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08-11-2021, 11:52 AM   #1
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Old 50 mm lenses on DSLR

Hello,

I still own some 50 and 55 mm lenses. The 50 1.4 is a Carl Zeiss Planar T* and the 55 1:2 is an old SMC Pentax (Asahi). Both were in use with my old Pentax SLR. Nowadays I use a K1 MKII and I was wondering whether it would be wise to use these lenses on this camera since I need an 50 mm lens for a job. I'd rather do this with a fast prime lens instead of using my 24-70 mm DFA lens of Pentax.
Can these 50, 55 mm do a decent job.

Thx,

André,
Belgium

Keep safe

08-11-2021, 12:04 PM   #2
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Yep the 55 f/2 is a very sharp lens. Can't speak for the Zeiss but I'm sure it's great as well.
08-11-2021, 12:20 PM   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by Nepal Quote
Hello,

I still own some 50 and 55 mm lenses. The 50 1.4 is a Carl Zeiss Planar T* and the 55 1:2 is an old SMC Pentax (Asahi). Both were in use with my old Pentax SLR. Nowadays I use a K1 MKII and I was wondering whether it would be wise to use these lenses on this camera since I need an 50 mm lens for a job. I'd rather do this with a fast prime lens. . .

André,
Belgium

Keep safe
lots of good information in the forums' Articles section

the OP may want to look at these and others -

QuoteQuote:
Manual Focus Lens Choices for Pentax
That old glass is amazing!
By K David in Articles and Tips on Jul 19, 2015
Read more at: Manual Focus Lens Choices for Pentax - Articles and Tips | PentaxForums.com

QuoteQuote:
How to Use Manual Lenses on Pentax DSLRs
Virtually all K-mount and M42 lenses are compatible!
By PF Staff in Tutorial Videos on Apr 29, 2013

Read more at: How to Use Manual Lenses on Pentax DSLRs - Tutorial Videos | PentaxForums.com

QuoteQuote:
Adapt and Rediscover the Charm of Vintage Lenses
Exploring the creative possibilities opened by legacy glass
By Fenwoodian in Articles and Tips on May 23, 2019
Welcome to the exciting world of adapted lenses: this is where old, manual focus, modestly priced, prime lenses are rediscovered and given a new life on modern digital cameras! Adapted lenses are being used more and more for producing fine art images, especially when exceptional bokeh, color, and 3D-like depth are required.

Read more at: https://www.pentaxforums.com/articles/photo-articles/#ixzz73GKCIJ8j
08-11-2021, 01:13 PM   #4
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Hi André, these lenses will obviously do the job as everyone here states. But, you have a modern digital camera and as you want to do a job I guess you want good results. I would not take a chance of not having the optimum result. And that it will do the job is also based on, I do not know what because it is impossible to know the quality of your lenses, so theoretically these lenses can do the job provided that they are of top notch quality and you are the only one that will and can know if they are. As you have not use them before on your K-1 (otherwise you would not have put the question to this forum) the only advise can be: just make pictures with these lenses and decide if you think they will do the job. And as they are old lenses it means manual focusing, manually setting the aperture, is that convenient for this job? Will that work for you? Again, you have not tried to work with them before. So I would say take a lens that you are comfortable with on your K-1 and do the job with that lens.

08-11-2021, 02:12 PM - 2 Likes   #5
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Use Manual mode only. The camera cannot know the aperture so you can either:

use green button to stop down and camera sets a shutter speed.

use DOF lever to activate meter and set aperture/shutter speed to centre the meter

use a incident light meter.


Using any of the auto modes will default to Av at wide open only.
08-11-2021, 02:27 PM   #6
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I have a K-50 and a SMC 50/1.4 and I'm happy with the results in the right situation. Other times, I'm happier using my 18-135 at 50mm. Sometimes I can't tell them apart at normal viewing sizes. I pick either old prime or modern zoom depending on the situation.

I might have not bothered with the old primes to begin with if I didn't have an old film cam to mount them on. But after buying one, I found that the value (IQ/$) was favorable vs newer prime lens options so I picked up a few more.

Since you have them already, I'd encourage you to experiment with your subjects and shooting style and post-processing regime and decide if they work for you from your experience.
08-11-2021, 02:29 PM - 2 Likes   #7
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Wow! Those seem like some pretty nice lenses to have any doubts about!
Unless you're finding your copy doesn't perform, I think you've got no excuse to 'blame the lens', in your case. That's probably true with most 50ish mm lenses, and yours are far from the exception.

Apologies if I got the wrong versions, but here are the reviews for your two mentioned lenses:
Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f1.4 T*
SMC Pentax 55mm f2

Several have already discussed and linked about how to get proper exposure. You will also have to get used to manual focusing on your DSLR designed for AF, which is challenging but doable.
-Liveview with focus peaking and magnification (press "OK" while in live view) is both the most accurate and the most precise way to achieve focus.
-Here's a recent thread where we discussed manual focusing of fast primes on K1.
-Here are two different threads outlining options to add a split prism screen to your K1, which I have done with mine and I love it. It's not for everyone, though, and can take some delicate work to get right.
-Finally, I really recommend to anyone doing manual focus through the viewfinder to invest in Eyepiece O-ME53. It's in production, available from many big retailers for under US$50.00, easier to install than the camera's battery, and has essentially no drawbacks. There are alternatives as well.


But don't feel like you need to buy anything! You have two (actually at least three) great lenses and an amazing camera!


Last edited by wadge22; 08-11-2021 at 02:42 PM.
08-11-2021, 02:34 PM   #8
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High quality SLR lenses on the K-1 will give very good results. I use many of them as well. I use manual settings but I have used the Green button for light meter reading. I also use the Catch-In Focus feature.
08-11-2021, 04:23 PM   #9
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I shoot a SMC Tak 50/1.4 on a DSLR on occasion. It's not as sharp as some modern lenses I have but that doesn't stop me from using it. The Tak renders differently and can impart an old-time feel to an image sometimes. I'd think it would be similar with the lenses you listed. I have some Zeiss glass. They certainly render color differently than the modern zooms I have for the camera as well.
08-12-2021, 04:08 AM   #10
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They will work fine but focus will be manual and if using a wide aperture then that may be difficult. I strongly recommend practice beforehand if you're using them for a job rather than just photography for pleasure.

Exposure will also be manual but the green button should help get you to roughly correct settings.
08-12-2021, 04:49 AM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by Jonathan Mac Quote
Exposure will also be manual but the green button should help get you to roughly correct settings.
A little over a year ago, I downloaded a trial copy of RawDigger and performed exposure calibration tests on some of my lenses. I started off trying to get a feel for my camera's dynamic range, but ended up with an interesting result that might be relevant to this conversation.

Reference: Establishing the in-camera exposure meter calibration point is the way to extract more dynamic range from your camera | RawDigger

To make a long story short, the most accurate exposures were made with the K24 and K35 (exposed at 17.5% and 18.3%, respectively). K50 came in at 20%. My DA-35 Ltd came in at 12.3%, which means it was about a half stop underexposed. I didn't test the 18-135 but anecdotally I get similar results there. I think this is intentional for highlight protection. Note: I took multiple exposures for each lens in controlled conditions, and averaged the results, but the individual exposures were pretty consistent with each other.

Incidentally, I found that the LCD blinkies for blown highlights were coming in after there was about a half stop of overexposure in the raw file (blinkies are based on the in-camera jpeg).

Lesson learned is that if protecting the highlights is critical, at least with my setup, I'll dial in -1/2 comp when using the manual lenses and the green button.

It was a worthwhile learning exercise.
08-12-2021, 09:15 AM   #12
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I was running my old 50s last night on a couple of my cameras. One was my old S-M-C 50/1.4 Takumar and the other was the SMC A 50/1.2. Both work great with no issues and they are both very good lenses when the operator doesn't screw things up.
08-13-2021, 04:56 AM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by Sir Nameless Quote
A little over a year ago, I downloaded a trial copy of RawDigger and performed exposure calibration tests on some of my lenses. I started off trying to get a feel for my camera's dynamic range, but ended up with an interesting result that might be relevant to this conversation.

Reference: Establishing the in-camera exposure meter calibration point is the way to extract more dynamic range from your camera | RawDigger

To make a long story short, the most accurate exposures were made with the K24 and K35 (exposed at 17.5% and 18.3%, respectively). K50 came in at 20%. My DA-35 Ltd came in at 12.3%, which means it was about a half stop underexposed. I didn't test the 18-135 but anecdotally I get similar results there. I think this is intentional for highlight protection. Note: I took multiple exposures for each lens in controlled conditions, and averaged the results, but the individual exposures were pretty consistent with each other.

Incidentally, I found that the LCD blinkies for blown highlights were coming in after there was about a half stop of overexposure in the raw file (blinkies are based on the in-camera jpeg).

Lesson learned is that if protecting the highlights is critical, at least with my setup, I'll dial in -1/2 comp when using the manual lenses and the green button.

It was a worthwhile learning exercise.
It's always best to have the best exposure possible but half a stop should be recoverable from the RAW file, at least on my K-3, which I understand doesn't have the most recoverable RAW files ever.
08-14-2021, 10:14 AM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by Nepal Quote
Hello,

I still own some 50 and 55 mm lenses. The 50 1.4 is a Carl Zeiss Planar T* and the 55 1:2 is an old SMC Pentax (Asahi). Both were in use with my old Pentax SLR. Nowadays I use a K1 MKII and I was wondering whether it would be wise to use these lenses on this camera since I need an 50 mm lens for a job. I'd rather do this with a fast prime lens instead of using my 24-70 mm DFA lens of Pentax.
Can these 50, 55 mm do a decent job.
I recall the Zeiss lens is pretty spectacular, the 55/2 is a good lens too, though I bet the Zeiss is better.

Anyway, if they work fine on a film Pentax, they fill work fine on a digital Pentax as well. They won't meter the same way, you've had the green button kludge mentioned already, I expect. Image wise, either of them should be good, though you might want to stop down a little bit, maybe to f/5.6 or f/8 to get the best out of them.
08-14-2021, 11:00 AM   #15
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After some testing the results are rather disappointing. So thinking about buying a new lens. the HD 50 DFA 50 1.4 seems a decent lens with of course a decent price-tag. However I don't think there are any third-party lenses availlable on the Belgian/Dutch market that can compete.
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