FA 50/1.4 any better than A 50/1.4 ??

Brett St Pierre · Jul 19, 2004

I have the SMC-A 50/1.4 (i.e. manual focus) and while the build quality wasn't as good as the previous M version it is one of the sharpest lenses ever and renders colours accurately.

Besides the benefits of autofocus - any options on how the FA 50/1.4 compares optically? (or the F 50/1.4 for that matter).

Thanks
Brett

If anybody has good JPG or RAW (zipped) files to share with this lens I am love to receive them at [email protected] (I have broadband)

istDuser · Jul 19, 2004

Question, is center sharpness slightly soft on your SMC-A 1.4 when wide open?? I have the lens and have been very mildly dissapointed by wide open performance. It's quite good for a 1.4 I suppose... But to address part of your question, the SMC-F 50 1.4 is considered among the sharpest lenses ever made, equalling the very best from Zeiss, and besting the Nikon and Canon equivalents. The FA version is apparently ever so slightly less well resolving, but still excellent.

Brett St Pierre · Jul 20, 2004

istDuser said:
Question, is center sharpness slightly soft on your SMC-A 1.4 when
wide open?? I have the lens and have been very mildly dissapointed
by wide open performance. It's quite good for a 1.4 I suppose...
But to address part of your question, the SMC-F 50 1.4 is
considered among the sharpest lenses ever made, equalling the very
best from Zeiss, and besting the Nikon and Canon equivalents. The
FA version is apparently ever so slightly less well resolving, but
still excellent.

I agree that the A 50 at f1.4 is soft across the image (and of course careful focus for lack of DOF is critical) but by f2 is fine but prefer to stope if down beyond 2.8.

For the other F & FA the only comments I have had to go on are these by Mike Johnson in 2002:

"The "K" lens is the same optical formula in a K-mount. The M lens is reputedly the least sharp, but it's still very nice (it's the lens I currently use). The A lens is supposed to be the sharpest of all, except that some people think the F lens is the sharpest — and the current FA lens has most if not all of the good qualities of its many predecessors."
from: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/sm-02-11-24.shtml

richardday · Jul 20, 2004

Brett St Pierre said:
istDuser said:

Question, is center sharpness slightly soft on your SMC-A 1.4 when
wide open?? I have the lens and have been very mildly dissapointed
by wide open performance. It's quite good for a 1.4 I suppose...
But to address part of your question, the SMC-F 50 1.4 is
considered among the sharpest lenses ever made, equalling the very
best from Zeiss, and besting the Nikon and Canon equivalents. The
FA version is apparently ever so slightly less well resolving, but
still excellent.

Click to expand...

I agree that the A 50 at f1.4 is soft across the image (and of
course careful focus for lack of DOF is critical) but by f2 is fine
but prefer to stope if down beyond 2.8.

For the other F & FA the only comments I have had to go on are
these by Mike Johnson in 2002:

"The "K" lens is the same optical formula in a K-mount. The M lens
is reputedly the least sharp, but it's still very nice (it's the
lens I currently use). The A lens is supposed to be the sharpest of
all, except that some people think the F lens is the sharpest — and
the current FA lens has most if not all of the good qualities of
its many predecessors."
from: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/sm-02-11-24.shtml

--
Also try http://home.att.net/~alnem/html/pentax_primes.html
There are useful links from this site to other reference sources.

Richard Day - 'Carpe Diem!'
Gloucester UK

wlachan · Jul 20, 2004

A/F/FA50/1.4 should have identical optics, but maybe updated SMC. What makes the difference is their built quality. F50/1.4 should be the highest, FA the lowest. However, they are all lacking near wide open. It is best to stick with f2.8 or smaller. But then again, nothing beats F/FA50/2.8 Macro which is sharper at every aperture.
--
http://www.pbase.com/wlachan/

Brett St Pierre said:
I agree that the A 50 at f1.4 is soft across the image (and of
course careful focus for lack of DOF is critical) but by f2 is fine
but prefer to stope if down beyond 2.8.

