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Author Topic: Lens question: Voightlander/Zeiss/Pentax  (Read 4785 times)

tetsuo77

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Lens question: Voightlander/Zeiss/Pentax
« on: February 29, 2008, 05:24:49 am »

What to choose?
I´ve got my dobuts now. Not based on reviews, but there are sweet lenses out there in the 40-50 range for the PKA mount:

Cosina Voightlander Ultron 40 SL II 2.0
Pentax FA 43  1.9 Limited
Cosina Zeiss 50-1.4
Pentax FA 50-1.4
Pentax P-D FA 50mm f/2.8 Macro

Top limit: 500 US$
There are some interesting combos, though.

For the price of the Cosina-Zeiss, you can get the following combo:

FA50 1.4+P-D FA50 2.8 Macro.

Or Ultron+FA50 for more or less the same price.

Question is: is it worth with those "combos" to get the superb 43 limited, or even think of the Cosina Zeiss?

Anything else to think about?
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Er1kksen

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Lens question: Voightlander/Zeiss/Pentax
« Reply #1 on: February 29, 2008, 03:31:37 pm »

I'm not exactly an expert, but last I knew the FA 50mm 1.4 was noted for not only being very sharp, but having really excellent bokeh.
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tetsuo77

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Lens question: Voightlander/Zeiss/Pentax
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2008, 04:25:45 am »

Quote
I'm not exactly an expert, but last I knew the FA 50mm 1.4 was noted for not only being very sharp, but having really excellent bokeh.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=178294\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks, Er1kksen.

But the question I wanted to raise is that of a combo being worthy.
Let me explain.

I still shoot with a oldie, a *ist DS. Which is fine for me, as far as I can get prints up to A3 with no problem [for me], and the camera  feels just right [for me, again].

But I need to upgrade the lens quality, as they are now the weak link. Currently, the best in terms of sharpness is the FA 80-320 3.5-5, which is a remarkable lens on itself [for the price, I mean].

I inherited an old F 50/1.7, but it is about to die.

And, let´s be honest, the Pentax catalogue is just way tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo big, full of quirky lenses and choices. Which makes it rather difficult to make a decission.

I discovered that, with the crop factor, the 50 gets too 75-ish, and a 40-43 seems more appropriate.

Now there is going to be a 35 macro [which is interesting to make model pictures], but it will be too slow.

So I was wondering if it is worth, as far as at BH prices are quite all right, and doing the Euro-dollar change they get even better, to get both the 43 limited AND the regular 50/1.4, instead of putting my money only in a suppossedly stellar Cosina.

Or even, get a pancake Ultron [40] AND the 50mm.

Probably I´ll get that combo, as far as I still get very good lenses, and gives me some flexibility.


I´ll let you know, as soon as I get them.
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tetsuo77

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Lens question: Voightlander/Zeiss/Pentax
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2008, 06:11:07 pm »

Quote
I'm not exactly an expert, but last I knew the FA 50mm 1.4 was noted for not only being very sharp, but having really excellent bokeh.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=178294\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Hi there.
I´ve just made my mind, and with surprising concusions [thanks again Er1kksen].
I do mainly use my camera [a good old *istDS] for street shooting -yes, I do never shoot jpeg with this camera, though I have to say that they don´t look as bad as some people might say].

I´ve just purchased the FA 43 Limited. And have an option on the FA 50 1.4. And boy-oh-boy, those lenses are SHAAAAAAAAARP. Razor sharp, indeed.

I did some pre-purchase tryouts. And found some interesting stuff.
The first which inmediately fall down was the Cosina Zeiss. Too bulky, and too sharp. In a bad way. The accutance it delivered was quite unpleasing, and pictures had that smear of being "over processed" right out of the camera. Not good. Plus, too expensive. Manual focus, too. [´ll got back to that later]. All in all, I will have to work AGAINST what I wanted [which is good sharpness].

Then, a good shootout. I decided not to have the macro. I just won´t use it enough for the small aperture you get [though I have to admit that it did perform beyond expectations for a macro both in macro mode and normal shooting, having tried Canon, Olympus and Cosina SL I macros].

And we get to the Ultron, Nokton and FA primes.
Those Cosina lenses are little wonders. But they have a caveat. They are manual focus. This, which many will see as something not to care for, turns out to be a must for the next project I have to handle: people eating. Plus, all in all, I liked the overall look of the Pentax lenses over the Cosina ones. Overall, the Cosina lenses are a tad sharper than the Pentax lenses. But they do cast a blueish tint to the image, and have not as good out of focus image quality.

All in all, if I had to put a purchase list in order of preference, I had to say that I´d go for:

Pentax FA 43
Pentax FA 50
Cosina Voightlander Ultron 40
Cosina Voightlander Nokton 50
Pentax P-D 50 Macro
Cosina Zeiss 50

I´m keeping the FA 43, and having my doubts of the FA 50 over the Nokton. Most probably I will keep the FA50 for the price they have [how can they make a profit with such a good lens -I know it is polycarbonate, but no problems there-] and the fact it is autofocus [the *istDS performs very nicely when focusing, and has a surprisingly big focusing area compared to Nikon, for example].


Thanks again
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