:47 AM

I would suggest the OP look at the offerings found in the marketplace " buy/sell "

it can be sorted by country

The Pentax Marketplace | Buy & Sell Pentax Cameras and Lenses (United States) - PentaxForums.com

perhaps something there can fit his budget.

**GUB** · 12-12-2019, 03:14 AM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by broken_sabre

Hello, I've located a couple of Focal brand name lenses on ebay, and I'm not familiar with this brand so I was wondering if they were good quality lenses. They look very much like the lenses Sears sold in the 1980's, and they were made in Korea as were the Sears lenses. Any information y'all can provide will be much appreciated.

Keep away from the old zooms. Performance is not there with the primes. But old primes with a bit of skill can be very rewarding. As far as the Focal brand is concerned I have mainly seen it in the 135 and 200 mm primes focal lengths. Most cheap lenses around this focal length perform adequately. But for 50 - 55mm areas the Takumars and Pentax M series are so cheap you are better sticking with them. 28mm type stuff is not so cheap but mediocre brands fall well behind the better brands in performance.

**PJ1** · 12-12-2019, 03:26 AM

Older zooms are generally not as good as their modern equivalents (whereas older primes can be very good). A lot depends on where your photography takes you. If it is mainly snaps that will not be greatly enlarged, an average zoom might be enough.

As others have said, Focal was a brand and not a manufacturer. There is no similar lens in the lens database on the Forums except for one Magnicon lens which has the same specs. Magnicon was a brand, like Focal, so it possibly came from the same manufacturer. But there are no pics or reviews of it in the database either. There is a Kiron lens with the same specs. Kiron was a manufacturer and Kiron lenses were often rebranded. But the Kiron lens in the database has a different appearance. The lens you are looking out might just possibly be an earlier version of the Kiron lens. But that is pretty much a shot in the dark. I agree with others - if you can stretch to a used Pentax 28-105 that would be the way to go.

D1N0 · 12-12-2019, 04:01 AM

Beware of the Ricoh pin. It can get the lens stuck on your camera.This looks like a Vivitar that was made by Samyang. So Korean. I also see Helios and Sirius branded ones that look like it. I wouldn't expect anything spectacular from it.

**marcusBMG** · 12-12-2019, 05:22 AM - **1 Like**

A veteran photographer once commented online "every lens is good at f8". Certainly you can exercise your curiosity and check out these lenses, I can suggest you will be perhaps even mildy impressed "yeah decently sharp stopped down, how about that for 10/20 ... bucks". My prediction after that though is that these lenses just clutter up a cupboard.
It pays to be more discriminating. That tends to mean primes from the MF era. Or search for the zooms of particular historic, quality or character interest.
As well as collecting adaptalls, I have a nice little set of komine/kiron made vivs (100-200mm, 28-90mm, 70-210mm, 24-48mm). This latter set is exacly the sort of thing to go for. These are interesting, historic, have optical quality.

Ronald Oakes · 12-12-2019, 07:04 AM

Ive used a few Focal branded lenses such as a 28mm and a 50mm.
Payed next to nothing for them (less than $5) and as I remember there is nothing bad with them....just an average film era lens.
Found the quality to be about like a Ricoh or Sears lens and they sure did the job ok !
I however would avoid most Zooms unless doing you homework thoroughly first.

**UncleVanya** · 12-12-2019, 08:04 AM

Bear in mind the type of use matters. If you can shoot stopped down to f8 then most lenses are going to work fine. They won't be glorious but they might get the job done.

**boriscleto** · 12-12-2019, 08:10 AM

Focal was the store brand for K-Mart.

**shardulm** · 12-12-2019, 11:20 AM

I have that 28mm and it surprises me at times for being an off brand. Dont know about other focal lengths or zooms. But that 28 is good.

stevebrot · 12-12-2019, 11:42 AM

Originally posted by boriscleto

Focal was the store brand for K-Mart.

...and the quality level is typical for off-brand/house-brand lenses of the time (late 1970s through 1980s). If you get one for free or cheap, give it a try, though I don't know that I would spend over $15 USD for any Focal lens, prime or zoom.

