Test pic with the cheap Pentax-F 50mm f1.7

Quick pic of Ted in the living room.

Shot at ISO 640, 1/60th sec and wide open @ f1.7

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Gareth
Welsh Photographer

My outfit: K1 gripped - Pentax D FA 24-70mm - Sigma 70-200mm OS HSM - Pentax modified DA* 60-250mm f4 - Irix 15mm Firefly - Sigma 50-500mm - FA 50mm f1.4 - Tamron SP 90mm macro - Pentax AF 540 FGZ Ii

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Nailed!

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K-3 II, K-3 and a K-70 from SRS (having now relegated the K-30 /"K-50" to a backup body), & some Sigma and Pentax lenses (and a lot of old 35mm gear!)

Woof!

The lens may be cheap but it's certainly not nasty.

Steve

I've heard that the F version has much noisier AF than the FA version. Any comments on the sound it makes?

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Pentax hybrid user - Digital K3 & K200D, film 645 and 35mm SLR and Pentax (&other) lenses adapted to Fuji X digital
Fan of DA limited and old manual lenses

Generally speaking that is true - but there is significant variance between copies. Some have quite a "Whirr" to them while others are much quieter. The AF of several of the F series lenses also appears more aggressive than FA's and later - the F*300 is very quick to focus, it feels like it's about to launch sometimes

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LennyBloke

The F lenses were born when the motors in the then AF bodies (SFX & SF7) were much less powerful than today. As such the lenses had to have as efficient an AF drive train as possible - they are much less damped for manual focussing than the later FA lenses (making them in my opinion much faster with screw-drive AF than the FA and later lenses). It wouldn't surprise me if they made more noise when attached to a more powerful AF screwdrive. The Z-1 had a more powerful motor than the SFX/SF7 - sometimes they hit the end-stop with quite a wallop.

I bought my 'shop demo' F50/1.7 back in the day for £20 from Dixons - I'd bought the last SFXn from them but the lens was £80, I went back and offered them £50 (they didn't have any other Pentax gear in). They refused, but the next week it was down to £20 so I snapped it up. The week later I went back and bought their last AF240FT flash for another £20. In some ways it's a better lens than my FA50/1.4 - which is apparently prone to flare due to the front element being closer to the front of the lens barrel.

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PPG Flickr

Thanks all!
Yup, after being cleaned up it's a great little performer

No idea how much more noisier this is to a FA sorry!

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Gareth
Welsh Photographer

My outfit: K1 gripped - Pentax D FA 24-70mm - Sigma 70-200mm OS HSM - Pentax modified DA* 60-250mm f4 - Irix 15mm Firefly - Sigma 50-500mm - FA 50mm f1.4 - Tamron SP 90mm macro - Pentax AF 540 FGZ Ii

My Flickr
My PPG
My 500px

Ted approves

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Peter



My Flickr page

Well i have this lens and its a gem. As you proved with your image.
Definitelly a keeper.

Yep! Got lucky with it

Even found my square clip on lens hood that makes it look pretty sexy on the K1

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Gareth
Welsh Photographer

My outfit: K1 gripped - Pentax D FA 24-70mm - Sigma 70-200mm OS HSM - Pentax modified DA* 60-250mm f4 - Irix 15mm Firefly - Sigma 50-500mm - FA 50mm f1.4 - Tamron SP 90mm macro - Pentax AF 540 FGZ Ii

My Flickr
My PPG
My 500px

You certainly put it to good use, Gareth.

Well i meant that those are fantastic lenses, not only your copy, mine also is brilliant.