- Produced Asahi Optical Co., Ltd. Japan
- Mount Pentax KA
- Focal length 50mm
- Aperture range f2-22 plus A for AE on Pentax cameras
- Focal range .45m to infinity
- Filter thread 49mm
- Elements 5 in 5 groups
- Aperture blades 6
- Weight 5oz (142g) (!)
- (super) multicoated
Overview
Well, since this came with my P30t kit it certainly qualifies as my very first SLR lens, and possibly still my best. Who knew. Lightweight and small (it’s practically a pancake design), with Pentax’ Super Multi Coating and a colorfully informative distance scale.
Here it is compared with the normal Konica Hexanon 1.7 50mm on the right for size comparison.
Pentax’ Super Multi Coating was co-developed with Zeiss, who calls the coating T* on their lenses (now made by Kyocera, parent of Yashica & Contax).
Cool things about this lens – lightweight, small, and has a relatively short turning radius through its focal range, meaning you can focus rather quickly. Tack sharp and has fantastic color rendition. My all-around favorite normal lens for the last decade.
Special Notes
The A setting allows auto-exposure capable cameras (like the P30T) to set the aperture in full auto mode. Some will do aperture priority only in which case I don’t know what the A setting will get you but it probably won’t be right!
Normally with Pentax bayonet mount lenses you line up the red dots and twist; here you have an additional marker, a white bump that you would align with the lens release tab, and mount the lens without looking (or in low light)
Related Links
- Bojidar Dimitriov’s K-mount Page has much info on Pentax lenses
