[barbosas]

An FA50/1.4 or an old Revuenon 55mm F/1.2 (as new) all manual ?

my only fast 50 at the moment is an A50/2, and who can live with only one fast 50?

I was also thinking on the new DA*55/1.4, but i think it's price tag will be above my limit (400$usd)

[thePiRaTE!!]

Under your price limit you may also wish to consider the Voigtlander 58/1.4 Nokton. Its an 'A' chipped MF lens. I would consider it as a top contender. especially for $359US new price tag at cameraquest.

[aegisphan]

How much is the Revuenon? Depending on the price, that might your lens of choice. That lens is highly regarded among manual focus community.

[Peter Zack]

I don't quite understand the debate, especially if you consider price vs performance. The FA50mm f1.4 is hands down the best lens going IMO for a number of reasons.

Now that being said, the A 50 f1.2 is a nicer lens but almost impossible to find. So unless you get very lucky at yard sale, forget it.

I've owned at least 10, 50's and even the old 'kit' versions are faster than almost any lens in other FL's. Admittedly I have never shot with the VL or Ziess versions.

-So the FA50 is sold around $200 at B&H and several other places. Can't beat that.
-The lens is almost as fast as available from anywhere and the 1.2 isn't really any faster in the real world.
-It's AF! That can't be ignored. Yes I like to manual focus once in awhile but AF has to be part of my kit because things just happen too fast sometimes to be figging around with a viewfinder that was never designed for heavy MF use.
-it's super sharp. Nope the limiteds are better but this lens always nips at the heals of the 77mm in all respects. Agree that wide open it's a tad softer but then the DOF is razor thin.
- Did I mention razor thin DOF? You can crop images from this lens and fool almost anyone that it was a 2:1 macro if the shot was taken correctly.
-49mm filter threads. How much money do you want to waste on good CPL's? Sticking to 2-3 filter sizes has it's benefits and can save money.
-SMC coating. We rarely discuss this factor but it's still considered one of if not the best in the business. I would say it's one of the 2 or 3 reasons that Pentax is still in business. Pentax built the business on glass.

Only weaknesses? Well it's not a VL/Zeiss or A* series when it comes to build quality. It's solid enough and the internal mechanism is metal with a plastic body. Second if you are determined to do a ton of MF work then this is not the best lens. In that case save $300 over the VL/Z and get a good used A SMC 50mm f1.4 IMO a waste of money to buy the VL/Z over the A 50mm f1.4 if MF is important.

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Last edited by Peter Zack; 04-07-2008 at 05:02 PM.

[aegisphan]

Peter, the OP was referring to the Revuenon version, not the A 50/1.2. But I have to agree with Peter, Pentax 50 is among the top (if not the top). Many multi-platform shooters do prefer their Pentax 50 over others.

As for the Revuenon, like I said, if it's really cheap then you should get it. Pentax 50 is still widely available at reasonable price. You can get it in addition to the Rev. later when you feel the need.

[jsherman999]

FA 50 f/1.4 all the way.

Check out The thread Ben put up praising it's virtues --> https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-slr-lens-discussion/24545-why-i-lo...mm-f1-4-a.html


.

[Peter Zack]

Sorry aegisphan, This type of disscusion comes up periodically and If he can get the Rev for less than $100 then maybe go for it. But The FA50 is hands down the best lens for the buck and maybe even at higher prices which we're starting to see happen. Have you noticed that there is almost no FA50's on Ebay under $229.00 and some are now as high as $300.00 B&H seems to be the best price now and they ship everywhere.

[k100d]

Under your price limit you may also wish to consider the Voigtlander 58/1.4 Nokton. Its an 'A' chipped MF lens. I would consider it as a top contender. especially for $359US new price tag at cameraquest.

does the Voigtlander offer any significant advantage over the FA50? ... it's definitely a sweet looking lens

- Did I mention razor thin DOF?

this should be a con for the 1.2 lens, MF with even thinner DOF will be extremely difficult. i'm always in awe of noctilux photos on flickr because it takes a lot of skill to focus correctly

[Peter Zack]

Nope the thin DOF wide open is a plus. It allows you so much control over how the shot is composed. Remember that every lens will only focus to one point no matter how fast or slow it is. Depth of field gives you a wider "in focus" area but everything outside the single focus point is not as sharp as that spot. As you move away from that spot (with your eyes) front or back from the focus point, the focus/image gets softer.

