Hi Boz,
I have owned both at the same time, however, IMO
they're pretty different lenses, so I'll separate the
comments by lens.
>What is your opinion of these lenses? Are they any
>good? What do you
>use them for? What do you like about them? How well
>built are they?
>How is the handling (weight, size, etc.)?
M50/2: Good handling unit, focus smooth, but nicely
damped, aperture ring turns smoothly, clicks into
stops positively. Seems well built, handles very
nice, quite small and lightweight. It was my fast
normal lens while I had it.
A50/2: Mediocre build, focus is plasticky, rough in
spots, aperture ring does not click into stops
smoothly, hard to turn with precision. Size and
weight similar to the "M".
>How about optical qualities: resolution, contrast,
>color, distortion,
>bokeh, light fall-off, etc.?
M50/2: Unimpressive performance wide open and 2.8.
This was my first "real" Pentax lens, after graduating
from a pawn shop special "K" mount Vivitar XV-1 with a
Vivitar 50/2, and the Vivitar lens (sad to say) blew
the M50/2 away. (Can't say that about Vivitar vs.
Pentax too often) Decent performance required stop
down to at least f/3.5, and needed f/5.6 to be really
good. Good flare control, color seemed good (maybe a
little warm), little distortion, decent bokeh (not
quite as good as the M50/1.7).
A50/2: Decent performance wide open, improving at
smaller apertures as would be expected. Better than
the "M" version at every aperture. Color balance
perhaps a bit cool. Other characteristics similar to
the "M".
>Can you make better pictures of them than the ones
>on the KMP? Is there any piece of information about
>these lenses that
>I am missing that you can provide?
No. You da man, Boz!
I would add that anyone looking at purchasing either
of these lenses check out their f/1.7 sisters....same
size, faster, only slightly heavier, and usually only
a little more money. The M50/1.7 is considerably
better optically than the M50/2, and the A50/1.7 seems
somewhat better built and I believe slightly better
optically than the A50/2.
Hope this helps.
William in Utah.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices
http://auctions.yahoo.com/
-
This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe,
go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to
visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
