Pentax K 50/1.2 samples [Archive]

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ChrisN

12-21-2006, 02:08 AM

I escaped the office at lunchtime for an hour. First a shot to set the scene. The view from the Australian War Memorial, in Canberra, towards Parliament House.

The K 50/1.2 is a 1970s vintage lens, manual focus and manual aperture. On the K10D it must be used in manual exposure mode.

About f/8. The lens is fine for normal use.

http://www.pentaxforums.com/gallery/images/586/1_IMGP1252_resize.jpg

Another outside shot: old Naval Gun.

http://www.pentaxforums.com/gallery/images/586/1_IMGP1221_resize.jpg

Finally I took a stroll into the Cloisters, where the Roll of Honour records the names of those who died in Service.

http://www.pentaxforums.com/gallery/images/586/1_IMGP1232_resize.jpg

And the obligatory close-up to show the extremely shallow depth-of-field with the lens wide-open.

http://www.pentaxforums.com/gallery/images/586/1_IMGP1229_resize.jpg

I think it's a fine lens, with useful shallow DoF when desired, and quite acceptable out-of-focus characteristics.

Finally, a 100% crop to check the resolution of the lens.

I can't quite make out the AFP security guard on the roof of Parliament House, but I can see a little black blob where he usually stands! (Under the flag, left of centre.)

http://www.pentaxforums.com/gallery/images/586/1_IMGP1252_100_.jpg

Not too bad for an old lens. :)

harbourlight

12-21-2006, 06:00 AM

Chris, these look very good. A 50/1.2? It must be large.

I know you must stop down manually for shooting, but does the K10D provide a focus check with older lenses?

Gene

Doug

12-21-2006, 09:00 PM

Chris, the 100% crop does prove the quality, doesn't it? And the OOF in the cloisters shows pleasant fore-and-aft smoothness at least for this light and subject. :)

zuikologist

12-22-2006, 04:23 AM

Very nice. Bokeh certainly looks good.

Gene - the Pentax dSLRs all show focus confirmation with all lenses that can be mounted on them.

harbourlight

12-22-2006, 05:18 AM

Gene - the Pentax dSLRs all show focus confirmation with all lenses that can be mounted on them.
Thanks so much for this. A feature like that helps my aging eyes and reduces the need for a specialty VF screen. Pentax is looking better to me all the time.

Gene

jmi

12-22-2006, 11:29 AM

Thanks so much for this. A feature like that helps my aging eyes and reduces the need for a specialty VF screen. Pentax is looking better to me all the time.

Likewise! This feature (if done properly) could partially make up for the lack of a traditional split image. If it doesn't there's always a replacement screen...

Pity Pentax K-mount lenses are so scarce over here in the UK. Not sure why. Maybe they aren't, I'm just not looking hard enough.

Manolo Gozales

12-22-2006, 04:04 PM

Hey:)

Chris, does the manual stop down thing slow you up much when shooting? I'm just asking as (as you know) I'm going to start using M42 lenses on my 20d soon.

These look great BTW.

ManGo

ChrisN

12-22-2006, 06:58 PM

I wouldn't use it for sports-photography in varying light conditions, but it's just like shooting with any other manual-exposure system. Digital isn't as forgiving of exposure errors as B&W, but with RAW capture you can recover from some pretty horrible exposures!

I tend to set the exposure with stop-down metering, then shoot and check the histogram, then make any necessary adjustment to get the histogram to look good.

In reasonable light I'll just stop the lens down to f/8 and shoot in aperture priority auto-exposure mode - even with the lens stopped down to f/8 there's enough light getting into the bright viewfinder to be able to focus and compose properly.

Edited to add: I might have been getting confused here between M42 lenses and Pentax-M lenses. Of course the manual stop-down and shoot in aperture priority only works for the M42 lenses, where you can actually close down the aperture. Pentax-M lenses rely on the camera body to close down the lens, and that won't happen in "A" mode with the dSLR bodies.

Manolo Gozales

12-23-2006, 01:46 AM

Hey:)

Well the lens, which is actually a 44m 58/2, arrived today and so did the adaptor (mega gouging for this on the postage!:( ). So this weekend I'll be putting it through its paces. I've done a couple of test shots of Mrs M and it's looking good! I think I'm going to enjoy shooting with a bright prime on the 20d!

ManGo

ChrisN

12-23-2006, 03:06 AM