For the ability to write a review Pentacon Auto 1.8 / 50 Multi Coating many thanks Volodymir gulchuk.
Lens view Pentacon 50 1.8
My copy Pentacon Auto 1.8 / 50 Multi Coating was taken from a Praktica camera. The lens was available in different versions. There were 3 more versions of the lens before Multi Coating. Pentacon auto 1.8 / 50. In fact, they all differed only in a light redesign of the frame and the method of controlling the diaphragm and enlightenment. In total, as far as I know, there were 4 versions, the model presented in this review is the last of its generation. This is evidenced by the green color of the feet on the focus distance scale.
The difference in size Pentacon auto 1.8 50 Multi coating and Helios-81N
TTX Pentacon auto 1.8 / 50 Multi coating
Focal length: 50mm
Structure: 6 elements in 4 groups
Number of aperture blades: 6 pieces
MDF: 0.33m (indicated on the scale)
Aperture Limits: F1.8-F16
Front Filter Diameter: 49 mm
The weight: 250g
The optical design is very similar to the design of Helios (Biotar). Most likely, the lens circuits are identical. The lens itself is very similar to the Helios-77m-4, which also has 6 elements in 4 groups and a 50mm focal length.
View of Pentacon auto 1.8 50 Multi coating from different angles
Highlights you need to know about Pentacon Auto 1.8 / 50 Multi Coating
- Manual lens. The designation Auto in this case only means that the diaphragm can be controlled semi-automatically.
- The lens has a dedicated MA aperture control switch. In the M position, the diaphragm is manually controlled. In position A, the diaphragm is controlled in a semi-automatic mode. You can focus on the fully open, and at the time of release, the camera through a special diaphragm pusher will close it to the value set using the aperture ring. Many Soviet lenses, like Helios-44 and Helios-77m-4, lack such an M-A switch, they have to manually block the diaphragm pusher when used on digital-SLR cameras.
Sample photo on Pentacon auto 50 1.8 multi coating
- The maximum aperture value is F1.8- This is a really fast lens. If you have a whale lens, then the maximum aperture on it is only F3.5, which is 3.7 times weaker than that of the Pentacon. Actually big aperture and old optics are famous for their low price.
Example photo on Pentacon auto 50 1.8 multi coating
- The lens is made of glass and iron. It stopped being released back in 1978, and it still works. This suggests that the German quality still makes itself felt.
Photo at Pentacon auto 50 1.8 multi coating
- The lens is not standard front filter diameter 49mm. I wanted to put my own on him protective filter 52mm, but it did not fit, it turned out to be a little larger.
Photo at Pentacon auto 50 1.8 multi coating
- The lens has multi-enlightenment. This is an important point when using the old manual optics. Multi-enlightenment helps this Pentacon to tolerate back and side light, as well as give a contrast picture
Photo at Pentacon auto 50 F1.8 multi coating
- Like any old manual lens, the Pentacon auto 1.8 / 50 Multi coating has depth of field scale for such aperture values: 4, 8, 16.
Photo at Pentacon auto 50 F1.8 multi coating
- Focus ring rotates almost 360 degreesand the Pentacon auto 1.8 / 50 Multi coating lens has 33cm minimum focus distance limit. A large and smooth focuser movement allows you to accurately and easily focus. A minimum distance of 33cm helps to remove small objects.
Photo at Pentacon auto 50 F1.8 multi coating
- Lens from full frame cameras. When used on a crop, the field of view will be narrower, and EGF for crop factor 1.5 will correspond to 75mm. Pentacon auto 1.8 / 50 Multi coating is a classic fifty dollars, and fifty dollars on a crop are very often used for portraits. If you want to choose a good Soviet portrait painter, then look at the section “The best Soviet portrait lens"
Due to watercolor blur, the overall picture does not look sharp
- The number of aperture blades is only 6 pieces... They have a metallic sheen and can seriously interfere and add "hares" when shooting. Closed diaphragm values produce standard nuts.
