Shock Title fight result!

Pentax 50mm f1.4 SMC-M. Vs Chinon 50mm f1.4 Multi-coated.


M'luds, Ladies and Gentlemen. In the blue corner... Weighing 235.7 grammes, The undisputed heavyweight Champion of fast fifties. The Pentax SMC-M f1.4. - In the red corner... Weighing 247.2 grammes, The challenger. Chinon Multi-coated 50mm f1.4.

Contest over two rounds, shooting the bottom of a shoe box.

The contenders.

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Pentax @ f1.4.
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Pentax @ f5.6
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Chinon @f1.4
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Chinon @ f5.6
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Pentax crop @ f1.4




Pentax crop @f5.6
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Chinon crop @f1.4
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Chinon crop @ f5.6
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The winner, on points...... Chinon!

Wide open, the Chinon is clearly sharper than the Pentax. At f5.6, there's nothing in it.

Of course, there's more to testing lens performance than shooting the bottom of a shoe box at three feet, but as a quick little test, this threw up an unexpected and interesting result.

Thanks for posting that. I was about to post a question regarding my Pentax 50mm 1.4 at f1.4.
I know it is expected to be less sharp at both ends, but it is much softer than I had expected.

I'm guessing that is normal?
I was about to send mine in to get adjusted. Apparently not necessary.

Mine seems a tad bit worse, but did with black and white magazine print. and showed more chromatic aberrations... maybe just being black&white rather than blue&white?.
It is about 10 years old, so maybe not a bad idea anyway.

Still, oddly glad to see it

Chinon lenses as a whole are generally underrated. They are reasonable performers and I rate them highly on a bang for buck score. My little Chinon 50 f1.9 delivers bokeh that is very reminisant of a K55 f/1.8. They are really coarse though with regards their focussing rings, it just feels nasty after you have experienced a Super Takumar or Pentax K lens.
The undisputed aspect of the Pentax 50 f/1.4 might also be argued a little, I have a serious heavyweight here that would quite happily enter a ring with any 50 f/1.4

The Pentax 50mm f1.4 is designed for high contrast reportage work, not for high rresolution.

The 50mm f1.7 probably has more of the required pictorial qualities and certainly much higher resolution.

Is it? Don't look much different to me. :

Does to me.


Your comments a while back about this were the reason I kept my FA 1.7 and sold the 1.4.

Also to be borne in mind is that the Pentax 50mm f1.4 is not designed to be at its best close up. It has curvature of field and that will render attempts to use test charts a bit meaningless.

If a photographer spends his life photographing test charts then in this example the Chinon is the better buy...

The Chinon will be a Tominon rebadge and they usually add a purple cast, but are quite sharp. It's a pity it's not the 55mm Chinon f/1.4 which has fabulous bokeh and commands a very good price. The 55mm f/1.7 is very similar and is a bit of a bargain at present.

Blue and White only really tests the blue RGB channel and is usually more flattering to the lenses than the red channel. But your test compares like for like and is about what I would expect.

Chinons never did very well in AP resolution tests and a lot of Chinon users bought Pentax 50mm f/1.7 lenses which performed better on film. A lot of lenses now seem to perform better on digital than they ever did on film.

I did some digital tests on a Ricoh (Tominon)50mm f/1.7 a few months ago and it was equal to the Pentax 50mm f/1.7 'A' but had a purple cast.

The 'A' series f/1.4 should be better then the 'M' series, but the f/1.7's are probably better. It would be interesting to see how the Chinon stacks up against a Pentax 50mm f/1.7.

At f/1.4 you need to take at least 4 shots and choose which one is the sharpest.

Ha-ha!.. Good ol' John!.. Even if waterboarded, he wouldn't admit that a Pentax lens was bettered in any way. Even in just one, not very important regard, in a rough and ready, very unscientific test like this one.
Did Pentax ever have a more faithful disciple!

I learned another useful thing with this test.
The Chinon has two quite large, but shallow scratches on the front element. They are not evident in any of the test shots, which proves what many of us have always known: Damage to lenses (especially front elements) has to be quite severe before it has a visible effect on image quality. Some people are paranoid about any mark on, or speck of dust in their lens. The odd blemish is shown to be meaningless, here.

The Chinon was bought recently for £20, but when it arrived, I saw the scratches and contacted the seller, who very decently refunded £5, for the damage. So.. I got a very good fifteen quids worth, here!

The Pentax also cost £15. I got it cheaply because the filter thread had a dent in it. I removed the front tube and cut out the damaged part, and filed the edges square. A filter will still go on nicely, now. If you look at the picture of it above, you can see where the gamaged bit has been cut out.
Both are excellent lenses, and I don't intend parting with either, any time soon.

Ha indeed! Apparently you've also dismatled part of this damaged Pentax lens, so the test is already looking weaker....

FWIW, the 50mm f1.4 is not my favourite lens, I much prefer the f1.7 version, but it's the one that's survived.

Testing is a tricky thing to do to make it meaningful.

Blimey, John! That was an almost instant reply. Can you see what we're writing before we hit the submit button?

Removing the front tube does not move or in any way disturb the glass elements, so no excuse, there.

No mowog, I think I'm psychic and have written all tomorrow's posts already...it saves time.

Any scratches on the front element will show up as quite severe flare on photos when you point them at a light source. It might even be unusable. Leica used to suggest filling them with matt black paint as a partial remedy.

hmmm? The 100% crops @1.4 both have a roughly equal amount of 'blur' here.

The chinon is a little brighter ad perhaps has a little more contrast.

Chinon - did I hear Chinon ?

I have an elderly Chinon CM-4s totally manual SLR with the original
50 mm 1:1.9 standard lens which has given excellent service over the last 20 odd years as a general family/holliday/weddings/kids birthdays
and was only replaced two years ago when the digital age caught me up.
Now the owner of a Pentax k200, I look forward to many more years of the same but, with retirement , perhaps a bit more ceativity.
By the way, has anyone else out there used Chinon gear? Over the years
I don't think I have seen much about.