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SMC Pentax-A 50mm F1.2 Review RSS Feed

SMC Pentax-A 50mm F1.2

Sharpness 
 9.6
Aberrations 
 8.6
Bokeh 
 9.6
Handling 
 9.9
Value 
 8.6
Reviews Views Date of last review
33 296,126 Mon July 5, 2021
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Recommended By Average Price Average User Rating
100% of reviewers $472.11 9.58
SMC Pentax-A 50mm F1.2

SMC Pentax-A 50mm F1.2
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SMC Pentax-A 50mm F1.2
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SMC Pentax-A 50mm F1.2
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SMC Pentax-A 50mm F1.2
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SMC Pentax-A 50mm F1.2
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SMC Pentax-A 50mm F1.2
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Description:
The SMC Pentax-A 50mm F1.2 is the fastest A-series 50mm lens variant, featuring the largest aperture available in the K-mount. While the standard version had a black barrel, it also came in a special-edition bundle with the LX 2000 with a barrel design resembling that of the current silver FA Limited lenses. The rare LX2000 bundle typically sells for $4000-5000 USD.

SMC Pentax-A 50mm F1.2
© www.pentaxforums.com, sharable with attribution
Image Format
Full-frame / 35mm film
Lens Mount
Pentax K
Aperture Ring
Yes (A setting)
Diaphragm
Automatic, 9 blades
Optics
7 elements, 6 groups
Mount Variant
KA
Check camera compatibility
Max. Aperture
F1.2
Min. Aperture
F22
Focusing
Manual
Min. Focus
45 cm
Max. Magnification
0.15x
Filter Size
52 mm
Internal Focus
No
Field of View (Diag. / Horiz.)

APS-C: 32 ° / 27 °
Full frame: 47 ° / 40 °
Hood
Various types
Case
Hard case HB-90 (initially), soft case S70-70 (later)
Lens Cap
Plastic clip-on
Coating
SMC
Weather Sealing
No
Other Features
Diam x Length
65 x 49 mm
Weight
345 g
Production Years
1984 to 2004
Engraved Name
smc PENTAX-A 1:1.2 50mm
Product Code
20987
Reviews
User reviews
Notes
Sold without hood. Several hoods will fit such as PH-S52 (50mm) and PH-R52
Variants
A silver version "smc Pentax-A 1:1.2 50mm Special" was produced for the silver Pentax LX 2000. This version came with a matching metal screw-in hood.
Features:
Manual FocusAperture RingAutomatic ApertureFull-Frame SupportDiscontinued
Price History:



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amateur dirt farmer

Registered: December, 2014
Location: probably out in a field somewhere...
Posts: 41,778

2 users found this helpful
Review Date: July 5, 2021 Recommended | Price: $425.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: speed, build quality, color rendition, bokeh
Cons: MFD, can be expensive to source/buy
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 8    Bokeh: 9    Handling: 10    Value: 8    Camera Used: K-3, K-5 IIs   

an incredibly useful lens - all the speed you could want, colorful, clarity, sharpness, and bokeh to dream about....

so why am I not in love with it?

there isn't anything wrong with it, other than the MFD is a bit long.... so the only thing I can put a finger to is the focal length...

I'm just not a 50mm shooter...

some shots with the 50:

daisies by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr

lightning by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr

sunset, tall grass by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr

lily & raindrops by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr

sunrise by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr

the rest of this lens' album:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pepperberryfarm/albums/72157718850068686/page1


in short - an amazing lens; I just don't want one....
   
Site Supporter

Registered: October, 2008
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Posts: 8,092

12 users found this helpful
Review Date: June 6, 2020 Recommended | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Looks, speed, optics, bokeh & handling.
Cons: Perfection comes at a price...
Camera Used: LX 2000, *ist   

The A50/1.2 was released in 1984 and was a direct replacement for the K50/1.2. The A50/1.2 was in production until 2004 and was discontinued with no replacement. I’m reviewing the silver A50/1.2 “Special” that was released in 2000 and was bundled with the Pentax LX 2000 film camera. There were 1000 copies of this combo produced for the Japanese market only and the A50/1.2 “Special” was not sold on its own.

