Pentax SMC DA 50mm f/1.8 Lens Review

Gary Wolstenholme reviews the new Pentax SMC DA 50mm f/1.8 prime lens on the Pentax K-5 Digital SLR.

Posted: 04/10/2012 - 19:35

Handling and Features
Performance
Verdict
Specification

This standard 50mm lens sports a fast f/1.8 maximum aperture, ideal for blurring backgrounds, or for shooting in low light conditions. However, unlike many 'nifty-fifty' lenses, this optic carries a rather high £250 price tag. Is it worth the extra over equivalents from other manufacturers? We'll take a closer look to ascertain if it is.

Pentax SMC DA 50mm f/1.8 Handling and Features

The weight and dimensions of this lens are fairly typical for a lens of this specification. It weighs only 122g and protrudes 38.5mm from the lens mount. It makes a good lightweight companion for the Pentax K-5 body used for testing. Very high quality plastics have been used for the lens barrel, and the lens mount is plastic, which may put a few people off, especially if they change lenses very often.

Focusing is performed within the lens barrel with the entire group of elements moving back and forth inside. This design means that the lens does not extend during focusing and that the filter thread does not rotate, making it perfect for use with polarising and graduated filters. The 52mm is very common, so it shouldn't be too difficult to pick up accessories to fit. The manual focusing ring rotates during auto-focus, and isn't very well recessed, so care needs to be taken in use to ensure it doesn't catch your fingers. Manual focusing action is smooth, and well damped.

No distance scale is provided, or hyper-focal scale, which is a shame. The Pentax 'Quick Shift' focusing system has been implemented on this lens, which means manual adjustments can be applied once the lens has focused automatically.

Although focusing is screw-driven, it locks onto subjects very quickly. The older screw-driven system does generate more noise than newer silent focusing lenses do though. Despite the noise, focusing is swift and accurate, which makes the bright f/1.8 aperture very useable.

The minimum focus distance of 45cm is fairly typical for this kind of lens. A maximum magnification of 0.15x is possible, which may not be best suited for frame filling close ups images of small subjects.

Pentax SMC DA 50mm f/1.8 Performance

At maximum aperture, sharpness in the centre of the frame is already very good, with clarity towards the edges of the frame reaching good levels. Stopping down improves sharpness across the frame with peak performance being realised at f/5.6, where sharpness in the centre is outstanding, and excellent clarity is attained towards the edges of the frame.

SMC PENTAX-DA 50mm f/1.8 MTF Charts

Chromatic aberrations are incredibly well controlled, barely registering in Imatest until the lens is stopped down beyond f/8. This very low level of fringing should pose no issues, even in large prints, or harsh crops from the edges of the frame.

SMC PENTAX-DA 50mm f/1.8 Chromatic Aberration Charts

Falloff of illumination towards the corners is also well controlled for a lens with a fast f/1.8 maximum aperture. At f/1.8 the corners are only 1.15 stops darker than the image centre and visually uniform illumination is realised with the lens stopped down to f/4 or beyond.

Only a very slight amount of barrel distortion is present in images taken with this lens. Imatest detected 0.505% barrel distortion, which will be very hard to spot, unless straight lines very near the edges of the frame run absolutely parallel with the frame border. The distortion pattern is uniform across the frame, so if you require absolutely straight lines, this low level of distortion should be relatively easy to correct.

During testing, this lens proved itself quite resistant to flare and contrast levels remain good, even when shooting into the light.

SMC PENTAX-DA 50mm f/1.8 Sample Photos

Value For Money

With a price tag of around £250, the performance of the optics are certainly worth paying a little extra for, although some aspects of the lens' design bring how good value this lens is into question. For example the plastic lens mount is a feature normally seen on much cheaper lenses.

Pentax also produce a 50mm f/1.4 lens, which sports a faster maximum aperture, but costs £330 as a result. Those looking for a lens around this focal length, who have money to spare, may also consider the Pentax 43mm f/1.9 Limited lens, which costs around £780.

Sigma also produce a 50mm f/1.4 which is available with a Pentax K mount fitting for around £380.

Pentax SMC DA 50mm f/1.8 Verdict

The optical performance of this lens is excellent, which makes it well worth the £250 asking price, even if this does seem a little steep for a 50mm f/1.8 lens with a plastic lens mount.

Overall this lens delivers sharp results at every aperture, and is reasonably well built. However, a metal lens mount would normally be expected for a lens of this type at this price point and would allay any fears about the build of the lens.

Members gallery photos using: smc PENTAX-DA 50mm F1.8

Lone Leaf rick

Away across the valley Spad

The Tulip Spad

Orion in the clouds Spad

Reflecting Industrial Light and Mining Spad

Setting Sun over a Shire Spad

The Abarth Spad

Restful Hammocks Cdn_Sailor

Battle of the Atlantic Survivor Cdn_Sailor

A shaft of light from God davidstorm

Plus Member ronniemac ronniemac

719 posts
13 years
Oxford

Posted 05/02/2014 - 21:21 Link

Informative review, and here's the good news: as of Jan 2014 the lens is generally priced at £120 , and if on special offer as low as £99 (new). I understand why Pentax usually price high to begin with then reduce later, but if just once they introduced a lens at the price they later sell for, it would hit the headlines in a big way - thinking about the plastic 85mm f2 for say £170 (if only!). Big news and big sales would make for big profit and happy punters. And introducing us to affordable primes will entice more to the Limited lenses in the fullness of time. Back on topic, really enjoy this lens, it's fantastic and highly recommended at current prices.

Shawnbo Shawnbo

1 posts
1 years

Posted 24/12/2023 - 23:28 Link

Ten years later, this lens is available new for under $80 US. I just purchased one exclusively for astrophotograhy, should work well with the O-GPS2. For occasional use, the plastic mount isn't a concern.

PLF PLF

6 posts
Nearby Hamburg/Germany

Posted 25/06/2024 - 12:03 Link

It would be interesting to compare this (quite new) lens with the former AF 1.7/50 .... not with the 1.4 versions.
Anyway:
This 1.8 focusses faster tham (at least my) FA 1.7 or 1.4 Pentax 50 mm - but not as fast as the Sigma 1.4 HSM (which is not only more expensive but quite bulky and therefore seldom in my bag).

In my eyes the character of the pics with this 1.8 differs quite a lot from those of the 1.7 and 1.4.
(I sold the Sigma that I mentioned above due to use cases - although it had the best optical quality regarding sharpness)

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