[baro-nite]

Changing focusingcreen seems to be a difficult operation

You do want to be careful trying this, but it's designed to be changed by the user, i.e., no special knowledge or equipment required. The main thing is not dropping or scratching the screen. The instructions on focusingscreen.com are good enough to get you through it.

I'm not saying you should change yours, however. I happen to like the S-type screen but not everyone does. It gets darker than the stock screen with especially slow lenses, and some have claimed metering inaccuracy.

Diopter is unlikely to be the issue. If the diopter is off, the entire viewfinder will look out of focus.

Here's how I tested focusing screen alignment. Camera on tripod. Target is a printed page, camera at an angle to it so only a few lines are in focus. Looking through the VF, note which printed lines are the start, middle, and end of the in-focus area. Make an exposure and then compare. I suggest an aperture of f/3.5 or so, so that the VF image has a similar DOF to the output. Although you should probably also make an exposure wide open, to make sure focus shift isn't an issue (i.e., focus distance changing as lens is stopped down).

[Canada_Rockies]

The screen I put in my K10D is the LL-60 from the *ist series. It is a plain matte screen with "rule of thirds" grid that I use to keep trees and people from falling over. The screen is a bit darker than the stock screen, with coarser etching. Combined with the O-ME53 magnifier, I have no problems focusing manually. I am one who hates garbage in the middle of the viewfinder. You may like those focusing aids, but I don't. Chacun son goût.

[mglowe]

Hello everybody...

I hope that i am posting in good thread : i recently bought pentax smc M 50mm f1,4. I use it on my K5 : M mode, with Manual focus selected -

Up to now i used it only in inside condition, at f1,4 and f2. Unfortunately almost all my photos are not clear : when i take photo, focus seems to be perfectly clear on face of subject for example (my eyes see a perfectly clear scene with focus on people face for example) but when i watch photos on computer, almost all are blurr with face not clear. Usually subject is situated at about 1 meter from me.

Is it possible that lens suffer from trouble ? Or just consequence of very small DOF with 50mm f2 ? Can we speak of front / back focus with manual lens or maybe i use this lens in bad conditions ?

Could people in this forum explain me how they manage this 50mm f1,4 lens ?

Thanks in advance !!

Lionel

Pentax K5 + samyang 14mm + DA ltd 40mm + DA ltd 70mm + pentax M 50mm f1,4 + pentax 100-300(4,7-5,6) + sigma 18-35 f1,8

Having shot a lot with the 50 1.4 M on a K 20d, I'd say back or front focusing issues are possible. It happens when you are really close to a subject, focusing a nose tips or something hovering and hanging out in space like the ubiquitous edges of flowers. DOF is very shallow of course making things a bit hard, so that can certainly trip you up. Maybe two other things should be considered though-just for FUN. I'll take the risk of thinking out loud for a moment.

I realized that for a long while when I was first trying out MF Pentax Tak lenses, I had not accepted or was not aware of the sharpness inherent in fast 50s wide open because of all of the talk about softness at 1.4 etc...my subconscious bought into all of that parroting around the net...but Asahiflex cured me of that illusion. So, once I understood the problem was with me, I started practicing and realized that you must use the eye...forget allowing the focus screen to do the job (of course this assumes that the diopter is adjusted correctly and that camera and screen will be aiding you in getting in the ball park quickly). I've never had particularily good eyes and I'm a bit older now, nearly sixty. Still, I have learned to rely on my eye to recognize when something is sharp and ready to shoot, never mind aural dings and blinking lights and such things. The eye will get the needed degree of perfection. It just takes practice and faith that the eye is capable of doing the job. So, the number of sharp shots has gotten much higher for me...but again, you first have to assume the lens is sharp wide open, otherwise you won't put forth a hardy and consistent effort! The second thing-on occasion I forget that there is such a thing as minimum focusing distance...Lord have mercy! It mostly does not happen with the M 50 since it focuses down to about 17 inches or so, I believe. But, nevertheless, it has happened on occasion. So, just maybe you could be getting somewhat closer with the 50 than a meter and just don't realize it. I have an old Tak 300 with a miserable focusing distance-monstrously long-and have shot whole sequences of potentially glorious shots with that lens that later baffled and disappointed me over slight and unexpected blurriness. I knew that the lens was incredibly sharp the last time I used it! Ha! Lens scolding time...bad lens, bad lens. Later, somehow, the light went on and now I feel lucky to have kept the lens and laugh at my slim wits and lack of memory that accompany picture after picture some days. You can be shooting just barely barely past the edge of minimum focus and, because it looks in focus, you think how wonderful the shots will be. But later you find out you need to consider the physical fact as quite hard and stop dreaming so much. I just this moment recalled some bad sessions with the M 200 due to a brick in my head. I checked the lens reviews a second ago and see the 200 4 has a minimum focus of 200 cm...that lens will give you some real surprises if your inner vision of beauty draws you into shots that require a hair more distance. I guess that's two thoughts, or rather a two cents worth, so that's enough.

[Jonathan Mac]

If you want to manually focus fast lenses wide open or close to it, using the viewfinder, you need to replace the focusing screen. A 50mm lens can be quite reliably focused with the stock screen at f/3.5, but not really below that.

[turkiye2turkiye]

K5IIs+M150mm f3.5 (f11, 8 sn) Bosphorus Bridge, Istanbul

[schnitzer79]

K5IIs+M150mm f3.5 (f11, 8 sn) Bosphorus Bridge, Istanbul

lovely photo

[jcdoss]

K5IIs+M150mm f3.5 (f11, 8 sn) Bosphorus Bridge, Istanbul

Glorious! Do you use the M135 too? I'm wondering if there's a significance between them?

[takis63]

K5IIs+M150mm f3.5 (f11, 8 sn) Bosphorus Bridge, Istanbul

Very nice!

[turkiye2turkiye]

Glorious! Do you use the M135 too? I'm wondering if there's a significance between them?

Thanks. No, I havent used. But I do not think it would be much difference in these shots, because I took them at f8 and f11

[yjcs]

K5IIs+M150mm f3.5 (f11, 8 sn) Bosphorus Bridge, Istanbul

the colour is just gorgeous. I love it..

[paulh]

M50/1.7 (xposted)

[Cabessius]

Been using a lot my SMC Pentax M 100mm f2.8.
Here is one of today´s sunset.

[Jorgario]

Been using a lot my SMC Pentax M 100mm f2.8. Here is one of today´s sunset.

Nice picture, that remins me that I have this lens and I hadn't used it as much as I could ... I see that you have lot's of 50's and 135's as I do ...

[yjcs]

Been using a lot my SMC Pentax M 100mm f2.8.
Here is one of today´s sunset.

the light is just awesome.

[Pixel-8]

Smc-m 100/2.8 is a vastly underrated lens. Very contrasty and good colors. I just wish it had more aperture blades. Bokeh would be better. At a distance this lens is great.