Arnold wrote: ... Whether the coatings of the different versions differ much I am not sure, but the coating of my "SMC Pentax 1:1.2 50mm" surely looks different from the coatings of the "SMC Pentax 1:1.8/85" and of the "SMC Pentax 1:3.5/135". Arnold ------------------------------
I think also lenses of the same generations may have individual coatings. I have an old style "SMC Pentax 1:2.8 30" (serial number starts with 53) that has blue-ish turquoise looking coatings. It is very different from the coatings of the (old style K-)"SMC Pentax 1:1.4/50" (which I sold). BTW the A lenses (and FA lenses) have a different (and in my view superior) color rendition compared to K and M lenses, particularly the blue tones. This is probably due to changes in their coatings. I made some side by side shots with the (new style) K-"SMC Pentax 1:3.5 18mm" (serial number starts with 55) and the FA24mm/2 lens; the differences (in slides) are quite obvious, particularly regading blue tones (though the 18mm has a non-removable 1A filter, but both lenses tend to warmer color tones ... ). IMO the blue tones tend to be "grey-ish" on slides taken with K- (and M-)lenses (an exception is the 30mm lens). I decided for the A-version of the 1.2/50mm because of this. Enjoy, Alexander Check out Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions for all of your unique holiday gifts! Buy at http://shopping.yahoo.com or bid at http://auctions.yahoo.com - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .