New Member Registered: August, 2017 Posts: 5 | |
New Member Registered: February, 2012 Posts: 17 | | Review Date: December 23, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $8.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Solid performance, easy to fix | | Cons: | One I had wasn't put together properly | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 9
Camera Used: Pentax P30, Centon K100, Samsung GX10, GX20
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Two of these have passed through my hands. One came on a Centon K100 (Chinese K1000 clone) owned by my daughter; it lost infinity focus after a year or so. I replaced it for £5 in a Jessops branch closing down sale, and kept the defective lens. Eventually I got round to looking at the problem. The lens's focusing and aperture mechanisms reminded me of the Pentax-M 50mm f2, but the lens assembly was like that of the SMC Takumar 55mm f1.8; a series of Aluminium rings screwed together. Somehow they had unscrewed; that was the cause of the loss of infinity focus. I screwed everything back tightly together, and it all worked. I mention this in case anyone else has similar issues.
My daughter has had great success with it particularly shooting black and white film. I don't use it much myself. Images taken with it are really very similar to those shot with the Pentax-M 50mm f1.7, but the Centon is slightly bulkier, and takes a larger filter size, so I have no reason to prefer it to the excellent Pentax-M.
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Pentaxian Registered: June, 2009 Location: Utah, Idaho Posts: 2,398 | | Review Date: September 10, 2012 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Nice build quality, fast | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 8
Value: 9
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I haven't used this lens on a DSLR but I'm happy with it's performance on a 35mm SLR. I've owned this lens for quite a few years along with the M 50/1.7 and I really don't prefer one over the other. Both are nice, sharp and easy to focus with. I find I typically use the M for landscapes and the Centon for portraits.
The lens:
I received this lens with the purchase of a camera on auction and didn't have any expectations of it.
This lens is well-built and solid, with no play in the focus ring or aperture ring. The aperture ring isn't stiff and moves easily between the numbers. At wider apertures the background blur is rendered nicely and remains smooth without swirl (I get swirls in the blurry area with my K 55/1.8 making it a bit busy sometimes).
The colors are nice, especially reds and greens matched with Fuji film (no surprises here). So here's some examples:
K1000, Centon 50/1.7, Fuji 200
11 by Photography by Derek, on Flickr
MX, Centon 50/1.7, ?? film
19 by Photography by Derek, on Flickr
K2 DMD, Centon 50/1.7, Studio 35 200
R1-02711-0005 by Photography by Derek, on Flickr
K2 DMD, same roll of film
R1-02711-0013 by Photography by Derek, on Flickr
MX, Centon 50/1.7, Walgreen's 200
R1-05963-0003 by Photography by Derek, on Flickr
MX, same roll
R1-05963-0002 by Photography by Derek, on Flickr
MX, same roll
R1-05963-0011 by Photography by Derek, on Flickr
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