The A50/1.2 “Special” is on the “Frankenlens” side, with the finish of a silver FA Limited, but the same shape of the regular A Series 50/1.2 prime.

This is a picture of the “four” silver Limited/Special lenses to compare size/looks:

(Left to right: FA31/1.8, FA43/1.9, A50/1.2 "Special" & FA77/1.8)

Optics:
No fancy lens elements or special coatings on this guy, just a classic optical design that’s 45+ years old now. Same formula as the original K50/1.2 released in June 1975, no need to change anything that’s not broken! Yet the old 50/1.2 produces amazing 3D detail and images that ooze with old-school character, but not clinically sharp like a new design. The A50/1.2 also has a beautiful bokeh as well and has one extra aperture blade than the K Series version.

Focal Length:
Classic “normal” focal length that is usefully for just about everything. Every film shooter has owned at least one 50mm prime lens over the years, one of the bestselling focal lengths of all time. On APS-C you get the FOV of a short telephoto, interesting but less useful.

Build:
The A50/1.2 is built like a FA Limited, but the focus ring and aperture movement is more like that of a manual focus lens and slightly smoother than the auto focus FA Limited’s. The A50/1.2 “Special” has a similar double band metal focusing ring like the one on the FA31 and not the rubber focusing ring of the regular black A50/1.2. Overall, the A50/1.2 “Special” is a beautifully built and beautiful looking lens.

Usage/Handling:
The A50/1.2 is bigger and heavier than the other A Series 50mm primes, but is still a very manageable size to carry around in your kit. It has the same 52mm filter thread carried over from the K Series version, so it’s an oddball compared to the other A Series 50mm primes that have a 49mm filter thread. Still the A50/1.2 is a fraction of the size of the new D FA* 50/1.4 prime.

The A50/1.2 “Special” has a dedicated 52mm screw-in silver metal hood (MH-RC 52mm) and a dedicated silver metal push-on lens cap, that fits over the top of the hood. (Same setup as the FA43) This makes the A50/1.2 “Special” too big to fit into the S70-70 soft lens case used for the regular A50/1.2, so the bigger S80-80 case is required.

Speed:
F/1.2 is still the fastest 50mm lens (or any lens) that Pentax ever made and there will never be an auto focus version of this lens. One could only imagine the size/cost of a “D FA* 50/1.2 SDM AW” lens! You would think there is not much difference between F/1.4 and F/1.2, but there is and the A50/1.2 sucks light in like no other lens I own. Shooting wide open, especially close to the minimum focusing distance of around ½ meter, has a very narrow/shallow DOF and it’s like using a 50mm macro lens at high magnification. The split-image/microprism focusing screen on some of my film cameras makes shooting wide open relatively easy, but any autofocus camera will be a bit harder. Some sort of focusing aid is required, like the Magnifier Eyecup O-ME53 or Refconverter A.

The A50/1.2 vs my other similar FL normal/standard primes:
I also own two copies of the K50/1.2; the “SMC PENTAX 1:1.2/50” (1975-1977) and the “smc PENTAX 1:1.2 50mm” (1977-1984). I’ve owned the K Series version of the 50/1.2 for over a decade and also did a few test shots comparing the A50/1.2 "Special" & my oldest K50/1.2, these are my findings:

Optics & bokeh are pretty well the same between the two lenses, I did not notice any difference. I suppose the extra aperture blade in the A Series lens may produce a different bokeh in some shooting situations, however not in my test shots. The K Series version weighs 40 grams more and since both lenses have the same number of lens elements, the extra weight on the K50/1.2 would be the heavier metal used in construction. The handling of the two lenses is also a little different, as the A50/1.2 “Special” has the dedicated lens hood/cap setup. Overall, not really much difference, except for cosmetic.

I rated my K50/1.2s a perfect “Pentax Optical Hall of Fame” 10 and I would do the same for my A50/1.2 “Special”.

Summary:
The Pentax 50/1.2 (any K or A Series version) is one of those special lenses that has pretty well everything you could ask for; fast speed, 3D optics, a nice bokeh, great build & handling, all at a reasonable size & cost. The A50/1.2 “Special” just happens to be the nicest looking of the bunch, truly an amazing piece of engineering.

