| Author: | | Senior Member Registered: February, 2013 Location: Houston TX Posts: 265
18 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 16, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $199.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Fast sharp great short portrait lens on cropped sensor | | Cons: | Takes skill to use | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K3
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As another reviewer noted this is a lens that needs a lens hood to cut down on flare wide open. The contrast really goes up with a lens hood.
Purple fringing is not "chromatic aberration". We forget that light is electro - magnetic radiation. When light is bright enough the electric field can become so intense as to take optical elements out of the linear range and into the non-linear. Non linear elements cause frequency doubling and infra-red gets doubled into blue-purple visible light. Laser experimenters sometimes use this effect to double infra-red lasers into visible light. I suspect the optical element causing purple fringing is the optical cement used to glue lens elements together - although some glasses could go non-linear in bright light. In any case the Nikon 50 F1.4 is a much worse offender as far as purple fringing goes. Stopping down greatly reduces the purple fringing because it lowers the intensity of the light.
Others have noted focusing problems at f1.4; this is really operator error. While shake reduction handles left-right and up-down body motion, it can't do anything about the fact that the human body sways toward and away from the object we are photographing. Because of the shallow depth of field at f1.4 it doesn't take much sway for the actual taken shot to be focused off the subject even though the lens was focused when the indicator light lit.
Using any fast lens wide open - hand held - is a bit like firing a sniper rifle; breathing and heart beat matter, as does foot placement. If you are right eyed put your right foot forward, pigeon toe your feet in to lock in place. This will help turn your body sway to left right - which the shake reduction can handle - instead of to and fro - which it can't handle. Squeeze the 'trigger' instead of stabbing it. Bottom line: we can't blame a lens for our lack of shooting skill.
Because I use the single spot in the center to focus and then shift to compose, I have had to learn to see my body sway happening in the viewfinder and take the picture in rhythm with it. Remember the subject sways also.
Forget about live view wide open and hand held; the camera needs to be welded to the head for you to have a decent chance of hitting focus. I braced my elbows on the bar for this shot of bartender Kai taken with a K3 - iso 100 1/13 sec @ f1.4.
 | | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: October, 2014 Location: Washington Posts: 2,176 | | Review Date: January 6, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $150.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp, durable | | Cons: | none | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K5
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Probably the sharpest lens I own. I did a comparison between f1.7 Ricoh, f2 Ricoh and Pentax FA1.4. My conclusion is...from f2.8 through f8 all three lenses are just about the same in resolution and contrast. The Pentax was sharper below f2.8, even f1.4 the Pentax was sharper than the Richohs at maximum aperture. All lenses were usable wide open but the Pentax being better. I have added a link to show the difference from f1.4-f8. I shot the pictures at a slight angle to show dof and focused on the center "n". The pictures are 100% crop, shot .jpg at ISO 3200 with my K5. https://www.flickr.com/photos/24877856@N00/sets/72157651826063910/ | | | | | Forum Member Registered: October, 2014 Posts: 85 | | Review Date: December 14, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $150.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | sharp with stopping down, excellent bokeh quality, no distortion, no lateral CAs, weak vignetting wide open | | Cons: | strong longitudional CAs, average build quality, noisy autofocus | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 7
Value: 8
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-5 IIs
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smc Pentax-FA 50mm F/1.4 despite its age can successfully compete with modern Pentax-DA lenses and provides excellent sharpness across the frame with closing down the aperture by F/2.8. Wide open there is a soft-effect and slightly lowered contrast but the situation improves at F/2 where soft-effect is gone and the sharpness and contrast are very good. Longitudinal chromatic aberrations are strong wide open, noticeable at F/2-2.8 and mostly disappear from F/4. Distortion and lateral chromatic aberrations are simply not noticeable and vignetting is only weak wide open so you can save the time during post-processing. The quality of bokeh is excellent - the background blur is soft and smooth and out-of-focus highlights are evenly rendered and round in most cases.
Mechanically the lens leaves more to be desired - the housing is made of plastic, the build quality is good but not more than that and is significantly worse in comparison with older all-metal smc Pentax, smc Pentax-M and smc Pentax-A models. The manual focusing ring is narrow and inconvient and the same goes to the aperture ring - better control the aperture from the camera only. Despite the presence of autofocus mechanically smc Pentax-FA 50mm F/1.4 is a big step back in comparison with A, M and K versions. Quick-Shift Focus System is not supported and this may be a significant drawback for some photographers.
