You can't beat the value of this. For about $20, you get a well-built, lightweight, prime lens for your Pentax. When you have enough light, and with a few F-stops down, you get sharp portraits with a warm feel to them. Wide open, you can get great macro shots with great background blur. It's lightweight and takes wonderful pictures so I find it attached to camera most of the time, even though each picture takes some work to meter, focus and recompose. Pluses: - Real cheap prime - Good blur - Lightweight - Takes beautiful portraits when focused where it should Cons: - Fuzzy wide open (until about F/4) - Bokeh has sharpish edges - It takes time to learn to focus manually. Action shots are out of the picture. - As a manual lens, it took me some time to find the settings and learn to meter before I took off to shoot with it. Bottom line: poor man's top prime lens choice. If you have money for SMC Pentax-A F1.7 or F1.4, go with that.Read full review
This lens is made in 1970s. Lens is very fine manual lens with great glass quality. However, it cannot be compared to modern lenses by the sharpness, but the build is very strong. Metal housings are the best thing and I miss it in new lenses. I got mine for 30$ and it's very fine lens for that money. I use it with Pentax MX. Remember: Photography is about art, not about absolute sharpness! Don't count every sharp pixel...just shoot and enjoy PHOTOGRAPHY!
Pentax photographers have known for some 40 years that nearly all SMC-M lenses are gems: All metal construction, top-quality coatings, smooth as silk focusing, and (I believe) all made in Japan and not farmed out to Vietnam or Macau to a low-labor-dollar subcontractor. The 50mm f2 is particularly attractive, being very compact and lightweight and usually available for under $40. The maximum aperture of f2 is certainly fast enough for 99% of shooting situations (if it's too slow, just crank your sensor's ISO sensitivity up one click). This lens is highly recommended for anyone wanting an outstanding "standard" lens with PK mount.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
This is a very affordable and at f2.0 a relatively fast lens.It arrived in as new condition, so focussing is smooth,and aperature ring clicks into place with precision. The bokeh is great, especially when composing shots of flowers,plants or small interesting objects. It's not the sharpest lens around and in the context of the effect it provides, to me that's really not such a bad thing. I don't even use the 18-55mm AF Kit lens on my K5 any more,it's a bit too sharp for my needs. This lens is also a very small and light unit which turns my camera into a very compact and relatively inconspicous tool. There's lots of them around(at the moment),so if you like the feel and operation of a well made manual lens, then I recommend you put one in your kit.
These older "prime lenses" are pretty cheap used and work fine on new Pentax DSLR cameras. They offer the professional look of a shallow depth of field, attractive bokeh, and the clarity that a simpler lens offers over the zoom stuff. In addition to that - it captures more light thanks to a f2.0. That means more detail and less noise in lower light. it's my first prime lens but it's easy to use. Just set your f stop and focus manually. The results are instantaneous, rewarding and build confidence.
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