Price:
I bought my A50/1.2 “Special” on eBay and it was bundled with the LX 2000, so no price for just the lens. Both are in mint condition.

Sample shots taken with the A50/1.2 “Special”. Photos are medium resolution scans from original negatives and slides. All shots were taken in Vancouver, Canada.


Camera: LX 2000 Film: Ilford Delta 100 ISO: 100



Camera: LX 2000 Film: Ilford Delta 100 ISO: 100



Camera: LX 2000 Film: Ilford Delta 100 ISO: 100



Camera: LX 2000 Film: Kodak Ektachrome 100 ISO: 100



Camera: LX 2000 Film: Kodak Ektachrome 100 ISO: 100



Camera: LX 2000 Film: Kodak Ektachrome 100 ISO: 100



Camera: *ist Film: Kodak Gold 200 ISO: 200
   
Veteran Member

Registered: September, 2017
Location: Medellín
Posts: 1,322

2 users found this helpful
Review Date: January 10, 2020 Recommended | Price: $412.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Build quality, wide and nine bladed aperture, bokeh.
Cons:

It's a joy to use with film at night. Much smaller than other 1.2/50's ive tried. Dreamy portraits.
   
Loyal Site Supporter

Registered: November, 2017
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 2,982

4 users found this helpful
Review Date: October 1, 2019 Recommended | Price: $250.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Fast, probably should have been labeled *
Cons: glowy wide open, purple fringes like made wide open

I didn't intend to get this lens and wasn't actively looking for it but saw it at a local camera store mislabeled and mispriced. They had it listed as the K version not the A version and that store frequently misprices Pentax gear anyway, either way to high or way too low. So I went to check it out to see if it wasn't beat to hell so I could play with it for a while and then sell making a profit. Well turns out it was the A version, was in excellent condition with only minor dust inside but otherwise immaculate so I ended up stealing it for $250 which means that store really screwed who ever they bought it from. Spent some time getting to know it and yes it is glowy wide open in harsh lighting conditions but that can be a fun effect. In more flat lighting conditions you end up with an ephemeral feel, again a fun effect. Stop the lens down to f/2 and it is really sharp. The rendering when stopped down I find is very similar to the 77mm ltd which I like. It does have some issues with CA but it corrects easily in post processing so not really an issue. I did shoot some wide field astro images with it the other night at f/1.8 and it performs quite well not fringing and bloating stars all over the place. Also this is the only lens I own where the infinity mark actually means infinity as checked with a focusing mask.

Since getting this lens it has become the body cap for my K-3 and I have fallen in love with the 50mm focal length on APS-C as I can just make this lens sing.

Another update: My local camera store screwed up again with pricing and had another one for sale at $250 so I rescued that lens as well. So now I own 2 copies of this lens and yes I will use them both so it isn't for resale. I lover running dual 50mm lenses at night and with this lens it is as good as pentax 50s get for astro at F/2.8. Yes that includes the all new D FA* 50/1.4 which basically performs the same at f/2.8 for astro and also peaks there for astro as well.

If you are wondering what one shoots in the night sky at 50mm on APS-C my preferred target is Orion's body and there one gets the main body, barnard's loop, and the witches head nebula in the frame. For those of you on full frame the 77ltd would give you similar framing. However I think I may have another object that I know the general area of it but not an exact one so this lens should allow me to point it in the general direction and get it in frame and hopefully be able to get something to show up.
   
Pentaxian

Registered: April, 2007
Location: Toronto/Victoria
Posts: 460

2 users found this helpful
Review Date: February 4, 2019 Recommended | Price: $400.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Relatively compact, great IQ, great build quality
Cons: A bit glowy wide open
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 9    Bokeh: 9    Handling: 10    Value: 9    Camera Used: K100D, K-1   

Like most older fast 50mm lenses, the A50/1.2 has the usual key weakness of wide open IQ that is quite glowly when it is bright outside or for points of light. However, it improves very quickly and by F1.8-2.0 I'm very happy to use the lens anytime/anywhere unless more DOF is required. It might show a trace more red/blue CA than the slower 50mm lenses but you can do much worse.

