I saw one of these revered lenses on Fleabay about a week back. I already have two 50mm lenses - both Rikenon, a f2 and a f1.7, which I am quite keen on. The MTF charts on Pbase also suggest that the Rikenons are at least competitive. So why bother .........

Well, the auction listing did say that the lens was like new - and Pentax lenses get lots of plaudits in this locale - and I do have and use two Pentax lenses that I use and like a lot, so I put what I thought was quite a modest bid on the SMC 50mm f1.7. To my extreme suprise, I won the lens for coppers over £18. It arrived two days ago - and goodness, it does look just like new!! It also came with a very new looking case too.

It didn't take long to take a handful of comparitive shots - at f2 and at f2.8 where I expected any differences to be the most pronounced. I do need to repeat the tests, more carefully, when it stops raining - but I *think* the Rikenon lenses might just have been retired.

Mmmm .......

Andrew

I agree completely. Perhaps folks should remember that an 800 pixel wide landscape format image posted on the internet is less than half a megapixel.

Andrew

Clachtoll in Sutherland. It's a very nice place and extremely photogenic. I can't keep away.

Andrew

You should ....

This is a *snap* from a recent holiday, taken with a K200D. An 18 x 12 print of this looks outstandingly sharp.




and this is a 100% crop from it.




Andrew

I know it's not that hard to remove - but it might be a bit harder than you are suggesting where the fringing is primarily blue rather than purple. This was the full frame.




Although I don't use the Rikenon in anger (at the moment), I have no intention of selling it. It's way too good to give away - and also quite rare.

Cheers
Andrew

I've been thinking about doing this for a while.

I have a XR Rikenon 300mm f4.5 APO lens which is really quite sharp - but on my K200D generates lots of purple/blue fringing at most apertures. It does go away a bit at f11 and onwards - but it's more than enough to put me off using it with a DSLR. The fringing is a bit more blue than purple ........

I posted this 100% crop in a thread about the lens, some while back. The fringing is pretty obvious on the bike.




As it happens, I also have a Ricoh KR10 Super which might well be the camera the lens was originally made for. I might even have some rolls of Fuji Reala in the fridge (but they've been there for maybe 3 years).

Andrew

#1 by a wide margin. To me, #2 looks odd - almost cartoony.

I'm finding it increasingly hard to keep away from north west Scotland in the summer. Clachtoll, in particular, is rapidly becoming one of my favourite holiday places.

1. Beach at Clachtoll



2. Another Clachtoll beach photo



3. Split Rock at Clachtoll



So ..... where are your favourite holiday places?

Andrew

Indeed, the first two digits of the serial number tell you who manufactured a Vivitar lens. For example, 28 is Komine, 37 is Tokina and so on ......

Andrew

One of my very earliest memories (mainly because it scared the life out of me) is of standing next to the Sir Nigel Gresley (in service!!) on York station in 1951. Shame I didn't have a camera with me - but then again, I was only 3.

Nice photos Simon

Andrew