My brief winter review of my copy of lens with samples at different apertures:
http://aflenses.net/reviews/a-brief-winter-review-of-smc-pentax-fa-50mm-14-pentax-k-5-iis | | | | | New Member Registered: November, 2013 Posts: 14 | | Review Date: November 17, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $150.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | very sharp | | Cons: | some few CA's wide open | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: k-x,k200,k2,sfx,z20p,mz5,mz-10
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 what a nice lens with full glass elements.stopped down to f4, excellent sharp.
maybe that the modern edition give a few more of resolution contrast or color rendition.
but at this low price there is nothing comparative on the lens market.
very content with it. for converter use,too
| | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: July, 2014 Location: Paris Posts: 1,939 | | Review Date: November 2, 2014 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | IQ | | Cons: | not as smooth as my Helios | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: New
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I get this lens and resell after get my Helios 44M, this lens is sweet and faster (1.4) so if you want to shoot portrait in-door or want a super fast lens, this is for you
| | | | | New Member Registered: December, 2012 Posts: 17 | | Review Date: November 2, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $470.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | large aperture, small,sharp, | | Cons: | plastic, | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: k-30,k-x
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I have this lens for 3 years and it is my most use lens. i use this lens for general purpose from portraits to landscapes. it is always in my bag on holidays trips parties. It is sharp from f2.0 but usable from 1.4. overall I am happy with this lens.
 | | | | | New Member Registered: September, 2010 Posts: 3 | | Review Date: November 2, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $280.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | large aperture | | Cons: | very soft at f1.4 | | Sharpness: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 8
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-30
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I'm very satisfied with this lens. I have bought it few years ago and used it with my K10D. Unfortunately the autofocus was very unaccurate, so it was unable to use it wide open. Bud the price at that time was simply wonderful 
As long as I have K-30 I am very happy with this piece of glass. AF is very accurate now and if you stop it down to f1.8 or f2.0 even the sharpness increases to better values. The aperture has only 6 blades, so the bokeh is not as smooth as it could be. If you stop it only a little, the blades are only partly visible and your bokeh is still good enough. Nowadays it is my favourite portrait lens and moreover in combination with high ISO of K-30 you are able to take pictures in very hard conditions.
| | | | | New Member Registered: November, 2013 Location: Naperville, IL Posts: 7
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: October 11, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Aperture ring, bokeh | | Cons: | Very noisy AF, AF difficult in normal indoor lighting conditions | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 7
Handling: 8
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: k-30
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I really have a hard time assessing this lens. I've had some really mixed results. At times I'm impressed and almost stunned by the sharpness but at other times I'm disappointed on how out of focus and dull my pictures end up being. I used it once for my daughter's indoor birthday party and was left with deleting half of them because the focus wasn't fast enough.
The small focus ring didn't bother me as much as how fast it moved. I don't mind manual focus but its really hard to do with this lens because the ring moves too easily-- with no smooth resistance.
The great sharpness usually came in bright outdoor conditions and not only when stopped down, as some others post.
I achieved this sharpness on the dog's nose at f1.4
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gregslr/11455175443
It does certainly get better stopped down as seen in this crop at f3.5
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gregslr/13177984034/in/photostream/
Here's a good example of the beautiful bokeh and that certain stylized look it sometimes provides
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gregslr/13178090453
I feel like I'm rating this too low, but I recently realized I only achieved good results when in bright outdoor conditions, which for me defeats the reason for having a fast 50mm. I do understand the unique "character" this lens can create but for less money I get that and better sharpness from my manual takumar 1.4 50mm.
I'm writing this after convincing myself to sell it. I'm torn because I will probably miss it. It just wasn't consistent enough.  | | | | | Marketplace Reseller Registered: March, 2010 Location: Queensland Posts: 104 | | Review Date: June 8, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $750.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Amazing brokeh | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: Pentax K10
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Great lens, great brokeh, great size, great for portraiture and worth having.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: November, 2011 Location: Uppsala, Sweden Posts: 4,439
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 31, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $330.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Small, Light, really sharp stopped down, decent price second hand, solid, fast focus, nice oof | | Cons: | Soft wide open, ugly, bad focus ring, no hood bayonet | | New or Used: New
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It's a small, light but still solid lens. It feels quite compact and is built with quality plastics. The plastic design doesn't seem to affect the lens in use but the lens looks really ugly. The focus ring is narrow with no real friction, a bad design. The absence of any kind of hood bayonet makes screw in ones tho only option and a hood is important to protects the quite close front element.
It's quite soft wide open but gets really sharp stopped down. Colors are a bit muted compared to my DA* 55mm F1.4 but still good. Contrast increases from decent to good when stopping down. Out of focus areas are soft and nice.
It's an extremely fast focusing lens as the throw is relatively short, low friction and large aperture. Accuracy is not a problem.
The new prices seems to jump around a lot but the second hand prices are quite good, at least here in Sweden.
In short it's a good lens but nothing really special. It will do the job but it's not a lens that ever became a favorite for me.
 Cold Bike by A.Sundell, on Flickr
 Glittering tree by A.Sundell, on Flickr
 Waiting tunnel by A.Sundell, on Flickr
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: February, 2012 Location: Fredericton, New Brunswick Posts: 632 | | Review Date: May 30, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp, Light, Fast | | Cons: | Flares a bit, loud AF | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: Pentax K-5
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Picked up a used copy locally, pleased with the results. Smooth bokeh, fast AF (Albeit loud indoors), and perfectly usable with a hood (Without it, you'll get some flaring at times).