It's heavier and larger than the traditional 50mm F1.4 lenses, but the filter diameter is just slightly more at 52mm vs the typical 49mm. The aperture has 9 blades.

My copy was basically new and obtained used for C$500 in 2009. It is an excellent lens overall and the size should be put in context of more contemporary lenses.
   
Site Supporter

Registered: September, 2015
Location: Berlin
Posts: 128

4 users found this helpful
Review Date: August 28, 2018 Recommended | Price: $450.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: F1.2, IQ, sharpness, Bokeh
Cons: no autofocus

Not easy to get, but if you got it you will not miss it anymore.

The A Version of the Pentax 50mm F1.2 is a bit better then the K Version. I still have both of them and to my copies the A Version is sharper at F1.2

Pros:
I love its Bokeh on Portrait or for detailed pictures.
Its sharp at 1.2 but razorsharp from F1.8-F9
On my Copy the sweet spot is F9.
Perfect for chooting stars using F1.8 at infinity (infinity marking is infinity !)
Ist Overall Image Quality is great. I use it for Portrait and landscape on K.3 and MZ-6

Cons:
For me it is not a contra but a nice to have.
A autofocus 50mm F1.2 of Pentax would be nice. Cause handling the F1.2 is not as easy using Manual Focus. Depending on your distance you sometimes have 2-3 cm of sharpness.

Overall it´s a 10 because of sharpness and bokeh. Thats what you need with a F1.2 lens

Greetings,
Milka
   
Senior Member

Registered: May, 2014
Location: Galway - Ireland
Posts: 213

7 users found this helpful
Review Date: September 13, 2016 Recommended | Price: $450.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Sharpness, Very specific look
Cons: Cost (?)
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 9    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 10    Value: 8    Camera Used: K-1, K-3   

I actually waited for my K-1 to arrive to make both a FF and an APS-C review of the lens. I got my copy from a forum member, slightly bumped (but the optics is perfect) which explains the lower than average price for this lens.

WHO IS IT FOR ?
Basically the question is mainly 'is it worth the money ?'. We all know that there are plenty of 50mm around, and some of them are outstanding for a much lower price. Then is it worth adding this price difference for the extra stop or half stop of light ? Well even if you will get more light it makes no sense to buy this lens only for the extra light. Nowadays cameras are good low light performers and the difference between a f/1.4 and a f/1.2 is negligible in terms of light. So why are you paying for ? 1) the crazy look you get at f/1.2-1.4 and 2) the extra sharpness you get at f/1.4-f/2 apertures. If you mainly shoot at f/2.8 and above, get a SMC 50mm f/1.4.

HANDLING
Great glass, built like a tank but still quite light. The focusing ring is perfect (maybe a bit less smooth than some SMC M lenses but still great), the aperture ring is great too.


FOCUSING
To focus with this lens is not that easy wide open. If you plan to use it wide open, be sure that it is only in a controlled environment where you can take your time. In 'field' conditions f/2 and above gives a very high hit rate.

IMAGE QUALITY

>SHARPNESS
APSC
This lens is quite sharp. On the 24MPx K-3 the sharpness is good starting at f/1.6 and impressing at f/2 and above. The f/1.2 is a bit soft and glowy.
FF
The result is a bit soft at f/1.2, but starting at f/1.4 is great. f/1.8 and above are all super sharp.

>BOKEH
Bokeh is great and soft as you can expect. The results at f/1.2 are very impressive. There is probably a bit of spherical aberration at f/1.2 that makes some edges a bit bubble like, but overall it is a bokeh monster.

>CHROMA ABERRATIONS
Not flawless wide open (purple fringing), gone by f/2.

>FLARE
Surprisingly good. Compared with the SMC M 50mm f/1.4 there is a real improvement.

>COLOR RENDITION
Slightly warm (I love it). I noticed that at f/1.2 the color is slightly shifted to the pink. Great colors overall.

>DISTORSION
Nothing to be noticed.

>VIGNETING
A bit strong on FF wide open, very decent on APSC. Starting at f/1.8 the problem is essentially solved


COMPARING TO SIMILAR LENSES

I must admit that I have not tried the 55mm f/1.4 star lens yet (will update when I manage to try this one) and this would be a nice comparison. Otherwise,

>50mm f/1.7 SMC M
Tried on APSC : Great lens overall, specially good starting at f/2.8. Super light and cheap. Optically, it does not catch up with the 50mm f/1.2 on wide apertures.

