Centon lenses for Pentax

Jessops are offering a Centon 50mm 1.7 (Pentax K mount) at a fraction of the price of the Pentax equivalent.
Does anyone know anything about Centon lenses?
Will I be able to use it on my MZ-M?
Are Centon lenses any good??
Regards..
Tusk

Over the years I have tried many lenses, and I have concluded that it is far better to stick to the manufacturer's own lenses. The aperture rings all work in the same direction (saves time and confusion), the colour balance is uniform across the range (colour of all slides looks the same when projecting) the manufacturing quality is higher (lenses last longer without mechanical failure), the resolution and general performance tends to be consistently higher (especially noticed when printing in Monochrome).
You could easily find a first class SMC Pentax-M 50mm f1.7 lens second hand for as little as £20.
Generally, though, you get what you pay for....

Yes John's right the Centon lens is I think a Chinese version made by Phenix. It's okay but the Pentax would be a better choice and a 50mm is usually easy to find because people trade them in when buying 28-70mm zooms.

You can pick up a Pentax A 50mm for under £40 on eBay which will beat any third party 50mm lens for Pentax, with the exception of the Sigma 50mm EX.

While the Pentax SMC lenses (and the Super Takumar) are almost always fine lenses, there are a few third party ones that are very worthy.

The Tamron SP90 is something to consider, especially comparing it to the price of the Pentax *85 or 77mm Limited lenses. Only the Tamron SP lenses give top quality.

Also the Sigma EX lenses and the Tokina AT-X are also have high quality optics.

Vivitar lenses aren't bad, but many of the other brands are not worth wasting film on.

From my experience i wouldn't bother with the Centon lenses. I own both a Pentax and Centon 28mm. I got the Centon first and it has seen little use primarily because on 8 by 10 enlargements the poor quality shows up namely, the lack of fine detail. When i got my Pentax, whooo what a difference. First thing i noticed was the lack of distortion, roughly half that of the Centon. With the pentax I have noticed that it takes more punchy/contrasy images, you can also shoot into the sun with less likelihood of flare, also 8 by 10 enlargements are no problem. My advice is to buy a decent second hand Pentax as it's roughly the same price as buying a brand new Centon.

Woah... hang on

I have a Pentax-M 1.7 50mm and a couple of the Centon 50mm's. I got a Nikon LS50 scanner recently and comparing them at 100% I can say there is no swing either way until you get to and past f/16 where the Pentax is sharper.

But this is looking at 100% crops because I wanted to play with my scanner, I've never been concerned with either looking at upto 8x10 prints.

However, I have used the Minolta MD fit 35-70 zoom and the PK 28-70 zooms from Centon and those a absolutely terrible at lower f-stops (you can tell on 6x4 prints!).

Most 50mm lenses are sharp, even cheap ones. Their other qualities are what may let them down.

G

That's something I agree with, the Pentax 50mm has the most sublimely smooth focus action I have ever felt (beats the Olympus OM f/1.8 50mm and the Minolta MD f/1.8 50mm I have owned) and the same goes for the aperature ring.

However, the Centon has lasted nearly a year of being banged about in my coat pocket and cleaned with my spectacles cloth...