[monochrome]

If I had to follow those rules, I'd have to sell everything!

Hah Hah yeah I know what you mean

- I just decided that this is a specialty lens that I probably wouldn't use much and $300 +/- dollars was way too much money to bury, for what I could coax out of the extra stop.I have an FA50/1.4, an A50/1.4 and an S-M-C 50/1.4 for less than the sale value of the beauty lens.

The A50 is, to my experience, only the second WOW lens I have ever mounted to my K10D, after the Tamron 52B 90/2.5 Tele-Macro.

[rparmar]

Wazzup? Someone dissin' the K50/1.2? Well, I'll just have to refill my glass with whiskey and take a few shots in absolutely no light. Hold on now...

[rparmar]

Ah, here we go.

someone dissed the K50/1.2 while I was drinking whiskey...

[rparmar]

Took me six minutes. And some whiskey drinking. Snapped two shots, chose the best one, converted RAW using ACR, did the usual PP in PhotoShop, uploaded to Flickr and linked in here.

Would have been quicker.

Except for the whiskey.

I figure this is a Godlike lens. Got lots of shots in my Flickr pages. At f/4 and so on it's fantastically sharp. At f/1.2 or f/1.4 (as above) it's got bokeh to bark for. Plus you can shoot in near darkness and actually nab focus pretty well. No special focus screens here. Tried them and hated them.

OK next challenge? Anyone got some Talisker?

[Digitalis]

The Pentax K 50mm f/1.2 is a large lens it's about the same size as the 31mm f/1.8 limited (if it didn't have the built in hood) they are about the same weight too...and in terms of image quality the 50 f/1.2 is more than capable of holding it's own against the 31mm f/1.8 and the 77 f/1.8 at f/2.8 - which is quite impressive considering it's age, when I tested this last night I was kind of dreading that the 50 f/1.2 wouldn't hold up against those two lenses but again...I was surprised.

I also tested the pentax A 50mm f/1.7 - which curiously seems to be longer than 50mm...I would say it's true focal length is about 53-54mm. I know that the Pentax K 50mm f/1.2 is 51.6mm Zeiss and Leica 50's are the same. And in my tests the A 50mm f/1.7 didn't fare well against the big three lenses. The 50mm f/1.2 beats it in the corners by a good margin.

The image at the bottom of this post was taken last night and I belatedly realised one particularly annoying trait of this lens..ghosting. there are red ghost images amongst the treetops in that cityscape. however, the redeeming quality of this lens is that when it does ghost it's always in the red end of the spectrum, so it is rather easy to remove it providing it doesn't overlap on anything else that just happens to be red. that bottom image is a panoramic..the original is about 7776X5040 @ 260DPI (39Megapixels) all shot at f/4 and the resolution is simply stunning.

and my comment about the viewfinder brightness was regarding the Pentax ME, and I'll also point out that split prism focusing aids usually aren't designed to be used with f/1.2 lenses - even Leica rangefinders aren't really designed to focus the noctilux f/1.0 as a matter of fact, I prefer to use my 40 year old Leica M3 because of it's 0.95X magnification when i'm using the noctilux, because the magnification makes the rangefinder patch easier to see.

[arpaagent]

The image at the bottom of this post was taken last night and I belatedly realised one particularly annoying trait of this lens..ghosting. there are red ghost images amongst the treetops in that cityscape. however, the redeeming quality of this lens is that when it does ghost it's always in the red end of the spectrum, so it is rather easy to remove it providing it doesn't overlap on anything else that just happens to be red.

Luckily for me, I'm at least somewhat colorblind (typical male red/green type)...so I have a hard time seeing any slight red or green CA ...doesn't bother me!! But PF really kills me...oh well, maybe once I get clients they'll yell at me.

-Jim

[Digitalis]

that's fascinating arpaagent...I hope you never end up printing your own negatives as some of the Ilford multigrade contrast filters are very red-magenta-ish otherwise you would be a bit bummed out because you couldn't see the image.

yep, purple fringing ticks me right off too. To me when I see it I think "consumer optics". Paradoxically; the other two ultra high quality lenses I own the FA31mm and the 77mm limiteds and both of these lenses have issues with purple fringing at certain apertures and these lenses are anything BUT consumer quality. I can't win.

and purple fringing is one reason why i'm not interested in the Pentax 12-24mm f/4... I seem to recall someone saying "...that lens redefines the colour purple."

I suppose I'll have to get the sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6, but sigma lenses aren't the most flare tolerant I have ever used, I have had some images completely wrecked because of the inferior coatings on the the sigma 100-300mm f/4 EX DG.

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Last edited by Digitalis; 04-07-2009 at 07:30 PM.

