| Author: | | New Member Registered: February, 2019 Posts: 15 | | Review Date: November 14, 2023 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | A good and solid f2 lens | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: Film
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A neat and well made lens with good glass and fine quality checks applied. It's a good and easy to use typical F2 50mm lens of its day. As with all other lenses of this type it is not wonderful wide open except for close focus work, but it gets better at f4 and better still onto f8, after which it starts to decline in quality. Sweet spots for mid-distance and infinity sharpness are - as with many other 50mm lenses of the day - around f5.6 and f8. In other words, Like a Helios 58mm f2 or a Takumar 55mm f2.
Coatings are not dazzlingly blue or purple or red so the folks who think colours make a difference won't like what the glass looks like, but it performs in very similar fashion to other lenses of this type from this age of lens production by letting in a bit too much flare and glare when the user does not avoid direct sunlight ruining their choices of composition. Keep in mind that lens hoods do have a genunine productive reason for use if you really insist on messing up your photos by pointing your vintage lens into direct sunlight and expecting it to act like a 21stCentury digital lens.
If you find one with stiff focus, or an aperture function that is not perfect then it's not the lens that is the problem, but it is the passage of time since it was made to when you bought it; it's just old. And if you are the kind of person who genuinely believes that an F2 lens cannot give results as good as a f1.7 or f1.8 then you need to buy one of these and blind test it by asking a friend if they can genuinely see a difference with a Takumer 55mm f1.8 or a Yashinon F1.7 at the same f-stop calibration.
| | | | | | | New Member Registered: July, 2023 Posts: 17 | | Review Date: July 28, 2023 | Recommended | Price: $20.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Compact, sharp, sturdy, cheap, versatile, prismatic flare | | Cons: | fiddly aperture control, poor contrast in direct light, long focus throw | | Sharpness: 7
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 6
Handling: 7
Value: 10
Camera Used: Samsung GX-10 (K10D)
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Purchased as part of a lot of old Asahi Pentax and M42 equipment; I got two copies of the Mamiya-Sekor 50mm f/2.
The main values of this lens for me are the flare, good manual-focus handling, and clean output for a bargain.
(Sample shots from adapted use on a Sony A7C)
Sharpness, Bokeh, Contrast, Aberrations: Remarkably clean and sharp central focus area. Heavy vignette at f/2 and significant sharpness dropoff at the edges of the frame; some "glow" and purple-fringe comes in at the edges as well. Good for an old kit lens squarely in the non-exotic speed bracket and IMO superior to the SMC Pentax-M 50mm f/2 of a decade or two later. Bokeh is not especially smooth and exhibits some swirl, heavy cats-eye. Slight cyan fringing behind focus and in some OOF bubbles; OOF transition can be a bit rough. Overall typical "film era prime" look.
 Untitled by hazmat0, on Flickr
Build, Handling: Sturdy metal body. One of my copies has some serious dents in the filter ring but seems to have taken the punches with no optical impact. The A/M adjuster for aperture control is easy to bump when handling the lens, and the aperture ring is very skinny; annoying to use in gloves or with slippery hands. Focus ring and focus movement are expectedly good for an older manual-focus prime. The focus throw is quite long at about 270 degrees from MFD to infinity, requiring a re-grip to cover the distance but allowing for a very nice amount of control when micro-adjusting. It is disconcertingly easy to accidentally disassemble the lens when mounting/dismounting a screw-in cap, filter, or hood due to the front fascia and filter ring being a simple threaded-in piece.
about the flare: prismatic ring when pointed directly into the sun, amber cardioid and rainbow rays when off-axis. Great for creative applications using the flare deliberately, but bad for everything else as the contrast drops dramatically. No built-in hood; adding one does help narrow the angles at which sunlight washes out the image entirely.
 Untitled by hazmat0, on Flickr
| | | | | New Member Registered: August, 2021 Posts: 1 | | Review Date: August 26, 2021 | Recommended | Price: $25.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Cheap, easy to use, easy to adapt, smooth focus ring | | Cons: | Green cast, soft under f4 | | Sharpness: 6
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 6
Value: 8
Camera Used: Mamiya sekor 500dtl
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This lens was included with my mamiya sekor 500dtl and i must say, it isnt my favourite lens. The photos i take have a weird green cast over them that i manually have to remove (its not the film or the scanner).
It is very soft when used at f4 and under whitch is great for a dreamy look but not very desirable.
| | | | | Inactive Account Registered: April, 2011 Location: Texas Posts: 20
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 14, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $5.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Compact, metal build. | | Cons: | Flare | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 10
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Neat little lens that came with a Mamiya/Sekor 500DTL for the price I stated. My copy looks like it's been through hell and back. Some lens scratches, some haze, some dirt inside. Focus is stiff and filter thread has at least 4 dents that I can feel. All that considered when I graded the lens.
Only real problem is flare, which I think is to be expected. Once I got the hang of how it flares I began employing them in the actual image and that "problem" became quite fun to me.
The other aspect of this lens I enjoyed was the bokeh. I just like it. It's not (all that) smooth, it's almost swirly. So all in all I find this lens fun to use, which means quite a bit to me.
 | | | | | | | Forum Member Registered: January, 2012 Location: Ajman, United Arab Emirates Posts: 55 | | Review Date: May 5, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $22.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Well built, sturdy | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 10
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Using this on my K-30 with adapter. Really well built lens. The focus ring is a bit stiff, perhaps its my copy. The Pentax Super Tak hits the sweet spot for smooth focus ring movement.
Samples soon...
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