>50mm f/1.4 SMC M
Tried on APSC : It was my main lens for a very long time and one of my first ones. It's overall a very good lens and I really loved it. It competes easily with most modern 50mm lenses. I consider it to be top sharp from f/2.4, but I often used it at f/2. The flare resistance of this lens is unfortunately quite bad. If you want a good quality for money ratio go for this lens !

>50mm f/1.4G nikkor
This is supposed to be Nikon modern standard for pros. I would say that the image quality is not as good (not as sharp and with fringing) as the Pentax at f/1.4. I compared D800E+50 vs K-1+50 which seems fair to me and some Nikon users tried also my K-1+50 for a few days and conclude the same thing.


CONCLUSION
If you love portrait or are in love with good optics, buy this lens without a regret. It's all good, even better on FF. It's worth every penny because it is not just a 50mm. It's premium optics with an outstanding combination of sharpness and bokeh smoothness.


SAMPLE IMAGES :
APSC
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124013107@N08/27069442014/in/dateposted-public/ (f/1.8)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124013107@N08/27165610173/in/dateposted-public/ (f/1.3)

FF
https://500px.com/photo/172396919/over-the-shoulder-by-t-cognard (f/1.2)
https://500px.com/photo/171606627/bed-time-by-t-cognard (f/1.6)
https://500px.com/photo/170665117/sleeping-beauty-by-t-cognard (f/1.6)
   
Pentaxian

Registered: November, 2009
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Posts: 4,005

1 user found this helpful
Review Date: April 8, 2016 Recommended | Price: $550.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Fast, sturdy, Automatic aperture
Cons: Price
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 9    Bokeh: 8    Handling: 10    Value: 8    Camera Used: K-3   

The A50mm f1.2 is my 3rd fast fifty lens. I have a Voigtlander Nokton 58mm f1.4, and Pentax FA50mm f1.7. I bought the A50mm f1.2 to dare to try .. [LBA]. My interest was the large aperture, i.e. my fatest lens so far. There is no doubt that the lens is fast. Its construction is sturdy and sold. I love the automatic aperture option. The lens works well with Liveview and focus peaking.
If I compare the A50mm f1.2 with the VL58mm f1.4 and FA50mm f1.7, the VL58mm is a clear winner: better colour rendition, as sharp, almost as fast. The A50mm f1.2 is my number 2 fast fifty.
Overall this is a special lens, particularly valuable when you need to work in low to very low light. I believe that it is not for everyone, but I would recommend it for anyone who dares to be different....
   
New Member

Registered: May, 2014
Location: Fraser Coast
Posts: 9

2 users found this helpful
Review Date: October 26, 2014 Recommended | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Creamy Bokeh, Sharpness, Colour and Handling.
Cons: Nil

The bokeh, sharpness and handling on the A is outstanding.I was very lucky as this lens come with my K10D which I bought off eBay Australia for the tidy sum of A$123.50. Didn't realise what I had until I started researching on PF. The A 50 1.2 is a great performer in all aspects.


   
Senior Member

Registered: March, 2010
Location: Svealand
Posts: 172

2 users found this helpful
Review Date: June 23, 2013 Recommended | Price: $730.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: bokeh, f1.2, sharp, build quality
Cons: Expensive
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 9    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 10    Value: 9    Camera Used: Pentax K-5   

Great lens, nice bokeh.

Only negativ aspect is that I couldn't find it for a better price. But as it's a lens that's build to last and that it was in mint conditon i guess the price is rather ok. Especially as it's so hard to find where I live that I had to buy it from eBay Japan.
   
Forum Member

Registered: August, 2010
Location: Edinburgh
Posts: 91

6 users found this helpful
Review Date: May 1, 2013 Recommended | Price: $545.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: unique, sharp, wide maximum aperture
Cons: bulky, expensive
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 7    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 9    Value: 7    Camera Used: k-5, Canon 7D   

This is a reasonably rare lens with a high second hand value, and the largest maximum aperture among all Pentax lenses from all lens series.

