Senior Member Registered: August, 2013 Posts: 150 2 users found this helpful | Review Date: November 13, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $49.00
| Rating: 8 |
Pros: | Sharp, Contrast, Cheap! | Cons: | PLastic, prone to flare, 46mm filter thread | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 6
Value: 10
| | Lens is sharp! Bokeh is pretty decent. Its cheap!
The only complaint i have for this baby is the build quality. Cheap plasticky feel. Aperture ring is very very stiff! Its takes some force to turn it. Focusing is kinda hard, like i said, its plastic, soft but not that smooth to focus. Noisy spring. Do i recommend it? for the price, YES! | |
New Member Registered: August, 2013 Location: Samara region, Tlt Posts: 1 | Review Date: October 9, 2013 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 7 |
Pros: | cheap, supersharp in center, light, Kmount, easy to find | Cons: | plasticky, soapy on sides | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 7
Value: 7
| | It was my first lens after kit. I like it but M 50 f2 better shots, made much better. It's good for flowers and tiny subjects. DOF is small when wide open.
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Loyal Site Supporter Registered: August, 2012 Location: North Carolina Posts: 3,685 2 users found this helpful | Review Date: May 16, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $50.00
| Rating: 8 |
Pros: | Fairly sharp, pleasant bokeh, low price, interesting styling (may be a minus to some) | Cons: | Build quality, odd filter size (46mm) | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 7
Value: 10
| | The Russian MC Zenitar-K2 50mm f/2 is an interesting lens. It's one of the few examples of lens designers taking advantage of plastic molding and making a lens look like something other than a black metal can. The design goes back to the late 80s, but you can still buy a new one for less than $50. I bought it to use on my K-01 - they both combine unorthodox looks with surprisingly good performance (at a bargain price).
The plastic body is lightweight, but it does feels "plasticky". Two criticisms I have: (1) the plastic focus ring is slightly skewed on mine, so it hangs over by about 1mm on one side, and (2) when the lens is wide open, the spring that holds back the aperture lever rubs against the focus mechanism with a scrapy/springy sound. That spring may have to be replaced at some point (or it may just need a little break-in).
The word I keep finding myself using for this lens is "pleasant". It's sharp, but not super-sharp like a Zeiss. The bokeh is smooth and has a pleasing character (to my eye, at least). Wide open, I could find a little color aberration when pixel-peeping, but it wasn't there when stopped down. I tried the classic "bare branches against the sky" shot, and did not see any purple fringing.
If you enjoy shooting with something that looks different, then it's definitely a fun lens that gets good results - and for a NEW lens, the price is unbeatable.
The Zenitar-K2 and -M2s are the same basic lens; the K2 is K-mount (no A-contacts, so stop-down metering only), and the M2s is M42 screwmount.
f/8 and f/2: sharpness versus bokeh (both exposure adjusted in SILKYPIX for better comparison)
100% crop example (a lousy example shooting into shade): | |