Pentax SMCP-FA 50mm f/1.4 Lens
by Pentax
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Pentax SMCP-FA 50mm f/1.4 Lens
Customer Review: Must have for all Pentaxians.
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this lens when I first got the K10D one year ago and I've never regretted it! First of all, the build quality feels superb for the price. The focusing ring is super smooth and has a rubbery texture. When mounted on the K10D it feels very solid and fits perfectly in your hand; not too small, not too large.
As far as image quality goes, f1.4 - f2.4 are a bit soft, but can easily be used in a pinch to get a couple extra stops of light. Once you hit 2.8 though, things really change. Images are sharp all across the frame and the bokeh at 2.8 is truly toast worthy (buttery). The sweet spot seems to kick in around f5.6, where the images are going to be packed with detail. The image distortion is virtually non-existent. If you're not careful in harsh sunlight you could easily be caught out with some fringing and aberrations, but this can be corrected in PS.
50mm is a great prime to have, especially if you may be doing some portraits. I just did a sitting of my daughter with her grandparents and the images produced are nothing less than professional looking. All in all a great lens to have and well worth the price.
Customer Review: Good, but has limitations opened beyond f2.8
Summary: 4 Stars
I don't to duplicate everything that dpreview did for this lens. They have an excellent review with detailed analysis of this lens.
http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/pentax_50_1p4_p15/
Some quoted highlights:
Pros:
* Excellent image quality when stopped down to F2 and smaller
* Very low lateral chromatic aberration
* Almost no rectilinear distortion
Cons:
* Very soft wide open
* Extremely 'busy' rendition of out-of-focus backgrounds at wider apertures (larger than F2.8)
* Bokeh chromatic aberration, most visible at wide apertures (F1.4-F2.8)
Short is that this is a very good lens, but if you want the best pictures you will want to not use it higher then f2.8. The sigma 50mm F1.4 HSM for pentax would give you better wide aperature performance, but you will pay for that as well.
Customer Review: Versatile lens
Summary: 4 Stars
This lens is soft at F1.4, but sharp at F2. And it can handle low light. These I think, everyone knows already. But F1.4 is not totally useless. If you like experimenting with wafer-thin depth of fields, you can get plenty of interesting special effect shots. That is versatility for me. Customer Review: Good for portraits, indoors without flash
Summary: 5 Stars
This lens is ideal if you are in an indoor setting and don't want to disturb others with a flash. Allows more candid shots to be taken as well since there is no flash. I noticed shooting wide open really narrows your field of focus, it's best to go to f2.0Customer Review: Wow.. What a difference..this lens makes ...!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this lens recently along with K200d. Have taken about 300 odd pictures, most of which are indoor shots. Coupled with the anti-shake of the camera body, and K200d's low noise in hgh ISO, the large aperture of this lense brings fantastic low light capability. If you still don't get enough shutter speed, resort to the built-in flash, your needs will be more often than not met.
I also bought the kit lens. Though a fairly decent lens by itself for a kit lens, I rarely use it. The 50mm Prime stays on the camera permanantly. I am glad, I bought this lens. At $200, this is cheapest quality prime money can get. I get biting sharp pictures with small apertures.
Great lens and a must for every Pentaxian...! I enjoy using this lense..!