| Author: | | New Member Registered: December, 2020 Posts: 4 | | Review Date: March 3, 2021 | Recommended | Price: $50.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Small, lightweight, nice character | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 8
Camera Used: Fujifilm X-T100, Sony A7S
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Another nice nifty fifty. Excellent sharpness across the 24 MP APS-C frame. Sharp and soft at the same time, hard to describe.
It has an interesting character with a very nice bokeh.
For some reason it has less of a tendency of accidently turning the focus ring than other MF lenses for me.
Paid 45€ for it it but it came in mint condition.
 | | | | | | | New Member Registered: July, 2008 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 3 | | Review Date: July 5, 2018 | Recommended | Price: $10.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | economical small sharp | | Cons: | none | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-50 K-3II OMD 10
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I never intended to buy this individually, it came to me a few years ago as a bonus in a on-line purchase of a batch of lenses.
Turned out to be a cool, useful manual K mount 50mm. Small & light, a street shooter candidate, it is sharp wide open and has a nice, translucent/transparent, veiled bokeh. The size is very small & short; Number of glass elements can only be minimal; It has all plastic housing, however the mount ring is metal, and no rubber; A heavy, hard click, aperture stops at full increments; Exhibits characteristics of very attractive color and micro-contrast.
My results have been excellent, it is competitive & unique for what it is & what it does, I rate this plastic 50mm high.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: April, 2015 Location: Lower Saxony Posts: 181
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 16, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $20.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | sharp and contrasty once stopped down, infinity very detailed at f/5.6 | | Cons: | plastic fantastic haptics | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 7
Camera Used: Pentax K-30
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Did use the descendant, the P version. since 1992 and still do.
Bought this one last May.
Once stopped down it is contrasty, sharp and has nearly no CAs.
At f/5.6 it is sharp all over the (APS-C-) frame and also succeeds at its near limit of ~60cm.
out of camera jpg examples:
f/2.0
f/2.8
f/5.6, near to minimum close focus
crop
LR6 post processed:
f/5.6, focus to infinity, island distance ~175m
 | | | | | Site Supporter Registered: May, 2015 Location: Hampshire Posts: 892
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 14, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $15.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Cheap to buy, surprisingly good and sharp | | Cons: | None at the price but stiff when selecting apertures | | Sharpness: 9
Handling: 7
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-5
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I bought this with a Ricoh XR20sp and case that looked mint off Ebay for £15.49 sterling, so I'm suggesting $15 for the lens. I had read that the lens was quite good and the camera was purchased for my great niece IF she takes up photography as an option this year. To be honest I have also purchased a Pentax Program A with a Pentax-A 50mm F1.7 and a Chinon CE4-S with a 50mm F1.4 as alternative options for her....and probably a case of LBA on my part.
I tried the lens out on my K-5 (just to make sure it worked rather than put a film through the camera straight away) and was very happy with the results. I have included an image, taken at the minimum focussing distance and cropped to see how sharp it is. I wish my longer telephoto buys were as sharp as this but maybe 50mm is just a better focal length for sharpness. Certainly my Tamron SP Adaptall 90mm cannot improve on it IMHO.
Must point out that I'm a bit of a novice and my eyesight is definitely not 20:20.
If you get a chance to pick this up cheap....I recommend it.
Whoops.. my first attempt to upload a photo has resulted in too many. Apologies as I cannot seem to delete the excess....a true novice at this.
Update;
I picked u a non-working P30 camera at a bootsale with a copy of this Ricoh lens attached so now I have two.Today is very cloudy and gloomy so I set the WB to the cloudy icon and took a few images from a bit further away than the MFD. The image at F:2 was underexposed so I have uploaded one from F:2.8 and a crop of it. I paid less than the current cost average for both so I will not reduce this average more, this l ens is really good value for money!
ps the camera works now the battery cap has been cleaned.....must buy a lottery ticket for the weekend.
 | | | | | | | Digitiser of Film Registered: March, 2010 Location: North East of England Posts: 20,670
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 12, 2015 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp, creamy bokeh, handles well, fast enough | | Cons: | Lots of plastic | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax K3
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I picked this up from a well-known online auction site for silly low money. I didn't know anything about it, hadn't read any reviews or done any research - but I enjoy playing with lenses, and for the price, I just couldn't pass it up. At the time of writing, it is my cheapest lens.
