Pentax 85mm f1.4

Hi all,

Has anyone seen the A*85mm/1.4 or the FA*85mm/1.4 second-hand?
(I rather like the A series on the *ist-D at the moment - A50/f1.4 and A28/2.8, an 85mm would go very nicely)

Also I'd be interested to know how much they fetch... is it a remortgage job??!

Thanks
Matt

Hi Matt,

I am afraid it very probably is a re-mortgage job. I buy & sell rare Pentax K (also Contax & Zeiss) and have only had two A* 85/1.4 in the last 24 months, both sold on evilbay for £600-£700. One went to the USA, as many scarce mf gear does, but a UK buyer paid £675 for one. He was a semi-pro using Pentax DSLR's in this 'Venture' portrait studio chain.

The vast majority of scarce manual focus gear now never reaches dealers and hardly ever appears at camera fairs, most just goes straight onto ebay and is usually sold worldwide, so you end up competing with usually, USA, Far East and Italian buyers, who seem to be the main bidders for this type of gear.

Good luck, but you can expect to pay at least £400 even for a scruffy one, but most fetch £500-700.

Cheers Steve.

They come up on Ebay every two or three months. As Steve says, they're not cheap, but they are very highly regarded.

Here's your chance:

http://tinyurl.com/98h4d

G

'Twas as much as I feared.
George - thanks for the link

Well, one can dream

Matt

Matt,

As I've stated elsewhere, I think the 77mm Ltd is a better bet generally. Better made, just as good optically, and much smaller and lighter. It's also a bit cheaper, and still available new, so second-hand prices are more reasonable.

If you want a very fast portrait lens for digital, I commend the 50mm f1.2, in A or K versions. It's pretty soft wide-open, which is fine for portraits, and the DOF is remarkable. Remarkably shallow, that is.

The K version works (ie: meters properly) in Av mode when wide-open, which is in my view the best way to use this lens.

G

George,
Appreciate the comment
I'll keep my eyes open for a 77mm then

That sounds interesting about the K. So do you keep the lens set to 1.2 and use the thumb dial on the *ist-D? Or am I missing the point?!
I also understood that matrix metering wasn't available unless you had the A (or at least the aperture electronic connections).

Thanks
Matt

On the Pentax DSLRs, with a K or M lens, in any exposure mode other than manual, the body will meter at full aperture, then take the picture at full aperture - whatever the aperture ring is set to.

So the exposure will be correct, but the aperture will be wrong - unless you wanted full aperture.

With the K 50mm f1.2, I am very happy to shoot at full aperture; indeed there is little point in paying the extra for this lens if you DONT shoot at full aperture. (That's assuming you have more than one 50mm lens. If you have only this one, it will obviously have to perform other duties.)

To use matrix mettering, the body has to know what lens is on the camera. Obviously, with a K or M it has no idea, and defaults to centre-weighted. Spot metering works fine, however.

No need to use the dial, unless you want to. Any exposure mode other than manual will give you correct exposure when you press the shutter button, just like an A lens.

G

Thanks for that George. I did suspect as much, but I wanted to make sure.
Matt

I was fortunate enough to live in Hong Kong when I got my FA* 85mm F1.4 as it was only the equivalent of £475 new.

Agggh! Don't tell me that

I was wondering if anyone who owns an 85mm f1.4 would be able to share in a problem I am getting when it is used on a DSLR.

When I put it onto my Ds the exposure goes crazy, pointing the lens at a continuous subject (even on a tripod), with no changes in light, the meter keeps giving readings and never a fixed one. What’s annoying is that the readings are sometimes up to 2 possible 3 stops apart resulting in dull or overexposed shots.

I have tried all three metering (spot, center and matrix) and all do the same erratic readings, center slightly less than the others. Ironically enough it is also less significant when the aperture is smaller than F2.8 and above, however the joys of the lens is to use it at f1.4

I have tried the lens on 35mm Mz5 and LX and ME manuals and it works perfectly.

I know the lens was made around the time of the MZ series however I have never experienced this compatibility problem with any Pentax lens from A lenses onwards.
Any help or opinions would be appreciated.
Thanks

If it works fine on other bodies, it is unlikely that there is a problem with the lens.

Have you tried cleaning the contacts on both the body and the lens?

G

My FA* 85 works fine on the DS and exposures have been spot on. The only problem I have noticed with it is that using the on-camera flash the subject needs to be quite a distance away to avoid over exposure even at apertures smaller than the maximum.

Thank you George, as recommended I took a cloth to the lens and camera copper contacts and a surprising amound of black oil like dirt came off.
The metering has definately improved and I dont get such contrasting readings, however I have found that the camera tends to underexpose, although Im sure adding 0.3+ will correct most images.
Thanks for the help, couldnt have imagined a 8 month old camera could have picked up so much dirt, on the inside at least!

I have only recently bought the lens and was wondering what filter you use on the lens, it may seem trivial but I am using a UV (for protection purposes) and have notices that it reduces light by a stop.

Thanks

I don't use filters on my 85mm for a couple of reasons:

1) Why stick glass of lesser quality in front of something so optically perfect?

2) A few weeks after I bought mine I dropped it out of my rucksack onto a marble floor and it's now got a big dent in the filter ring!

I don't fit UV filters to any of my lenses though.

Regards
Steve