Somehow I managed to acquire a whole passel of Rikenon normal lenses - the 50mm f1.4, 50mm f1.7, 50mm f2.0, and 55mm f1.2. Still looking for a 45mm f2.8 though...
I've found the 50mm f1.4 to be a nice lens, but not the sharpest optic out there. It is unsharp in a pleasant way, though - sort of soft but sharp, as if the resolution is not great but the edge detail is good, so prominent areas of contrast stand out but fine details blur off... But that all sounds contradictory and, well, impossible... Anyhow - I knew I had a couple of PUG submissions taken with this lens, but I'm surprised to see how many. I probably have more submissions with this lens than any other on the PUG. SO if you want to see some samples: http://pug.komkon.org/01mar/rospug.html http://pug.komkon.org/00apri/Watchtower.htm http://pug.komkon.org/00janu/Cappers.htm http://pug.komkon.org/99feb/alt15.htm http://pug.komkon.org/99mar/fun.htm The Rikenon was used as a diopter on a screw mount 135 for this one: http://pug.komkon.org/99apr/cw01.html To be honest, I haven't used it much since getting the Rikenon 55mm f1.2 and later an A 50 f1.4. I did some formal testing of the two Rikenons vs the A 50 - and without a doubt the A 50 was the sharpest with the Rikenon 55 f1.2 not far behind. The Rikenon 50 f1.4 did not fair very well compared to the others. The A 50 f1.4 is not only the sharpest, but does a great job with color rendition and has the best flare control. I still sometimes grab the 55 f1.2 because it's larger, feels better when focusing, and offers that great shallow DOF for precise focusing. I don't think I've used the Rikenon 50mm f1.4 for about year now. BTW - I could swear I read somewhere that the Rikenon 50mm f2.0 was the sharpest lens ever made for 35mm slrs - but for the life of me I have not been able to locate where I read that. I bought one on ebay (they are pretty cheap) but haven't gotten around to testing it. - MCC At 10:53 AM 3/22/02 -0500, you wrote: >Someone on another discussion list wrote that about 10 years ago, a >magazine tested 50/1.4 lenses and found the XR Rikenon 50/1.4 to be the >sharpest from f/2 through f/4. It beat the Contax. Does anyone have >experience with this lens? > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] - - - - - - - - - - Mark Cassino Kalamazoo, MI [EMAIL PROTECTED] - - - - - - - - - - Photos: http://www.markcassino.com - - - - - - - - - - - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
