Pentax Normal smc P-D FA 50mm f/2.8 Macro Autofocus Lens

This lightweight 50mm macro lens has a bright maximum aperture of f/2.8, costs around £320 and offers life-sized magnification at its closest focus distance. On a Pentax DSLR this lens provides an angle of view roughly equivalent to a 75mm lens used on a 35mm camera.

Optically, it is very difficult to fault this lens, as the performance it delivers is excellent in every respect. Unfortunately, the design of the lens, and the way it handles feels a little dated, especially when compared to the latest Macro optics offered by the likes of Canon and Nikon, which...

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  Outstanding sharpness, Relatively lightweight, Decent build quality, Good value

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  No focus limiter, Manual focus ring is loose without clamp and feels gritty with it engaged, Hyperfocal scale is of limited use

I shoot a lot of product/high end crafts and this lens fills in nicely between the Pentax 35 mm and 100 mm macro lenses. Image quality is excellent, and the lens seems to be well built. It is even better than the excellent SMC A manual focus 50 mm macro it replaces.

What I don't like is the absence of focusing range limiter - the camera, often, search for a long time to focus) and the so-so built quality: focusing ring not tight, 'plastic' feeling.

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  Image Quality

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  Built quality, Autofocus

I bought this lens to try out a Pentax system and was fairly pleased with it, especially the image quality. The coatings are not dust-resistant, however; there was dust on the lens before I could get the filter on, and I was never able to get it completely clean, which is different from my...

I got this lens for the sole purpose of copying artwork. With my K-1 with Pixelshift on, manual focus zoom, mirror up, AA filter off and tethered exposure, it delivers AMAZINGLY sharp images. I've found the sharpest aperture for this lens to be f/5.6.

This lens is as the headline suggests. Very sharp even wide open. The images are much more crisp than my da* 50-135 2.8 at 50mm. Handles flare and Abberations quite well. Very good first lens for my K5. Can't wait to pip it on the K1.

I've tested over 30 different lenses on my Pentax K1 camera. Many of these lenses are premium quality Zeiss and Voigtlander manual focus lenses.

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  Insanely sharp on K1

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  Cheap plastic body and lower quality build

I am quite amazed by its sharpness. It took me some time to get used to the macro feature. I feel that 100mm would be lot easy if you are shooting insects. I find it very difficult to focus on the moving subjects with macro feature. Here is a shot that i am satisfied

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  Sharpness

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  Focusing