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: February, 2008 Location: Nelson, BC Posts: 42
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 27, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $200.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Bokeh, sharpness | | Cons: | Aesthetics | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 8
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K5iis
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I wanted to write this review to complement this lens. I researched extensively and read many 50mm 1.4 vs 1.7 threads. Looking back, I now believe I over thought my purchase too much.
Now I may just have a good copy, but This lens is pretty damn sharp to me. I have a 40mm ltd and to my eye there isn't much difference.
It's bokeh is just awesome. If there is softness to this lens then the bokeh compliments it.
Here are some recent pics with the lens. Decent cross section of bokeh,isolation and colours.
Buy the lens. I feel it is terrific value.
   | | | | | Forum Member Registered: April, 2012 Posts: 84
5 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 8, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $280.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Large aperture, FF coverage, color rendition | | Cons: | Plastic body, noisy AF, cheapo AF ring, no hood, no WR, narrow FOV on APS-C | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-5, K-3
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Many people said that this lens is soft at 1.4. But I think it is mostly because of the very thin DOF and Pentax does not have very good AF bodies prior to K-5 II. If the focus is accurate, the sharpness is very good.
Wide-open, there may be glow in strong light environment, but that is not a big problem because we often need f/1.4 only in poor light situations.
The body of this lens is made from plastic, but it does not feel cheapy. In fact, it is solid and looks good when mounting on Pentax bodies. Anyway we should not expect to much from a consumer FA lens. For better build, we could go for FA limiteds which are more expensive.
Some people dislike the screw-drive AF. Yes it is noisy, but to me it is not a problem especially when using on K-3 which has a strong motor and then can improve the AF speed of this lens.
I like the "FA color rendition" of this lens which looks beautiful, at least to my eyes, with good saturation. In short, I am very happy shooting with this lens. I wish I could use it on Pentax FF bodies because on APS-C its FOV may not be wide enough for some normal shootings.
Below are some test shots at max. aperture (K-3).
1/
100% crop @ AF point
2/
100% crop @ AF point
Now are some field shots (K-5)
3/ @ f/1.4
4/ @ f/1.4
5/ @ f/1.8
6/ @ f/2.8
7/ @ f/2
 | | | | | New Member Registered: January, 2012 Posts: 15
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 4, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $200.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | f1.4 very useful in low light, sharp, size too small | | Cons: | Heavy (compare with size), front focus when close up. | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 7
Handling: 8
Value: 7
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-5
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All is quite good.
useful for low light condition.
Issue : close subject is front focus. Far subject no problem.
I think above issue is lacking syncronize old lens 1990 & new body 2010.
Anywhere everything is quite good.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: January, 2014 Location: viking country Posts: 276 | | Review Date: January 15, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $400.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | size, f1.4, versatility, full frame | | Cons: | fiddly manual focus, soft(ish) until f4, needs hood | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 7
Value: 9
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-30
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The thing with this lens is that sometimes it blows me away with wonderfully sharp pictures but then you open it up and it doesn't impress me with that any more. I could rate this lens anywhere between a 5 and a 10 on sharpness. To clarify I think that the sharpness from 1.4 - 2.5 is about the same as with the kit 18 - 55 lens, after that it starts picking up momentum so around 4 it is as good as many other primes and at f5.6 - 8 it can compete with the best lenses on the market. Since I use this lens for alot more than bokeh,bokeh and bokeh I give it a high rating here.
here is a 30 second exposure I took at f5.6
and here is the crop of the area in focus
But - you buy a 1.4 lens for the ability either to shoot with amazing bokeh or in low light situations otherwise you could just go for a much cheaper 1.7 or 2.0 but don't worry this lens got loads of bokeh and it handles low light very well.
at f1.4 cloudy day inside no artificial lights
at f1.4 in front of a christmas tree with different color lights
at f2.8 I think you have a great compromise between bokeh and sharpness - this was shot without a lens hood, unfortunatley I don't have a comparison with the hood on.
on the plus side, even if the lens is soft at f1.4 people won't notice it very well because of the nice bokeh on everything else.
On the negative this lens really needs a hood to work, I currently have the square plastic one, and it really, really sucks. I end up not using it at all many times because I can't attach it to my CPL and the fit on my B+W nano is so snug I can barely get it in place. So since it is now -10C (15F) where I live, I do not want to take my gloves off and fiddle for over a minute just to get the lens hood on. I strongly recommend that you buy the rubber hood, I know I have got one coming my way...
Bottom line is that the lens is great, very versatile and sharp as hell when you want it to be. Also, do NOT forget that this is a full frame lens, and if pentax does not drop their K-mount with the arrival of their first dSLR full frame this will be one very sought after lens.
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