[Clinton]

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We bought the A/1.2 as the aperture control is nice, and the thing is built like a tank. It's focusing is a dream.

A K would have been fine, as we really only shoot this lens wide open or near to, but the A does give the camera enough info to embed the aperture information into the exif data, which is nice when looking back at pictures gone by.

[Blue]

There's the Tomioka 55mm f1.2 and Yashinon Tomioka 55mm f1.2 etc. They are usually m42 mount.

[Clinton]

There's the Tomioka 55mm f1.2 and Yashinon Tomioka 55mm f1.2 etc. They are usually m42 mount.

In this I decided the same as my 50mm poll, to stick with k mount lenses.

You say usually m42 mount, does that mean they sometimes were K mount, or only when adapted?

[Blue]

In this I decided the same as my 50mm poll, to stick with k mount lenses.

You say usually m42 mount, does that mean they sometimes were K mount, or only when adapted?

I don't know if they ever made one with k-mount. Yashica bought Tomioka in 1968 hence some of them having Tomioka Yashinon on them. At one point they made them in the Contax mount with only the Yashica name on them. They had a 7/6 optical formula. Either way, they are damn fine glass. Yashica eventually made the Zeiss Contax 55mm f1.2 Planar that had a 8/7 formula a rare glass at ~$5300.

[Harmonica]

''I didn't know there was a Vivitar f1.2 K mount. I'd have added it to the poll.
Where did you find this oddity?''

Agree...it have to be oddity...because it has not even been mentioned in here:
Vivitar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


So maybe it is some kind of prototype lens. I have seen only two of them totally myself either. First one was the next link's guy (who's living Thailand):

Manual Focus Lenses :: View topic - Vivitar Series 1 55mm f1.2 Pentax K mount, How is it?

The another owner of that lens (which I know), was a one guy from Portugal. His lens was also in very good conditions (like a new)...and I bought his lens.

[Harmonica]

Now there seemed to be one (Vivitar 55mm f1.2 K-mount) on sale in Ebay....
if somebody would be interested

Vivitar Series 1 55mm f1.2 Pentax PK mount - eBay (item 180494719348 end time Apr-25-10 17:19:10 PDT)

[NeverSatisfied]

Now there seemed to be one (Vivitar 55mm f1.2 K-mount) on sale in Ebay....
if somebody would be interested

Yea that Vivitar looks pretty much like a re-branded Cosina. Although the Pentax A-50 1.2 would be nice for its auto-aperture feature, in reviewing LOTS of images taken with both lenses, personally I like the Cosina's bokeh better. The fact that it's a manual lens doesn't really bother me, since that, coupled with shallow depth-of-field experimentation, is all part of the creative process that lenses like these are so good for. (That, and the Cosina is a good bit cheaper than the Pentax 50!)

P.S. Some of the images from MikeSF, DuhVinci, JSherman, IGilligan and others are what convinced me on the Cosina. Check out the "Cosina Club" thread, absolutely amazing!

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Last edited by NeverSatisfied; 04-17-2010 at 04:32 PM.