BEST 50 mm M42 Screw mount?

My favorite Pentax lens is the 55mm f/2. I think it was made in screw mount too. Absolutely beautiful lens. The 50mm f/1.4 is very nice too.

drkhalsa said:

A few months back, a neighbor gave me a Spotmatic F with an 55mm f1.8 SMC Takumar.

What I have come to enjoy about it is the focal length. That extra 5mm over a 50mm lens seemed trivial at first, but I like it better than the 50mm lenses I've used before.

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Same here.

I agree that the Taks are top of the line. I have a 55/1.4 Mamiya Sekor that gives the taks a run for the money.

The only "50" I used on my two H3v's was the 55f1.8 in both the Super-Tak and Super-Multi-Coated Tak versions. Almost bought the SMC Tak 55f1.8, but, decided against it, since the early Super-Tak lens was fine on my last H3v. I did consider getting a 50f1.4, but, since my second H3v came when I'd been mainly shooting Nikon, I figured it wasn't really worth it. If I come across a black SV and have enough cash to get it, I might pick up one with a -4 diopter, and equip it with a 50f1.4, 85f1.8, and one of the 35mm Tak's. Just to be able to relive my non-metered Pentax days, with a better fleshed-out kit.

Oh, and, yes, the 55f1.8 is a real nice lens. I would say that it's just as nice as the Nikkor-H 50f2, which means it's very contrasty and sharp with good bokeh.

-J

Another vote here for the Tak 50/1.4 -- just a brilliant lens. I will also add that the very inexpensive Helios 44-2 58mm/f2 preset lens is lots of fun for the money.

I vote for SMC Takumar 50/1.4 that i use on my Spotmatic II.
Ciao.
Vincenzo

Steve Smith said:

I have a 50mm f2 Takumar on my SP500 whic I cannot fault. If you don't actually need to go lower than f2 then the only advantage to the faster lenses is the extra brightness in the viewfinder.

I have not looked but I would think the f2 lens sells for less than the f1.4 or f1.8

Steve.

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I've got to agree. I love my SMC F2. Wish I could put it on my Leica.

There is a good list of lenses here with test photos http://galactinus.net/vilva/retro/index.html#slr
Another site is http://manuallens.blogspot.com/

I have both the SMC Takumar 50mm 1.4 and the SMC Takumar 55mm 1.8. I prefer the latter, both because of the slightly longer focal length, and the fact that its micro-contrast is better than the 50mm.