It looks sharp enough to me: https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/topic/ricoh-xr-rikenon-50mm-f2-17328/p-1

Andrew

Perhaps I should mention that the 24mm I compared the kit lens with is the Sigma 24mm f2.8 Super-Wide II which is reputed to be one of the sharpest primes around. I've also taken some very sharp photos with the kit lens and have a high regard for it. I have no reason whatever to conclude that it is anything other than a fine example of its type.

Andrew

There are one or two test photos taken by Rikenon 50s (by me and others) on other threads in the forum - so folks could form their own opinion if they choose to do so. Some even compare them to the 18-55 ALII.

FWIW, I love the Pentax 18-55mm ALII - but it ultimately isn't as sharp as several old primes I have (at 24mm, 28mm and 50mm). It is way more convenient to use, though, and it's only if you use a solid tripod, cable release, lock the mirror up and take lots of tests shots - and then pixel peep that you can reliably discern a difference on screen. I doubt that I'd notice much/any difference on prints.

Andrew

Yes, I still play LPs on a Linn Sondek LP12, Linn amps & Epos ES14 loudpspeakers - but not as often as maybe I should. I don't have too many recording on both vinyl and CD - but I have yet to be convinced that those I do have really sound any better on a Linn Karik CD player than on vinyl.

I still have one film camera - an old Ricoh KR10 Super but haven't used it for about 18 months. The Fuji Reala I still have in the fridge is now out of date, so maybe I need to consign it to the bin.

Andrew

Mmm ... I was tryping from (defective) memory. Just had a look. It is a XR Speedlite 240 - exactly as the manual on the Butkus site.

Andrew

Amazing - are you sure? The optically identical 18-55 ALII is a great lens - but it definitely is not as sharp as a XR Rikenon 50mm f1.7 (that I bought on Fleabay for less than a tenner) at f5.6. At f8 and beyond it's close, but both will be diffraction limited anyway.

Andrew

I use an old Ricoh Speedlite 240P with a Pentax K200D occasionally. Use the K-x in manual. Set the flashgun to auto and aperture to whatever the chart on the back of the flashgun tells you is OK for the ISO the camera is set to. Set the shutter speed to anything less than 1/180sec (the 1/125 in the manual was the fastest flash synch speed for the Ricoh KR10 Super SLR so you can ignore it). Works fine for me.

Andrew

The good: Pentax-M 75-150mm f4 zoom - great at around £25; Rikenon 50mm f1.7 - very good and you can often get them for less than a tenner on Ebay; Pentax 18-55mm MK2 kit lens is good too; Sigma 24mm f2.8 Super-Wide II - razor sharp (but you'll be lucky to get one for less than £50).

The bad: Takumar 80-200mm f4.5 zoom - no good at any price, XR Rikenon 300mm f4.5 APO - sharp but obvious blue fringing wider than f11.


Andrew

Apparently, there are 337 foreign players from 66 countries currently registered to play for clubs in the Barclays Premier league (inc Welsh, Scottish and Irish, I guess). If my sums are right, that is around 17 foreign players per club. It's not surprising that Capello cannot take a world beating team of Englishmen to South Africa, if he can only select from the very few Englishmen that actually play premiership football.

I am amazed that some Premiership managers have called for the management of the England team to be removed from the Football Association and placed in their hands. As they are fundamentally to blame for the lack of quality english players in the premiership, it doesn't make much sense to me. Maybe it is time for a limit on the number of foreign players that can be fielded by a premiership side. If the limit was set to say, 3, just maybe England would be able to put together a decent side by the next world cup.

Andrew

I do have some 52mm UV and Skylight filters that arrived on lenses that I've bought on Ebay in the past, which I never use. I did actually buy a 67mm UV filter in the hope that it might reduce the amount of purple/blue fringing generated by a XR Rikenon 300mm f4.5 APO lens at wider apertures - didn't work.

I've also bought Cokin P holder, a hood for it, a ND8, a couple of ND grads and a polariser that I really really intended to use - but oddly never actually have.