For the other F & FA the only comments I have had to go on are
these by Mike Johnson in 2002:

"The "K" lens is the same optical formula in a K-mount. The M lens
is reputedly the least sharp, but it's still very nice (it's the
lens I currently use). The A lens is supposed to be the sharpest of
all, except that some people think the F lens is the sharpest — and
the current FA lens has most if not all of the good qualities of
its many predecessors."
from: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/sm-02-11-24.shtml

Brett St Pierre · Jul 20, 2004

wlachan said:
A/F/FA50/1.4 should have identical optics, but maybe updated SMC.
What makes the difference is their built quality. F50/1.4 should be
the highest, FA the lowest. However, they are all lacking near wide
open. It is best to stick with f2.8 or smaller. But then again,
nothing beats F/FA50/2.8 Macro which is sharper at every aperture.
--
http://www.pbase.com/wlachan/

The only reason why I ask is I have seen an FA50/1.4 going - sort of - cheap.

I read somebodies opinion that the FA had better build quality than F. The think I don't like about the F series is the rotating front element. Bad with polarisers etc. as well as the weight of the whole assemply having to move slows focus IMO.

wlachan · Jul 23, 2004

Brett St Pierre said:
I read somebodies opinion that the FA had better build quality than
F. The think I don't like about the F series is the rotating front
element. Bad with polarisers etc. as well as the weight of the
whole assemply having to move slows focus IMO.

FA50/1.4 is still a very fine lens, just that the whole FA series have received relatively loose manufacturing tolerance due to costing cutting in the entire industry. The F lenses look plastic and cheap which deceive many people, but actually have better structural designs and tighter tolerance (and their sharpness shows). All K/M/A/F/FA50 have non-rotating front elements. The AF speed is lens and camera dependent, and the F50/1.4 is actually AF a little faster than the FA50/1.4.
--
http://www.pbase.com/wlachan/

Roland Mabo · Jul 23, 2004

I belive A/F/FA 50 f/1.4 uses the same optical formula, so results should be similar.

Best wishes
Roland

Brett St Pierre said:
I have the SMC-A 50/1.4 (i.e. manual focus) and while the build
quality wasn't as good as the previous M version it is one of the
sharpest lenses ever and renders colours accurately.

Besides the benefits of autofocus - any options on how the FA
50/1.4 compares optically? (or the F 50/1.4 for that matter).

Thanks
Brett

If anybody has good JPG or RAW (zipped) files to share with this
lens I am love to receive them at [email protected] (I have broadband)

Brett St Pierre · Jul 24, 2004

wlachan said:
http://www.pbase.com/wlachan/

Alan,

Nice collection of glass you have there! Mmmmm, lick my lips....

Brett

Roland Mabo · Jul 24, 2004

Brett St Pierre said:
For the other F & FA the only comments I have had to go on are
these by Mike Johnson in 2002:

"The "K" lens is the same optical formula in a K-mount. The M lens
is reputedly the least sharp, but it's still very nice (it's the
lens I currently use). The A lens is supposed to be the sharpest of
all, except that some people think the F lens is the sharpest — and
the current FA lens has most if not all of the good qualities of
its many predecessors."
from: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/sm-02-11-24.shtml

The optical design is the same, but the exact performance can vary from sample to sample. The difference between them is the outer design and the electronic chip, the FA has the most advanced electronics - AF, distance info and MTF chart is encoded with more bits than with the F. (I've read somewhere that it's 8-bit in the FA and 6 bit in the F).

wlachan · Jul 25, 2004

Brett St Pierre said:
Alan,

Nice collection of glass you have there! Mmmmm, lick my lips....

Brett

The desire never ends...

--
http://www.pbase.com/wlachan/

wlachan · Jul 25, 2004

Roland Mabo said:
The optical design is the same, but the exact performance can vary
from sample to sample. The difference between them is the outer
design and the electronic chip, the FA has the most advanced
electronics - AF, distance info and MTF chart is encoded with more
bits than with the F. (I've read somewhere that it's 8-bit in the
FA and 6 bit in the F).

I don't know anything about the 6 or 8-bits, but distance data has been presented since the F series (same as Nikon D lenses, but Pentax chose not to advertise it). FA lenses have MTF data (only Z-1/Z-1p can utilize it), powerzoom (Pentax is dropping this feature now), and single switch between AF/MF which is unique to FA* lenses (but DA lenses have something even better, works like full time manual focus on some highend USM lenses).
--
http://www.pbase.com/wlachan/

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FA 50/1.4 any better than A 50/1.4 ??

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