Addendum: Conflating Focal as a brand with established third-party offering such as Tamron, Vivitar, Kiron, Sigma, Tokina, or even Soligor from the same era is a mistake. That does not mean they categorically suck, only that performance reflects the original price point.

Steve

12-11-2019, 08:15 PM	#1
broken_sabre New Member Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 16	Are the Focal brand name lenses any good? Staff note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means Pentax Forums may earn a small commission if a visitor clicks through and makes a purchase. If you would like to support the forum directly, you may also make a donation here. Hello, I've located a couple of Focal brand name lenses on ebay, and I'm not familiar with this brand so I was wondering if they were good quality lenses. They look very much like the lenses Sears sold in the 1980's, and they were made in Korea as were the Sears lenses. Any information y'all can provide will be much appreciated.

12-12-2019, 05:22 AM - 1 Like	#10
marcusBMG Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: North Wales Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,868	A veteran photographer once commented online "every lens is good at f8". Certainly you can exercise your curiosity and check out these lenses, I can suggest you will be perhaps even mildy impressed "yeah decently sharp stopped down, how about that for 10/20 ... bucks". My prediction after that though is that these lenses just clutter up a cupboard. It pays to be more discriminating. That tends to mean primes from the MF era. Or search for the zooms of particular historic, quality or character interest. As well as collecting adaptalls, I have a nice little set of komine/kiron made vivs (100-200mm, 28-90mm, 70-210mm, 24-48mm). This latter set is exacly the sort of thing to go for. These are interesting, historic, have optical quality. Last edited by marcusBMG; 12-12-2019 at 05:28 AM.

12-12-2019, 11:42 AM	#15
stevebrot Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Vancouver (USA) Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 42,007	Originally posted by boriscleto Focal was the store brand for K-Mart. ...and the quality level is typical for off-brand/house-brand lenses of the time (late 1970s through 1980s). If you get one for free or cheap, give it a try, though I don't know that I would spend over $15 USD for any Focal lens, prime or zoom. Addendum: Conflating Focal as a brand with established third-party offering such as Tamron, Vivitar, Kiron, Sigma, Tokina, or even Soligor from the same era is a mistake. That does not mean they categorically suck, only that performance reflects the original price point. Steve Last edited by stevebrot; 12-12-2019 at 11:49 AM.

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12-11-2019, 09:18 PM	#2
broken_sabre New Member Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 16 Original Poster	Maybe this will help y'all out, here's the url to one of the lenses I'm looking at: Focal Compact Macro Auto Zoom 3.5-4.5 / 28-70 mm Lens Ricoh PK KA Mount (LN-106) \| eBay I'm trying to get back into photography after being out of it for longer than I care to think, and I'm trying to build up a decent set of lenses, not real expensive because I'm disabled now, but lenses that will make decent pictures.

12-12-2019, 12:58 AM	#3
Pentaxrookie Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: 48282 Emsdetten Posts: 113	Hi, I am not familiar with this brand and if I could only have one or two lenses, I would take the 28-105 mm from Pentax. You can get this quite cheaply used. Hope this helps, as it is not a real answer to your question.

12-12-2019, 01:03 AM	#4
krazny Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2016 Posts: 118	Focal Brand Lens - PentaxForums.com I'd personally say that 20$ is just the very minimum I'd expect to pay for glass to be able to operate. I would not expect any good results, so all good frames would be a bonus. Googled a bit. Focal may have been a brand name slapped on prducts from various factories to be sold in kmart/sears etc (as you already knew) . If you have 20$ to experiment with give it a go, otherwise for 50-100 I guess you get the official K/mount equivalent of known quality.