Mine is the non-XR, non-P version - a simple Rikenon 50mm F2, which makes it one of the most basic models from Ricoh. It's a K mount lens, without no Ricoh pin, so can be fitted and removed without any fear of becoming permanently attached to my K3!
With the exception of the 52mm main barrel, which appears to be metal, and the optics, the rest of the lens - externally, at least - is made from plastic. But... it's solid enough and looks good, with crisp, clear markings for the distance scales and aperture settings. Nothing rattles or moves unless its supposed to, and the unit feels like it has been manufactured to close tolerances. The large diameter focus ring rotates smoothly with just enough damping through approximately 130 degrees, to cover the entire focus range. Focusing is a joy with this lens. The aperture ring feels a little notchy, but clicks positively into position. There are no in-between apertures - just the main f-stops inscribed on the ring.
All fine and dandy, but nothing to write home about, so far.
The performance, however, is another matter entirely!
Contrast ranges from ok to excellent depending on the lighting, and images look well saturated, with blue skies in particular seeming very rich indeed.
Wide open, there is a little softness, of course, not that much - images are very usable even without any in- or out-of-camera sharpening. At F2.8 things are noticeably better, and by F4 we're getting into properly sharp territory. F5.6 produces images crisp enough for even the closest scrutiny, whilst being fast enough for most situations, and is the sweet spot for this lens in my opinion. F8 and F11 are sharp enough to shave with!
Chromatic aberrations are extremely well controlled, with just a tiny amount of green and/or purple fringing in certain very high contrast situations. In most cases this is so minor as to require no action.
The bokeh from this lens is just beautiful - soft and creamy, with no distractions. It never looks busy, even at smaller apertures.
My K3 has a little trouble metering for this lens, its accuracy varying with the lighting. Typically, it over-exposes by around 2/3rds of a stop, so if I dial in EV of -2/3, it's usually not too far off.
Despite being largely plastic, this Rikenon handles surprisingly well, but the real surprise is the excellent optical performance.
One of the best primes I own, and it was the cheapest - go figure!
Quick indoor test shot with K3, ISO 400, 1/25s at f4 (resized):
 | | | | | New Member Registered: November, 2013 Posts: 14
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 22, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $15.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | very sharp single lens | | Cons: | none in optics, plastic body | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 9
Camera Used: k200,z-20p,sfx,xrp,xrx
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amazing optical qualities, same satisfying experiences
very nice bokeh, good colors, high contrast. I use it with f5,6, in most cases.
with high ISO and f4 for asto shootings usuable, too.
very good macro photos with small macro ring or achromatic macro lens.
a good competitor to Takumar 1;8/50
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: October, 2013 Posts: 94
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: November 16, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $3.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Cheap, light, small, razor sharp | | Cons: | None | |
I don't see a page for this lens which surprised me, so I started a new one. This is not the 'P' version, and I don't know how they differ.
This came from feabay attached to a Ricoh KR-10 with leather case, which cost me in total £3 plus £3 shipping, so I guess the lens cost about £1.50 ($2.40) - of course I only bought the camera for the lens, so you could say it cost me £6 or under $10. Either way I'm happy. Mine is full of dust and some fairly large black specks but it doesn't seem to affect IQ.
I don't need to use this lens long before feeling confident in writing a review. It is razor sharp - some images actually need to be softened! That's what I bought it for and it does the job. It's sharper than my Topcor 55mm f/1.7 which was previously my sharpest "vintage" lens and it's sharp all the way from f/2 to f/16 - probably best at f/5.6 I think. it has a fixed front element so great for using filters too.
it's a relatively modern lens compared to many - I think 1980s - and looks a bit cheap. There's a lot of plastic, it weighs very little, and it's tiny (about the size of three filter holders stacked). Looks can be deceptive however, because this lens handles and performs like the best with smooth, positive focus and aperture rings. There's plenty of metal in there too and for it's small size it does feel very sturdy.
Normally I use a tripod and look for good lighting to take test shots but this lens doesn't need much work. These were taken (very quickly) with a K-x.
f/5.6 1/125s ISO 200 AWB cropped, slightly saturated and a hint of Unsharp Mask - not to sharpen but to highlight details.
SOOC no edits - f/8 1/350s ISO140. Full Res. crop below.
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