Image quality
At f1.2 the lens is soft, low contrast, low detail, purple fringing - ‘dreamy’ – I don’t particularly like that this effect in the majority of circumstances but it is unique and sometimes it works very well. For example, flattering portrait photography, particularly in black and white with low contrast lighting.

At f1.4 to f2
Big jump in sharpness and contrast. Importantly, it’s sharper than the A and M 50mm f1.4 for these apertures, which you’d hope since this is a bulkier and more expensive lens.

Above f2
Wonderfully sharp, excellent soft background blur.

The image quality from this lens is very good, though not a huge leap ahead in terms of image quality from the other A and M 50mm lenses I have used (A 1.7, M 1.7, and M 1.4) apart from the lovely bokeh, made softer by the 9 blade aperture. For portraits and reasonably close shooting at near the maximum aperture, this is the king.

Colours are vibrant and consistent with the look of other pentax lenses of this era.

Build
This is a solid, wonderfully built lens, like the best in the A and M series. It’s reasonably small compared to most lenses (including modern lenses and lenses from other manufacturers) but big compared to its 50mm Pentax peers. It’s also a big chunky piece of glass, and weighty.

Focus throw is pretty huge for fine focusing, which suits me as I also use it for filmmaking with manual focus, but for fast focus changes it feels like an awfully long way to turn it.

Important points
Chromatic aberrations on this lens are pretty high in my opinion. You’ll get used to this and can learn how to shoot to minimise it, but it’s a fairly ugly purple slash down highlight edges.

A lot of similar Pentax primes from this era have 49mm threads (including all of the other 50mm lenses from the A and M series), so for me it’s a slight pity that this is 52mm thread. It just makes it a little less handy for interchanging filters and lens caps.

Bokeh is wonderful. This lens is designed for great background blur, with a rounded 9 blade aperture and an optical design that brings this smoothness out. Nothing else compares to it at any aperture.

This lens has a big front element which invites flare and reduced contrast. Use a lens hood and a lot of this disappears, so I always do.

Is this lens worth the cost?
When I bought my lens it was 3 times more expensive than the Pentax-A 50mm f1.4, which is itself a great lens. That’s a lot of extra cost to justify.

Of course, the 50mm 1.2 has that special look when used at f1.2, and the ‘defects’ like low contrast and chromatic aberrations are an important part of that. If you don’t like this look or don’t intend to often shoot with this wide open, it’s probably not worth buying this over one of Pentax’s other excellent old 50mm lenses.

Also, if you have that sort of money to spend and want the best 50mm lens you can get, consider the more modern Pentax FA 50mm f1.4, which I think handles aberrations much better and has autofocus. The background is less beautifully rendered though.

In conclusion, it's a wonderfully made lens capable of uniquely dreamy shots or tack sharpness with beautiful background blur and a few aberrations which can sometimes be very apparent in real world circumstances.

Sample pictures and video
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinthebarbarian/8529636502/in/photostream
A picture at f1.7 showing the nice background blur

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VumFUVDB6ac
This short film was all shot on the lens at f1.4 to f2. Apart from the two close ups of the glass which were shot on a pentax-A 100mm f4 macro.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinthebarbarian/8645636637/in/photostream
Using the lens in reversed position at f8 - very sharp, nice colours
   
Senior Member

Registered: January, 2011
Posts: 258

2 users found this helpful
Review Date: April 14, 2013 Recommended | Price: $300.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Good build quality for an A lens, sharp, great color and contrast for a wide aperture one, 9 blade diaphragm, easier to focus than 1.4 models
Cons: Nervous bokeh at 1.2 but still usable, blue fringing at 1.2(but still good for that old lens), CAs are like in FA 50 1.4, not the sharpest one closed down, rare and pricy
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 8    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 10    Value: 6    Camera Used: K30   

First I'll show my first shots with it in the moment of the deal. This is what made me bought it.

