New Member Registered: August, 2014 Posts: 12 | | Review Date: April 10, 2019 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharpness wide open, build quality, IQ, constant F3.5 | | Cons: | Bulk, weight | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: K5
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I traded my duplicate Pentax M 50mm lens for this one and turned out to be a pretty nice deal. I couldn't find any info online for the lens. Like I couldn't even find a photo of this lens on google images, so I thought it would be nice to add the lens on this forum and write a review about it.
I haven't had much time to use or test it properly outdoors for CA and fringing. I will be posting an update after that happens.
I made a couple of shots indoors and all I can say is that the sharpness of this lens is quite something! I will be posting some photos below, shot wide open on F3.5. Bokeh wise - check the images below and judge for yourself.
It has a macro feature too. There is a minimum focus distance of 23 centimeters written on it. But as I tested it on my K5, turned the focus all the way and the focus was about 10 centimeters from the end of the lens, which is even better.
The build quality is excellent. It's all metal as most film-era lenses and it feels solid. It's somewhat beaten up but holds up firmly. The zoom and focus rings work very smooth. My copy has a bit of a 'sluggish' aperture. I guess it's oily or something as it doesn't close past 11. Honestly, I don't think it would be a problem as it really sharp wide open.
But on the downside, this lens weighs a ton. I didn't really measure it but a K5 with a battery weighs 750 grams (wikipedia). This thing is even heavier. I would guess it weighs about 1 kilo. Puts the K5 a bit off balance.
Overall it's a great lens. For a film lens is really nice. I have tried film era lenses but this one, like the Pentax M 50mm gives proper results. It's not like other old lenses that one keeps for fooling around, making 'dreamy' photos or whatever. This thing seems like it really can be used for serious photography work IF auto-focus if not a necessity. The 28-80 mm zoom range transfers to normal to long 42-120 mm on crop, so it would really do the job for portraits. And the only drawback apart from the obvious lack of AF is the weight. It is not a walk-around lens. Other that that, maybe the coatings are not on pair with some contemporary lenses with coatings for digital sensor. Highly recommended!
Here are the examples I took an hour earlier. JPEGs straight from camera, just resized to fit on this forum's image uploader. And please don't mind the theme of the photos  They are just to showcase the sharpness and bokeh of the lens. I will write an update with proper sample photos.
@28mm F3.5, 200 ISO
@28mm F3.5, 200 ISO, closest focus
@80mm F3.5, 200 ISO, 100% crop
And here are some photos of the lens itself.
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