Adventures with a Nifty Fifty

[Black Pearl]

I have been using a Pentax K30 with a pair of 'kit' zooms for a few months now, mostly when I'm just out for a wander and don't want to lug the heavy Nikon gear around. I chose it because although it may be a budget body it has a 100% viewfinder, rattles along at 6fps, its waterproof and I love the 16mp Sony sensor. The results are great and it is doing just what I wanted it for....stopping me not taking a camera out and just shooting everything on the iPhone.

Anyhoo I was having a clear-out a few weeks back and found a SMC Pentax-F 50mm f1.7 lens that I had forgotten all about. It was bunged into one end of a bit of drainpipe with a cobbled together Nikon F mount at the other that I had used for macro photography and then put to one side......its never been off the front since.
Oddly I'm not a fan of the 50mm on a 1.5 crop body preferring a 35mm giving the equivalent view to the classic Nifty Fifty. Thing is I have fallen head over heals in love with this lens. I think I got it when I had a brief fling with a MZ-5N years and years ago but don't recall ever using it much.

Wide open it is pretty sharp though the bite has a slight glow to it, not a criticism as many lenses are well below par at the extremes. Stopped down to f2 mind you it is razor sharp, properly, properly sharp and I just love it. The Bokeh is weird, a bit messy at times but knowing that and using that I am getting some pictures that I'm really happy with.

[RustBeltRaw]

I suspect your monitor's color profile is a little wonky - reds and blues look a little desaturated relative to the greens in these shots. Is that deliberate? Other than that, not bad at all, Robin. Your DoF control is very good, and your framing and focusing in #3 is quite clever. It still has a mood, even though the focal plane is not on the boy's expression.

It's fun rediscovering favorite bits of gear. I fall freshly in love with my Canon EF 100mm f2.0 USM every time I use it.

[wlou]

Good job Robin, very creative.I find the last one quite well done. A taste of summer maybe!

[Black Pearl]

The colour is something to do with the web hosting, hadn't really checked when I posted this but looking now they're very odd. They look very different to the original files on the iMac, also I've just checked the same images (which I also posted on FB) and they look fine....most odd. Might try a different host and see where the shift is coming, I'll see what the Pentax is set to colour wise and see what LR5 is outputting.

Robin



Edit:

Very odd - this is linked to CiC direct from FaceBook and the colours are great.

Second Edit:

The two images side by side, one on FB and the other on PhotoBucket this time hosted by Flickr: