Which Pentax 50mm is best?

.... out of current Pentax SMC DA 50mm f1.8 Lens or SMC Pentax-A f1.7 manual? Forget the AF. In terms of IQ, (sharpness and resolution etc), bokeh and build quality?
Dave

Don't have a 50/1.8, but do have an A 1.7. great little Lens. Have to say that stopped down the A50/1.2 smokes it, and also has stunning bokeh at 1.2 as well

Out of the 2 mentioned, DA(L) but we are still waiting for a good updated 50. Let me explain...

Build quality wise the DA(L) 50 is poor. I mean that from a tactile sense, cheap caps, no distance scale. It is basically a 50 setup in point and shoot form. Saying that, optically it is well corrected. Given the choice between it and an FA50 f/1.4, optically I think I would give the nod to the DA(L) variant. Spend some money on a good corrected hood for the FA and you will give it a boost contrast wise to help it at wider than f/2. As Smeggy mentions above, the A50 f/1.2 is superior, vastly so bokeh wise, build wise, tactile wise but you are losing AF and weight wise it is like having a stubby 85 f/1.4 mounted.

Value wise... DA(L) is £125 give or take, plastic, no hood, no distance scale, no aperture ring but optically pretty good.
FA is just over twice the price, a step up tactile wise, metal and plastic, distance scale, apeture ring, better quality caps and a bit faster at f/1.4 but you need to price in a good quality hood to really get the best performance.
A50 f/1.2 is £400, all metal, distance scale, apeture ring, can venture into the wilds of f/1.2 and stopped down sharpens up beautifully. Bokeh wider than f/2.8 is better than the other two. It also needs a hood and it is tricky to master at f/1.2.

Forgot to mention, none of the above have Quickshift

So there you have it, we are still waiting for a good 50. Really Pentax should take the glass of the 50 f/1.2, put it into a new Limited WR body with DC and stop it down to f/1.4 and then we could all complain about the price

!

K55/1.8 for 25 euros!

What's the point in using the 1.2 design and stopping it down to 1.4?

I wouldn't expect quick AF if pentax were to release an AF 50/1.2. the focus ring rotation is around 200 deg, compared to the 100 deg on say the FA50/1.4 -- I just checked. in fact my A50/1.4 and A50/1.7 also seem to have 200 deg focus rotation as well


btw - I'd love a DA* 30mm or DA* 50mm F/1.2 AF WR. Yes it would cost an absolute bomb. And the sharpness obsessives would moan about it's lack of sharpness @ 1.2, but then get moist pants when they see what it can do stopped down.

What about the da* 55mm does that not count???

If you can count above 600, yes...