So using the FA50 with this characteristic, you could have only one spot in sharp focus to blur the background/foreground and isolate the subject or stop the lens down and have almost everything in focus. The lens is just that much more flexible than other lenses that only go down to f3.5 or f2.8.

For those reasons the 77mm limited is the better lens than the 70mm Ltd. It's not the IQ or speed in low light but the ability to control the scene with such latitude makes the 77mm or FA 50 great lenses for portrait work.

The other thing is that since the lens doesn't stop down till you hit the shutter button, the FA50 will give you a brighter viewfinder to work with. It's much more open than a slower lens and thus is letting in a lot more light. A big plus at night or dimmer scenes.

[benjikan]

An FA50/1.4 or an old Revuenon 55mm F/1.2 (as new) all manual ?

my only fast 50 at the moment is an A50/2, and who can live with only one fast 50?

I was also thinking on the new DA*55/1.4, but i think it's price tag will be above my limit (400$usd)

The FA 50 f1.4....

Ben

[barbosas]

Here in EU the prices are a bit different then the US.

The official price of the FA50 at the portuguese importer is 299€

The best i price i can find for the FA50 new, is around 200€ ~ 250€
The Revuenon i can get around 160~200€

I know this is a repetitive question, but i don't see much people here on the forum with those old 55/1.2 (Porst, Revuenon, Tomioka, Cosinon....) that's why i asked, to get some imput from someone who used them.

Thank you all for your answers

[barbosas]

Here is a print screen of a small part of the price table, this is from the Portuguese official importer.

The price on the left if for re-sale purposes (without VAT) the value on the right is the price to the public.

[Peter Zack]

What would it cost you to order one from B&H? They ship to the Australians every day it seems. But since the prices for both are close the FA50 seems the better buy.

[Abbazz]

I know this is a repetitive question, but i don't see much people here on the forum with those old 55/1.2 (Porst, Revuenon, Tomioka, Cosinon....) that's why i asked, to get some imput from someone who used them.

I have a Porst 55/1.2 lens, which is great and is one of my most used lenses. I have previously posted some close-up pictures in this thread: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-slr-lens-discussion/12405-smc-50-1-2-a.html#post99201

Contrary to what I thought at that time, the Porst seems to have been built by Cosina and is therefore not the same lens as the Tomioka/Yasinon. Revuenon 1.2 lenses can be either type (Tomioka or Cosina). I don't know exactly whether the optical formula of both lenses is different, but I am very pleased with my cheap Porst lens. I find it much more useful than the Pentax FA 50/1.4 -- which I also have. The Porst is sharp enough to be used wide open, while the Pentax needs to be closed one or two stops to reach acceptable sharpness. Here are a few pictures taken at f/1.2 with the Porst:







This one was only lit by the oil lamps:






Cheers!

Abbazz

[thePiRaTE!!]

Lovely shots Abazz. Like the spider best and the portrait on the bottom. I've considered an f1.2 myself, so this thread will be interesting for me to follow.

does the Voigtlander offer any significant advantage over the FA50? ... it's definitely a sweet looking lens...

Keeping in mind that cross platform results are not directly compatible, its still possible to gather the relative performance the lenses offer. Check the MTF charts at photozone:

VL58 on Nikon-
Voigtlander Nokton 58mm f/1.4 SL II - Test Report / Review

FA50 on Pentax-
Pentax SMC-FA 50mm f/1.4 - Review / Lab Test Report

You also gain a precise (200 degree approx) rubberized, helicoid manual focus throw. Equal to my older Takumars, except it feels nicer on the fingertips. Depending on what you're shooting (and if you're in the market for older MF lenses as the OP is) it doesn't get better than this in my world. Unless you want a 1.2 at all costs. Or have the Zeiss.

A fews shots I made with the 58mm on a K10 to compare the oof blur and sharpness.

@1.4


@1.4


@5.6