Share your photos with legacy lenses

[Travis Butler]

So when I was in Detroit last week, I took the chance to swing by a local photo shop in Dearborn. Didn't find any of the fancier vintage lenses I was looking for, but they did have a Tamron 70-210 58A in the $5 bargain bin; it's remarkably small/light for a 70-210, so I thought I'd give it a try for use on the fp.

The first test shots had some surprisingly good images, despite what appears to be coating damage in the center of the front element:


20250604-SDIM6988 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Sigma fp, Tamron 70-210 (58A)
See the fabric texture on the artificial flowers!


20250604-SDIM7006 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Or the bug crawling on the real flower! (The antennae are clearly visible at 100%, which ain't too shabby.)


20250604-SDIM7001 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Bokeh is decent but not spectacular; I like its big brother the Tamron 80-210 (103A) better there.


20250604-SDIM6994 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Contrast is often low but is easily boosted.

On the whole, I'm pleased with the first outing. Not my top zoom in this range - I still prefer either the 103A or the Kiron 80-200/4.5 Macro for IQ - but for the size/weight and especially the price, I'm happy and will probably be using it more.

 

[RuleOfThirds]

How good would an Asahi Pentax SMC 50/1.4 k-mount be? and for what price?

 

[Travis Butler]

How good would an Asahi Pentax SMC 50/1.4 k-mount be? and for what price?

I assume you mean the first-generation K-Mount 50/1.4, the one labeled 'SMC PENTAX' on the front ring?

If so, unfortunately, that's one out of the batch that I don't have. But my experience with the others has been positive, and the reviews I've read of it are also good, so I'm confident a good copy of it will be very good to excellent.

Its successor, the Pentax-M 50/1.4, is superb:


20221218-SDIM2462 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Sigma fp, Pentax-M 50/1.4
If you view the original on Flickr and zoom in, the signage on the buildings in the far skyline is sharp and clearly legible; see One Light, The Grand, even the Marriott at left.


20221218-SDIM2484 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
I like the OOF rendering here.


20240510-SDIM0033 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Sigma fp, Super-Takumar 50/1.4 (8 Element)
The 8-element version of the 50/1.4 is a cult classic; I don't think it's quite as sharp as the Pentax-M version, but it's still extremely good.


Did Not Kill the Salamander by Travis Butler, on Flickr
And also has nice OOF rendering.


20240510-SDIM0049 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

The 7-element version of the Super-Tak and the Super-Multi-Coated Takumar (the direct predecessor of the SMC PENTAX version) are also good, but I just never used them much, so I don't have samples for you.

Finally, the SMC PENTAX 55/1.8 sibling of the 50/1.4 is also good, but hasn't grabbed me the way the Pentax-M or 8-element Super-Tak have:


20230629-SDIM6087 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Sigma fp, SMC PENTAX (aka Pentax-K) 55/1.8


20230320-SDIM4945 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

Dunno if this helps any, but at least there's some related stuff. ^^;;

As far as the price goes... what I'd suggest is checking eBay listings for the lens, tagging for Sold items only. I just did a quick glance and saw several copies of the Pentax-M for around $35-50 US; the SMC PENTAX seems to vary more.

 

[RuleOfThirds]

I assume you mean the first-generation K-Mount 50/1.4, the one labeled 'SMC PENTAX' on the front ring?


As far as the price goes... what I'd suggest is checking eBay listings for the lens, tagging for Sold items only. I just did a quick glance and saw several copies of the Pentax-M for around $35-50 US; the SMC PENTAX seems to vary more.

It says: smc pentax-M 1:1.4 50mm 2154351 Asahi opt. cop Japan (all in capitals), Asking is 100€, no scratches, focus and aperture are nice and smooth. Pictures of the glass look nice and clean. although it says Pentax-M in the front, the ad says k-bayonet.

 

[Travis Butler]

It says: smc pentax-M 1:1.4 50mm 2154351 Asahi opt. cop Japan (all in capitals), Asking is 100€, no scratches, focus and aperture are nice and smooth. Pictures of the glass look nice and clean. although it says Pentax-M in the front, the ad says k-bayonet.

Ok, that’s the lens in my first sample pics, and as I said, I think it’s superb. 100 seems a little high, though I don’t know your local market - is this a local sale? I’ll often pay more than the going eBay rate for a local purchase that I can inspect in person, and especially if it’s sold by a camera shop or similar that will stand behind the sale.

Quick digression about Pentax naming:

“Takumar” by itself generally means their lower-end product.

“Super-Takumar” is their early high-end M42 line.

“Super-Multi-Coated” indicated their new premium coating in the M42 line, and persisted as a “SMC” modifier up into the digital age.

Accordingly, when they switched to the K-mount, their first K-mount lenses were simply labeled “SMC PENTAX”. To match Pentax’s later naming convention, a lot of people refer to them as “Pentax-K”, but that’s not actually on the lens.

Those first-gen K-mount lenses were mostly repurposed versions of their M42 lenses, from what I understand. The first generation of lenses specifically designed for K-mount was labeled “Pentax-M”, which happily coincides with the fact that they were Pentax’s last fully manual lenses; I don’t know enough history to know if that was deliberate on their part. They’re excellent lenses by and large; that’s the generation you’re seeing in the lens you found.

“Pentax-A” was the next generation; the “A” refers to electronic aperture, as this was the first generation that electronically reported the aperture to the camera, and allowed the camera to set the aperture. Many, but not all, used the Pentax-M optical formulas. In general they work equally well for adapting.

Next came “Pentax-F”, the first autofocus generation, with a screwdrive in the camera driving the focusing helicoid. Because the helicoid is driven from the camera, there’s no damping, and the focus ring is usually perfunctory; they’re less desirable for manual adapting.

“FA” was the last generation of film-era lenses - some of them were made long into the digital era.

“DA” is their line of digital lenses, typically APS-C; “D FA” is their explicitly full-frame digital lenses. A few years ago, they came up with a new improved “HD” lens coating, replacing “SMC” on the label.

Generally, for adapting, it’s reasonable to stop after the “Pentax-A” generation, although a few of the F/FA lenses are still ok for manual operation. As far as I know, there are no adapters that give full automatic operation.

 

[Travis Butler]

Fun story: I had one of my copies of the Pentax-M 50/1.4 mounted on my E-M1 II on a post-rain walk. I set it down on a rock when I was trying my shoes… and it went over into a mud puddle when I bumped the rock.

The pic I use as my forum avatar is the shot of the lens I took right after cleaning off the mud, to check the cleaning job.