Junior Member Registered: March, 2012 Posts: 37 2 users found this helpful | Review Date: February 20, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $50.00
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | cheap, light, small, sharp, low distortion | Cons: | cheap, not very durable construction, flare | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 7
Value: 9
| | Perhaps a bit underrated lens. Usual cheap Cosina build; aluminium + plastic. No-fuss design really, looks like 1000 other similar lenses and handles so too.
Optical price-performance is really good, compared to Tamron 24mm f:2.5, this one is sharper, with less distortion and flare.
At f:2.8, corners are a bit softer than the center, while that center portion is very good. Stopping down improves things as usual, at f:8 it's very sharp corner-to-corner.
There's some CA, but quite low I'd say.. + NO ghosting/highlight "glow" (the Tamron for example, glows quite a lot @ f:2.5-2.8). Overall, a very nice "street" lens, can still be said to be wide-angle on APS-C (about 37mm equivalent on Pentax).
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New Member Registered: February, 2012 Posts: 17 1 user found this helpful | Review Date: July 9, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $30.00
| Rating: 9 |
Pros: | Inexpensive, sharp from wide open, compact | Cons: | Focus ring a bit lumpy, no A setting. | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: Samsung GX20, Pentax K-x
| | If you want to know what this lens looks like, see https://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/cosina-35mm-f2-8-cosinon-w-mc.html - just imagine 35 replaced with 24 on the vanity ring.
The handling characteristics of the two lenses likewise is identical down to the slight 'stickiness' when I try to start moving the focus ring.
Green button metering works on the GX-20, but is useless on the K-x, because the (metal) mount is anodised. I am not inclined to attack the mount with sand paper to fix this. On the K-x, I use the 'Sunny 16' rule first off, and then consult the histogram.
Colours and contrast are good, there is little distortion, and there is a little bit of CA. Bokeh, when there is any, lacks character, but doesn't offend.
The lens isn't resistant to flare. Using a hood all the time (I use a collapsible rubber) helps, but if the sun is in the frame the captured image is likely to be useless.
The lens is sharp wide open, and gets sharper stopped down, in the centre and the corners. There can be a little bit of fringing. I don't notice any distortion.
I think the Cosina has a slight edge in sharpness over the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 Zoom at any aperture, though the differences are slight. However, the Tamron Zoom copes much better with flare, shows no fringing, and its colours are more pleasing. At f8, I find there is little to choose between the Cosina, the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8, and the Tamron SP 24-48mm f3.5-3.8
I find the Tamron 01B 24mm f2.5 to be, in comparison: - More easily focused; the difference between f2.5 and f2.8 makes a big difference to me in the brightness of the view finder.
- Much nicer to handle; the Tamron focus ring is perfectly damped.
- Markedly bulkier; 55mm filters versus 49mm, and the Tamron prime is scarcely smaller than the Tamron SP 24-48mm f3.5-3.8 zoom
- Less sharp in the corners when I pixel-peep.
I have also compared the Cosina to the SUN YS-24 f2.8, and the Tokina TX 24mm f2.8 Mark 2, and at f8 I get obviously better results with the Cosina in the corners. Recommended.
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New Member Registered: November, 2013 Posts: 14 | Review Date: February 12, 2022 | Recommended | Price: $45.00
| Rating: 8 |
Pros: | sharp lens / objectif net | Cons: | some few CA's in the corners / quelques ACs dans les coins | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 8
Camera Used: pentax k-5 k-x k200d Fuji x-t100 x-e1
| | a good lens at small budget / bon objectiv au prix bon marché
++/+ sharpness, contrast and color rendition at a high level / piqué, constraste et la saturation des couleurs à un haut niveau
+/O thin CAs in the corners / peu d'aberrations chromatiques dans les coins | |