I ain't no collector, but I agree with Jim completely.
I've developed a bit of a fancy towards 50mm lenses having at this very
moment a bunch of them, including FA 50/1.4 and A 50/1.2. A 50/1.2 is by
far my favorite (even on top of FA 43). In fact, I plan to try it
immediately when my Ricoh Leica module arrives.
You see, it is indeed rather difficult lens to use. Modern DSLR cameras
don't have sufficiently tight tolerances for placing of the focusing
screen, which is a requirement if you wish to shoot (close to) wide open
and achieve precise focusing.
I've been doing all kinds of things in order to achieve that state of
"nirvana". The best effort was Katz Eye screen on my K10D which was spot
on. Then came K-7 saga (took me order of 1/2 year to get it right) and
then came K-5 with special Canon e-SS screen that I bought from
PentaxForums. But over time my eyesight declined and I cannot easily
focus with optical viewfinders any more. So I'm going to try with focus
peeking now.
In terms of IQ - I find this lens outstanding. It renders differently
than FA 50/1.4 or FA 43/1.9 but I rather like its rendering. And closed
down it's sharpness is second to none - no issues here whatsoever.
I won't tell you how little money I paid for my copy... ;-)
Boris
On 12/4/2012 4:25 AM, James King wrote:
Krisjanis Linkevics wrote on Mon, 03 Dec 2012 05:18:44 -0800:
Don't bother with the f/1.2. It is nice and all but
price/performance is totally unacceptable.
Kris, I have to disagree with you on this, at least in regards to IQ.
I have 3 copies of the Pentax 50/1.2 lenses and while they are a bit
dreamy wide open, when stopped down a bit they are very good - as
good as or better than my Pentax 50/1.4 lenses, especially when
considering rendering. As to cost, no argument there - they are very
pricey today.
They are beautifully made examples of the lensmakers' art from the
era before "plastic fantastic" became the order of the day, and as a
collector I'm glad to have them. Of course YMMV…
Regards, Jim
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