[k100d]

you might be interested in my thread here
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-slr-lens-discussion/27090-pentax-5...on-photos.html

[Digitalis]

yes I have read your post, but I was interested in seeing what other people have been doing to manage working with this lens...trap focusing with this lens is a very handy, I sometimes set my camera to 3FPS so I can bracket focus.

I was also curious to see Images other people have created using this lens...because I haven't found many images taken with it out there on the internet. I'd like to rectify that.

[RawheaD]

I'll also point out that split prism focusing aids usually aren't designed to be used with f/1.2 lenses - even Leica rangefinders aren't really designed to focus the noctilux f/1.0 as a matter of fact, I prefer to use my 40 year old Leica M3 because of it's 0.95X magnification when i'm using the noctilux, because the magnification makes the rangefinder patch easier to see.

Could you care to elaborate? Because I don't see how "not having been designed to be used with" translates into "not good for".


Here's a single shot I took of a focus test screen with a Zuiko Auto-S 50/1.2 held against my K20D (sorry, those are my only 1.2 lens and my only body with a KatzEye, respectively).





There's no way in hell I could've done that with the stock screen. I know, because that's why I got the KatzEye.

[Digitalis]

I never said split screen focusing aids were not good enough. I said they aren't designed for lenses this fast, there is a difference.

split prisms are very useful for telling you which direction you need to focus, and how much out of focus you are...but the micro-Fresnel ring found on most focusing screens tell you what is really going on. Split prisms are good for rough focusing, but they are terrible for situations where extreme precision is needed.

[RawheaD]

I never said split screen focusing aids were not good enough. I said they aren't designed for lenses this fast, there is a difference.

In your original post you said:

I'm using the stock K10D screen

while bitching about how hard it was to nail focus with the 50/1.2.

To that I replied:

With a monster like 1.2, shouldn't you invest in a split prism focus screen?

To which, you answered (I'm assuming this was in reply to my post):

I'll also point out that split prism focusing aids usually aren't designed to be used with f/1.2 lenses - even Leica rangefinders aren't really designed to focus the noctilux f/1.0

Now, correctly me if I'm wrong, but I interpreted that to mean that you haven't gotten a split prism focus screen because it's not good enough for you (or, at least, the 50/1.2). That's what I don't understand.... you have this monster bright lens, mounted on a camera that has (I'm sorry, but my K20D had one, too) an UTTER CRAP screen for manual focusing anything faster than f2.8, and that's why I suggested a split prism screen.

Can it nail focus with a Noctilux? Probably not; but what are your options on a K10D and a K50/1.2? Bracket focus? Sure, but you'll have much better precision if you do a "rough" focus with a split prism screen first.

but they are terrible for situations where extreme precision is needed.

And that's why you're sticking with the K10D stock screen????

I'm sorry, but I can't see any scenario where the stock screen will be better... or even remotely close to being as good as my KatzEye with OptiBright doing manual focus.


I guess what I'm trying to say is this: I got a KatzEye so that it'll help me manual focus all my fast-ish primes (Super-Tak 50/1.4, Flektogon 35/2.4 and everything in between), and it has served me well. It may not be the be-all and end-all solution, but I am always better off with it using my fast primes than without.

I see all the reasons for getting a split prism screen for primes f1.4~2.8 also apply to a 50/1.2 prime (even if it meant you have to stop down to f1.4 when nailing focus under time constraints is crucial). So why won't you consider it?

[roentarre]

It is an excellent lens to use when there is no interesting scenes to shoot

A creative lens to use.

Pentax A 50mm f1.2 Images

I love this lens.

[Digitalis]

"So why won't you consider it?"

because focusing aids on the K10D and K20D play merry hell with the metering, and I do a lot of work that requires my meter to respond quickly and accurately to changing lighting conditions.

Secondly Bracketing the focus isn't a bad technique for stationary subjects, and for moving subjects you can trap focus. it's just getting the focus where you want it that is the tricky part.

now back to more images: I was walking past a church tonight and I saw the stained glass windows I cranked the ISO to 1000 set the aperture to f/1.2 dropped the shutter speed to 1/8th switched the IS on, and I could not resist to make a good example of where f/1.2 glass shines (sorry about the pun). The second image is a 100% crop - no sharpening.

and yes I did bracket the focus, but it only took me two exposures to really nail it.

[WerTicus]

I neverSplit prisms are good for rough focusing, but they are terrible for situations where extreme precision is needed.

I get the impression you have never used a decent focus screen... mine has split prism AND a micro ring around that, and there is no way you can focus as well without it. Its exactly the opposite of 'terrible' for situations where precision is needed!

And also never seen any effect on the metering precision... or speed, but I must admit that is not something critical to what I do so perhaps I have not noticed.