Sharpness Pentacon auto 50mm 1.8 mc
Personal impressions
The lens is very compact, sits well on a small SLR camera. It reminds me very much Helios-77m-4. It works fine, the picture is excellent, every photographer should have such a fifty dollars. The main competitor can be considered the Soviet Zenitar 50 / 1.7.
Bokeh on Pentacon auto 50mm 1.8 mc
How to use with modern cameras?
Lenses with mounting thread M42 (M42 X 1 / 45.5), such as the lens from this review, are very easy to use on almost any modern digital camera (both SLR and mirrorless), for this it is enough to choose the right adapter (adapter). You do not need to carry out any additional steps to modify the lens.
The cheapest adapters can be found at Aliexpress.com... There are adapters (adapters) with a chip that provide more convenience during shooting, usually chips are used to confirm focus and / or metering exposure, and form the correct EXIF. The chip does not affect the image quality in any way.
For some SLR cameras (for example, with the Nikon F-mount), you need to use adapters with a corrective lens, which allows you to focus correctly at all focusing distances. For any mirrorless cameras, such a lens is not needed, and the adapter is a simple decorated hollow metal tube with an appropriate mount.
For SLR cameras
- Canon: For cameras Canon EOS with bayonet mount EF / EF-S need an M42-Canon EOS adapter, such an adapter with a chip can be found herewithout chip here.
- NIKON: For cameras Nikon DX / FXas well as for cameras Fujifilm и Kodak with a Nikon F mount, you need an M42-Nikon F adapter, you can buy such an adapter without a lens and a chip here, with a lens without a chip herewith chip without lens here, with lens and chip here. Why a lens? Why chip?
- PENTAX: For Pentax cameras with K mount, you need an M42-Pentax K adapter, you can buy such an adapter here.
- SONY/MINOLTA: For cameras with a Sony / Minolta A mount, you need the M42-Sony A adapter, you can find such an adapter without a chip at this linkwith a chip at this link.
- OLYMPUS/PANASONIC/LEICA: For cameras with a 4/3 bayonet mount (not to be confused with Micro 4/3!) You need an M42-4 / 3 adapter, you can buy such an adapter here.
For mirrorless cameras
- SONY: For cameras with 'E'/'FE' mount series SonyNEX и Sony Alpha you need an adapter M42-Sony E (aka M42-Sony Nex), you can find it at this link. An autofocus adapter is also available for these cameras. Techart PRO Leica M - Sony E Autofocus Adapterwhich can be found at this link.
- OLYMPUS / PANASONIC / KODAK / XIAOMI: For cameras with a bayonet mount Micro 4/3 (Micro 4:3) you need an adapter M42-Micro 4/3, you can find it at this link.
- CANON M: For cameras with Canon EF-M mount need adapter M42-Canon M, it can be found at this link.
- CANON R and RF-S: For cameras with Canon RF mount need adapter M42-Canon R, it can be found at this link.
- Nikon 1: For cameras Nikon 1 Series need adapter M42-Nikon 1, you can find it at this link.
- Nikon Z: For cameras Nikon Z series (FX/DX) need an adapter M42-Nikon Z, it can be found at this link.
- FUJIFILM X: For cameras with mount X need an M42-Fuji X adapter, you can find it at this link.
- FUJIFILM GFX: For medium format cameras G-mount need M42-Fuji GFX adapter, you can find it at this link.
- SAMSUNG: For cameras with NX mount, you need an M42-Samsung NX adapter, you can find it at this link. There are no adapters for the NX mini camera yet.
- PENTAX: For Q-mount cameras, you need an M42-Pentax Q adapter, you can find it at this link.
- SIGMA / PANASONIC / LEICA: For cameras with L mount you need an M42-Leica L adapter, you can find it at this link.
- LEICA: For cameras with a bayonet mount Leica M need adapter M42-L / M, you can find it at this link.
If you have any questions on compatibility and adapters - ask in the comments (comments do not require any registration at all).