1.2



1.8



2.2


Perhaps it is the sharpest lens(at wider apertures) Pentax was selling for all the times. I loved it, It is made in pentax traditions with very small size and the huge front element(about 50mm wide) have nowhere to hide, but I started shooting without hood and guess what the FA 50 1.4, SMC Tak 50 1.4 and M 50 1.4 are much worse than that. This one can handle light better, I'm going to buy it a proper hood and probably things will go even better .
I'm having problems to work with it on my K30 with LV because on A setting the camera close the aperture(impossible to focus) and on manually set 1.2 the mettering works wrong(still don't know why). I hope that I will solve that soon.
Soon I will add more photos so stay tooned .

EDIT
I will add link here to my head to head comparison with FA 50 1.4 and Zenitar 50 1.7
review
   
Veteran Member

Registered: January, 2010
Location: Mumbai, India
Posts: 399
Review Date: January 22, 2013 Recommended | Price: $80.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Colour,ease of focus,OOF rendering, f/1.2!
Cons: None
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 8    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 10    Value: 10    Camera Used: K-x   

Yes, I paid 80USD, and yes, it is an f/1.2 lens. Lovely bokeh, colour rendition and handling. Very easy to focus on the stock K-x screen.
   
Site Supporter

Registered: November, 2010
Location: California
Posts: 2,223

6 users found this helpful
Review Date: June 24, 2012 Recommended | Price: $785.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: An all around lens, the only one you need.
Cons: Steep learning curve due to the thin d.o.f. at f/1.2
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 10    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 10    Value: 10    Camera Used: Pentax K5   

I just got this lens. Photos to follow after I develop them.

Here are the first photos at f/1.2


Pentax-A_50mm_f1.2-HojaDeParra1-1 by Palenquero, on Flickr


Pentax-A_50mm_f1.2-HojaDeParra2-1 by Palenquero, on Flickr


Here are some more:


Pentax-A-50mmf1.2-AFiddlerontheroof6-1 by Palenquero, on Flickr


Pentax-A-50mmf1.2-Buda2-1 by Palenquero, on Flickr


Pentax-A-50mmf1.2-Anturio-1 by Palenquero, on Flickr


Backstage by Palenquero, on Flickr


Pentax-A-50mmf1.2@f1.2-Flower&Bokeh-1 by Palenquero, on Flickr



Pentax-A-50mmf1.2@f2-Whesteria-1 by Palenquero, on Flickr


Pentax-a-50mmf1.2@f1.2-Leaves2-1 by Palenquero, on Flickr


Pentax-a-50mmf1.2@f1.2-deal-1 by Palenquero, on Flickr


Pentax-a-50mmf1.2@f1.2-deal2-1 by Palenquero, on Flickr

Update: Dec. 20, 2014:

I sold this lens few months ago, I kept the Revuenon 55/1.2, which is very sharp and has slightly higher depth of field. However, I bought the lens again (two copies) last week, because I really missed it. I wanted to have two copies to compare if there were differences between copies, but no, they are both really nice. So, I am keeping my Pentax-A 50/1.2, and may sell the other. Once thing I learned after having owned Leica lenses on Leica cameras is to focus manually really well. The depth of fiel increases with the distance the subject is from the sensor. So, if you try to shoot close objects, be prepared for a very narrow depth of field. At about 3 feet, I am able to focus on a persons eyes perfectly and have them sharp with this lens. Just an advice to avoid frustration. This is true for any lens. Here are some photos:

Pentax-A 50mm f1.2 @ f1.2 - Cacti at Laguna-1 by Palenquero, on Flickr


Pentax-A 50mm f1.2 - Palm Trunks at Laguna-1 by Palenquero, on Flickr


Pentax-A 50mm f1.2 - Palm Trees at Laguna-1 by Palenquero, on Flickr


x21mmf3.2-Laguna-10-1 by Palenquero, on Flickr

Update January 17, 2015:

I think I am getting the hang of this beauty, what a lens:

Pentax-A50-1.2-Shingha1-1 by Palenquero, on Flickr
   
New Member

Registered: June, 2012
Posts: 4
Review Date: June 19, 2012 Recommended | Rating: 8 

 
Pros: Colours, Sharpness, Bokeh!!!
Cons: very shallow depth of field when stopped down but thats to be expected
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 9    Bokeh: 9    Handling: 10    Value: 8    Camera Used: K5   

Would be the perfect lens with autofocus!
Add Review of SMC Pentax-A 50mm F1.2



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