12-12-2019, 01:59 AM	#5
Wasp Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2017 Location: Pretoria Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,655	Historically, there are very few third party primes that can match the ones branded as Pentax or Takumar. The Vivitar Seies One lenses have a good reputation. I can't think of any other ranges at the moment. In general, a big aperture is an indication of something special. Tamron made a 180mm f/2.5 back in the eighties for instance. A third party prime e.g. 135mm f/2.8 is unlikely to be anything out of the ordinary. It won't be terrible either, especially if the price is right. As for old school film era zooms such as this Focal, I wouldn't bother. Even the Pentax offerings from those days weren't very good. This one would be fun if it was cheap. You can use it to see just how bad it is. It might even turn out as "not too bad," but that is about as good as it gets. For the record, I was a real anti-zoom snob in the film era. I traveled with a bag of primes, not a stack of primes, i.e. 20, 28, 50 macro, 100, 200, 400. I zoomed with my feet. Yes, all that glass can really fit into one bag. They are (I still have them) all Pentax M or A and that made a difference. The M in SMC Pentax M 28mm f/2.8 stands for miniature after all.

12-12-2019, 02:47 AM	#6
aslyfox Seeker of Knowledge Join Date: Aug 2016 Location: Topeka, Kansas Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 24,578	I would suggest the OP look at the offerings found in the marketplace " buy/sell " it can be sorted by country The Pentax Marketplace \| Buy & Sell Pentax Cameras and Lenses (United States) - PentaxForums.com perhaps something there can fit his budget.

12-12-2019, 03:14 AM - 1 Like	#7
GUB Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Wanganui Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 5,751	Originally posted by broken_sabre Hello, I've located a couple of Focal brand name lenses on ebay, and I'm not familiar with this brand so I was wondering if they were good quality lenses. They look very much like the lenses Sears sold in the 1980's, and they were made in Korea as were the Sears lenses. Any information y'all can provide will be much appreciated. Keep away from the old zooms. Performance is not there with the primes. But old primes with a bit of skill can be very rewarding. As far as the Focal brand is concerned I have mainly seen it in the 135 and 200 mm primes focal lengths. Most cheap lenses around this focal length perform adequately. But for 50 - 55mm areas the Takumars and Pentax M series are so cheap you are better sticking with them. 28mm type stuff is not so cheap but mediocre brands fall well behind the better brands in performance.

12-12-2019, 03:26 AM	#8
PJ1 Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Toowoomba, Australia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 5,481	Older zooms are generally not as good as their modern equivalents (whereas older primes can be very good). A lot depends on where your photography takes you. If it is mainly snaps that will not be greatly enlarged, an average zoom might be enough. As others have said, Focal was a brand and not a manufacturer. There is no similar lens in the lens database on the Forums except for one Magnicon lens which has the same specs. Magnicon was a brand, like Focal, so it possibly came from the same manufacturer. But there are no pics or reviews of it in the database either. There is a Kiron lens with the same specs. Kiron was a manufacturer and Kiron lenses were often rebranded. But the Kiron lens in the database has a different appearance. The lens you are looking out might just possibly be an earlier version of the Kiron lens. But that is pretty much a shot in the dark. I agree with others - if you can stretch to a used Pentax 28-105 that would be the way to go.

12-12-2019, 04:01 AM	#9
D1N0 Pentaxian Join Date: May 2012 Location: --- Photos: Gallery Posts: 6,802	Beware of the Ricoh pin. It can get the lens stuck on your camera.This looks like a Vivitar that was made by Samyang. So Korean. I also see Helios and Sirius branded ones that look like it. I wouldn't expect anything spectacular from it.

12-12-2019, 07:04 AM	#11
Ronald Oakes Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: Virginia Posts: 1,582	Ive used a few Focal branded lenses such as a 28mm and a 50mm. Payed next to nothing for them (less than $5) and as I remember there is nothing bad with them....just an average film era lens. Found the quality to be about like a Ricoh or Sears lens and they sure did the job ok ! I however would avoid most Zooms unless doing you homework thoroughly first.

12-12-2019, 08:04 AM	#12
UncleVanya Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2014 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 28,384	Bear in mind the type of use matters. If you can shoot stopped down to f8 then most lenses are going to work fine. They won't be glorious but they might get the job done.

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12-12-2019, 08:10 AM	#13
boriscleto Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: North Syracuse, NY Photos: Gallery Posts: 16,473	Focal was the store brand for K-Mart.

12-12-2019, 11:20 AM	#14
shardulm Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Cumming, GA Posts: 793	I have that 28mm and it surprises me at times for being an off brand. Dont know about other focal lengths or zooms. But that 28 is good.