SMC Pentax A 25-50mm f/4?

[Dante_Stella]

I have a SMC Pentax A 24-50/4 sitting on my desk. Any comments on the performance? Worth adapting to FX mirrorless? The reason I ask is that there is very little on the net describing its performance.

Thanks!
Dante

 

[Dante_Stella]

Sorry - that is a 24-50. As you can tell, I have ZM 25/2.8 on the brain.

D

 

[Godfrey]

I have a SMC Pentax A 24-50/4 sitting on my desk. Any comments on the performance? Worth adapting to FX mirrorless? The reason I ask is that there is very little on the net describing its performance.

Only thing I could find about it was this
http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/lenses/zooms/short/A24-50f4.html

Adapting to "FX mirrorless" ... to the Sony A7? to the Leica M-P? For either of those, adaptation is the price of an adapter. I'd just do it and test the lens to see if it does what you want.

Adapting to another SLR mount is too much of a pain to bother with, although a friend of mine has adapted several Pentax lenses that he loves to Canon EOS mount.

G

 

[ChrisPlatt]

Here's a link for the Pentax Forums users reviews:

http://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/SMC-Pentax-A-24-50mm-F4-Zoom-Lens.html

Chris

 

[oltimer]

Dante, you really surprised me in putting up this lens, as I never knew it existed. I do have a large Pentax collection, and I looked it up on another site to find it's glass rating. Kuuan just might be able to talk more about this lens?
Here's the other site:
allphotolenses.com/lenses/item/c_2396.html

 

[nparsons13]

I picked up one of these cheap at a swap meet last year. It had some haze inside the front element, which cleaned up nicely, but when it was cleaned we found that it had some separation in the rear elements. As a result, my example is sharp but low in contrast, and although boosting the contrast in PP makes it usable, that takes some of the fun out of it. Pentaxforums user reviews rate it pretty highly for an A zoom: http://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/SMC-Pentax-A-24-50mm-F4-Zoom-Lens.html

Hibiscus by Noel Parsons, on Flickr

 

[Dante_Stella]

Waiting on a Pk to Lm adapter - will report soon!

D

 

[Swift1]

I used to own a SMC Pentax-F 24-50/4, which has the same optical formula. My memory of it was that it's quite sharp, it vignettes a good bit at 24mm wide open on full frame, and it doesn't focus real close and the bokeh can be quite nervous.
It's rated quite high over at PF http://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/SMC-Pentax-A-24-50mm-F4-Zoom-Lens.html

 

[Kate-the-Great]

By "FX Mirrorless" do you mean full-frame mirrorless or Fuji FX-mount mirrorless? Seems like it would be a nice lens for a Fuji X*; useful wide-normal to short-tele range, constant aperture, and on APS-C you'll lose the soft corners that plague old zooms.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

I'd never heard of that one, either. I used to have this little weirdo and quite liked it:

http://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/SMC-Pentax-M-24-35-mm-F3.5-Zoom-Lens.html