K55/2

Does anyone have experience/opinions on this lens? I obtained it with a KX I purchased today, and would like to use it as a backup to my M50/1.4.

Well done getting the KX, not too easily found these days in good condition, but very worthwhile when you can find one.

The K 55mm f2 lens would be a "budget" standard lens that you would expect to find on the K1000, but a good example will be an excellent performer. Some tests of the period indicated that it was amongst the finest standard lenses available.

If it follows the example of the screw thread models (I haven't researched this definitively yet, but I am in the process of doing so) then it may well be the same lens as the 55mm, f1.8 but with a reducing baffle inside to make it an f2. Presumably cheaper to do this than to have a second production line!

In any event, use it with confidence.

Hi,
Just to add to what John has said and on my limited research, this is a rather "interesting" lens and one of the few std lenses I haven't tried. You don't oftem come across them but they are not considered "rare". I rather suspect it is because they are not sought after. Even the oracle of Stan's site lists it but has no comments. I will make some shrewd guesses though. Many consider the K range to be the pinnacle of Pentax's optical performance with on or two notable exceptions. Many of them were bayonet versions of the SMC Takumars and that also gives a clue to the performance of the 55/2. With the Spotmatic/ES range as with the KM/KX and K2, the only "standard" lenses available were the 55/1.8 and 50/1.4. The 55/2 was not avaible on it's own and was only sold with the SP500 then the SP1000 and the early K1000 when it came out. In M42 days many of the F2 had the coupling pins for full aperture metering which was the preserve of the SMC lenses bit were still marked as being Super Takumar. There is some debate as to whether these lenses were treated with the full multi coating and if so, how many. As such it was considered by Pentax to be a "budget" lens for the budget camera of the range to keep costs down as they were considered by many to be "student" cameras. Bearing in mind Pentax's reputation for good glassware at the time, I don't think they perform badly but I don't think they will be up to the standard of the 1.8's and 1.4's. Having said that, many people prefer the view of the 55s to the 50s on the KX due to the viewfinder magnification and the 55 gives a more life size representation. The magnification on M's was changed and on these the 50's appear better. (by then the 1.7's were also 50 and there was an M50/2 which came with later K1000's and the budget range of M cameras.

Anyway enough of a long wided history lesson with little info on the actual performance. The best thing to do is try it and let us know