[ddharriman]

My contribution:

Manual focus - SMC Pentax-M 50mm F1.7
Auto focus - SMC Pentax-F 50mm F1.7

Best regards,

[gatorguy]

My favorite of all the vintage lenses I've tried (Full disclosure, fewer than 10) is the Auto Revuenon 50 1.4. Sample images here:
Auto Revuenon 50 1.4 - PentaxForums.com

[pinholecam]

There are vintage 50mm lenses that are all round consistent (ie. bokeh, sharpness, flare ), and there are those with special qualities (flaws), but that's what makes them better at the type of portrait the shooter is looking for.


Personally, I like the Takumar 58/2 (Sonnar)
Why?
1. The only DSLR Sonnar 50mm lens made.
2. Rare/Uncommon/Vintage
3. Very small a lens (so very handy)
4. A Sonnar characteristic for a 50mm lens (usually have to use a RF lens for this)

One thing about the Sonnar design, I think the performance and wide open bokeh becomes better, more controlled as the focal length gets longer.
The ltm J3 50/1.5 and Nikkor 50/1.4 both seem 'strained' at wide open in these aspects especially when used for full body shot distances.
The 58mm Takumar does seem to exhibit a bit more control, which is what I really like about it.
Sonnar characteristics with some control.

Of course it gets better with 85mm, and straight out good with the 105mm, 135mm and 180mm Sonnars, imo.


I wrote my thoughts about this lens here...
https://www.clubsnap.com/threads/single-in-random-ramblings-of-a-lens-junkie-2016.1591059/

[ChristianRock]

I have had a lot of 50s, and still have a few including the K 50 1.2 and the Rikenon 50 1.4 (XR and P), and I have to say that for black and white, the best one I have had is no doubt the SMC K 55mm (both f/1.8 and f2 are the same - though I personally prefer my f2 because wide open, sharpness and contrast are just perfect and the bokeh is also perfect with no interference from iris blades). Be careful buying one though - the cemented element group is getting hazy on a lot of these now. My K 55 f2 copy has that issue, but still performs quite well.

The SMC-M 50 1.7, Rikenon P 50 1.4 and the SMC K or A 50 1.2 (if that is an option) are also great performers, as they are lenses that do everything well.

Edit: adding some samples, not being sure how helpful this might be - with black and white and digital images, the black and white processing is mostly what you'll end up seeing...

K 55 f2 wide open - just looks naturally good in black and white. Back up until the 70s, lenses were created with black and white in mind, and were made to render well with black and white film.


Rikenon P 50 1.4 wide open at f/1.4. My next favorite for black and white. Like I said it does everything well.


SMC-F 50 1.7. Expect about the same results from the SMC-M 50 1.7 but I actually like the M version slightly better, its older M coatings work better for me I think, and I find both copies I've had of the M 50 1.7 to be slightly sharper wide open than the SMC-A and SMC-F 50 1.7 versions. Not sure why since it's supposed to be the same glass with improved coatings on the A and F versions....


SMC 50 f/1.2 (K version). This was f/5.6 I think... This took a bit more effort to post process as the light was quite bad but the lens has the resolution and the bokeh to make any shot work...


Finally, the SMC-M 50 1.4 is a good option as well. I actually liked it better for B&W than for color - the colors just weren't as nice, in my opinion, as the 50 1.7 or 50 1.2 designs. With a good hood on, it's a sharp lens from wide open but this was f/5.6.

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Last edited by ChristianRock; 06-10-2020 at 09:40 AM.

[Jonathan Mac]

My favorite of all the vintage lenses I've tried (Full disclosure, fewer than 10) is the Auto Revuenon 50 1.4. Sample images here:
Auto Revuenon 50 1.4 - PentaxForums.com

Yes, the Auto Revuenon is superb - there's something special about the rendering. I should do a comparison with the M and K 50/1.4s at some point.

Actually, I have some samples of shots with B&W film in my Flickr album for this lens, though they're not too sharp due to the dodgy V500 they were scanned on: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathandmacdonald/albums/72157667043881491

There's an f/1.7 version but I haven't tried it.

[5r82]

My small contribution to this topic, except that they are not in b&w.

Helios 44m-4 58m f2



Pentax SMC M 50mm f1.7



Pentax SMC K 50mm f1.2