Joe Wilensky <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: "In that case, get an original K-series SMC 55/1.8. It's the closest you'll come to the screwmount Tak feel in a K-mount lens (albeit with a rubber-texture focus ring) and the same lens formula as the Super-Tak (but with multicoating). I think they're usually quite cheap."
I love my classic $30 55/1.8K dearly, but only from f/5.6 f/22. I used it to take some parade shots on a cloudy day at, I think, f/2.8. There was a shot of a red-coated horseman, but the detail in his face was so lacking--as though someone had placed a stocking over his head--that I was embarrassed to submit it for April's "clich�" PUG theme. For f/2, f/2.8, and f/4, I use my Ricoh Rikenon P 50/1.4...which, coincidentally, can no longer close down beyond f/5.6. Yeah, it's a pain to have to keep two 50s to get decent results across the aperture range. If I knew then what I know now, I'd probably overcome my aversion to autofocus lenses and get a 50/1.4 FA. Or I may return to an XR Rikenon 50/2, which rivals the Rikenon P 50/1.4 at f/2 to f/4 and doesn't have the P tab to get in the way when I want to mount the lens quickly. Unlike the XR 50/1.4, the XR 50/2 optical formula was not improved when Ricoh added the P setting. Unfortunately, neither was the coating, which remained single, or the body, which remained aluminum. Also, the P 50/1.4 delivers more saturated color, possibly because it is multicoated.
