Cosinon-S 50mm/1.8

[gazonk]

I bought this lens for close to nothing more than 20 years ago and my wife used it a lot for available-light shooting of our kids (when they were still babies) with her ME Super. For a period, this was the only fast prime we had (I had sold my M-50mm/1.7 with my MX), but later I bought another SMC Pentax-M 50mm/1.7, and then inherited a third one. I always thought the M-50mm/1.7 was superior to the Cosinon, and almost forgot that I had it (I even thought it was a 1:2 lens, not a 1:1.8). But today it just struck me how may nice shots we have that were shot with that lens - maybe it's a better lens than I thought, after all?

Are there any other owners of the Cosinon who has used it extensively with digital bodies and would like to share their experiences?
--
Espen

 

[wirrah]

Of have the the f2 version. It was the lens that came with my Cosina CT-7 which I purchased in 1983. I have used the lens on my istd many times (often on extension tubes) before I picked up an SMC A 50/1.7. I had no problems with it but its been a while since I have used it.

greg

 

[kingberzerk]

I am not too much into 50mm lenses, and frankly spe(aking I don't like the performance of the SMC-M 50/1.7 (nor do I like the 50/1.4) - I'm more into the SMC-M 40/2.8 and the SMC-M 35/2.8 - but I have bought an old Cosinon 24/2.8 for next to nothing (40 Euros) and it performs really great. Of course I can't do architecture with it without distortion, it's not a Zeiss Distagon 21 Z.F - but I like it a lot and its optical performance. If I'll find more Cosinons for Pentax, I'll have an eye on them.