Pentax SMC FA 50mm F1.4 - Review 2022

Pentax has modernized most of its lens lineup for the APS-C sensor size, merely kept a scattering of older full-frame optics in production. The Pentax SMC FA 50mm F1.four ($274.95) is one of them, and unfortunately its optics haven't stood the test of time. It delivers very soft performance at wide apertures, particularly when paired with a modern 36MP sensor like the one yous find in the G-i. If yous want a standard-angle prime number, consider instead the FA 43mm Express, an Editors' Option winner, or wait until the promised 2022 release of the Pentax HD D FA* 50mm f/1.four SDM AW.

Design

The FA 50mm is a tiny lens by modern standards, measuring only 1.five past two.5 inches (HD) and tipping the scales at 7.8 ounces. The black butt is polycarbonate and relatively free of adornments. The front end element supports 49mm filters and the lens does not transport with a hood.

There's a concrete aperture band, then you can apply the lens with a vintage picture camera. I put it to the test and ran a roll of film through my 1980s-era Pentax LX, something y'all can't practise with more modern lenses that rely solely on electronic aperture control. The band can be fix to its A position for use on a digital camera, offering third-stop adjustments. When adapted manually it can be set up at f/1.4, f/2 through f/xi in half stops, and to f/16 or f/22.

Autofocus is driven by a screw-drive arrangement, and so it'due south on the noisy side. The focus throw is curt, so focus is quick. Quick shift focus is not supported, which means you need to set your camera'southward AF/MF switch to the the MF position if yous desire to brand whatever transmission focus adjustments.

The lens focuses as shut as eighteen inches (45cm), which gives information technology a rather paltry i:7 macro magnification ratio. It's not singular for a lens of this type, but we've seen others that focus closer, including the Tamron SP 45mm f/1.8, which sports a solid one:3 macro capability. But unfortunately Tamron and Sigma have dropped support for Pentax with contempo lens releases. If you desire a shut-focusing 50mm for the G-1, the SMC D-FA Macro 50mm F2.8 is currently your best option.

There's no conditions sealing. That'south to be expected from an older lens pattern—it's a feature that Pentax didn't showtime adding to its cameras until well later the 50mm F1.4 was released. There's also no optical stabilization, which is not a surprise every bit Pentax cameras have that feature built into the body.

Paradigm Quality

When paired with the 36MP K-1, the FA 50mm F1.4 produces very soft results at its widest aperture settings. At f/1.4 information technology scores merely 1,109 lines on our standard sharpness examination. That's less than one-half the 2,250 lines we want to come across at a minimum from the Yard-1. The real-world outcome: images have a blurry, soft focus wait at f/1.4. There's less softness at f/2, but not a lot less. The score is one,580 lines there.

At f/2.eight things modify dramatically. Details are crisp as the average score jumps to two,288 lines. Edges are still soft, i,448 lines, but depth of field will blur them away in many photos. The lens gets sharper and sharper as you stop downwardly. Information technology scores 2,413 lines at f/4, with decent edge performance, and starts to deliver well-baked edge-to-edge images at f/5.six (2,655 lines). It'south at its all-time at f/eight (2,807 lines), and simply loses a niggling bit of resolution at f/11 (2,776 lines), f/16 (ii,615 lines), and f/22 (ii,404 lines).

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The lens shows about 1.four per centum barrel baloney, cartoon straight lines with a slight outward curve. That's not atypical for a 50mm f/1.four pattern, and pretty easily corrected if you have your druthers. JPG shooters can enable an in-camera correction, and information technology's a relatively unproblematic matter to straighten lines in Raw images if you use Lightroom for processing.

The aforementioned is true for the natural vignette that the lens draws around subjects. At f/1.4 the corners lag behind the centre past about 3 stops (-3EV), and they show a -1.7EV drop at f/ii. (At narrower apertures the departure in illumination is negligible.) If you shoot in JPG format you can set up the K-one to compensate automatically, and the same correction that removes distortion from Raw images in Lightroom brightens the edges of the frame.

Conclusions

Some vintage lens designs manage to deliver strong performance on mod high-resolution digital sensors. The Pentax SMC FA 50mm F1.four isn't one of them, unfortunately. It delivers results that are positively soft focus at f/i.4 and f/2. Information technology gets a lot sharper at narrower apertures, just if you're buying information technology to shoot at f/2.8, you may as well opt for the D-FA Macro 50mm F2.viii instead. Our favorite wide-aperture, standard-angle prime number lens for the Pentax organisation is still the pricier FA 43mm F1.9 Limited. There'south a new 50mm f/1.4 due out this twelvemonth from the company, part of its top-end FA* serial. We'll see how it performs when it'due south released, but we do expect it to sell at a significantly higher price than the FA 50mm F1.four.