View of Pentacon auto 1.8 50 Multi coating on a modern camera
Pentacon auto 1.8 / 50 Multi coating
Image sharp with F1.8. Depth of field is very small at F1.8, it is very, very difficult to get in one's eye. Very good sharpness comes at F2.8. From F2.8 to F11.0, the sharpness is very high. At F16.0, the diffraction on my cropped matrix takes its toll. The most interesting - chromatic aberration very well fixed and they are very small even at 1.8, also, I do not observe the frigging, which on my Nikon 50mm F1.8D AF just awful on F1.8. Distortions and vignetting on crop are also not visible at all. Great color reproduction. The contrast is excellent, the side light Pentacon auto 1.8 / 50 Multi coating tolerates well, in the back it catches a few hares and a noticeable drop in contrast. Bokeh interesting, for an amateur, a little double, somewhat reminiscent of a light watercolor. Unlike Biotars (including Helios-77m-4) it does not twist the background.
Sample photo on Pentacon auto 50mm 1.8 multi coating
Sample Photos on Pentacon F1.8 50mm Multi Coating
All photos in this review are made on Nikon D40 without any processing, only converting from RAW -> JPEG, resizing to 1600 * 1200, data from EXIF.
UPDATED
Photographer shared examples of photos on PENTACON auto 1.8 / 50 MULTI COATING with readers of Radozhiva Lilia Nemykina:
Conclusions about Pentacon auto F1.8 50mm Multi Coating
Good manual fifty dollars. Excellent color reproduction, sharpness even at a fully open aperture. The manual control mode and the huge stroke of the focusing ring allow using it on modern digital-mirror cameras without any special difficulties.
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Material prepared Arkady Shapoval. Training/Consultations | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Telegram
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Hello!
Will the rear of the lens interfere with the Nikon D80 mirror? It is clear that you cannot focus at infinity, but if you focus at infinity, can the Nikon D80 mirror and the back of this lens get into an “accident”?
Thank you!
***
I use Pentacon Electric 50mm f / 1.8 on the Nikon D5100 camera with an adapter with a lens. Nothing rests on anything and does not interfere. When focusing at infinity, the back of the lens block does not reach the adapter lens, which means it will not reach the camera mechanisms :)
Thank you very much! :)
*** By the way, a very useful article! Thank you very much! ***
Arkady, I would very much like to see examples of photos in the evening and nighttime in the review of aperture lenses. thanks
Help people) I rack my brains between the zenith 1,7 and the pentacon 1.8. Purpose: artistic shots with beautiful bokeh. (canon 450D)
Any
Found this lens, satisfied)) But there is a fly in the ointment, the aperture ring does not work, I don’t know what to do (((
A similar problem.
Switch from A to M
Greetings, there is the opportunity to take such an objective in good condition for $ 25, is it worth it?
Thank you
Please tell me which adapter is required for Sony Alpha
And how does this lens handle filming with poor sanctification? (concert)
ON Canon 1100D I got up as a native with an adapter and confirmation of auto focus.
Which lens will optically be better?
This or Helios 44-m-6?
Igor
These quality lenses are close to helios bokeh in quality as someone else likes. Mdf Pentacon 0,33m with * shooting I consider it an advantage and it is slightly better against the light. I have both if not expensive buy 2
The fact is that I already have 77m4.
And now there is the opportunity to buy 2 lenses at a very small price:
Samuron 135 mm 3,5
Soligor 300 mm F 5,5
Igor
What I know about the Middle Class lenses I don’t have them myself. You can always sell for a test if something better turns up. It would be good to read the opinion of the owners of these glasses. Pros do not look at such a glass. The league is not that.
That's how it is. I looked in the internet for their description. Examples of pictures. In principle, you can take a little play. Those are more pretty cheap
In general, this pentacon is a copy of the Meyer-Optik Oreston 1.8 / 50. With multi-coating, it is already in a slightly different case, and the early versions cannot be distinguished from Oreston at all.
Totally agree with you
Vyrishiv sell svіy ob'єktiv (the same copy, scho at the written oglyadі). Propagate the price by email - hulitch@i.ua
There were several Ptntacon + Meyer Optic samples at once.
It seems to be the same, but ... most of the photos I liked were with Meyer Optic. As it is on them, the greenery is livelier and more elegant.
Sold in due time, now I'm a little sorry. Although the pentacon is also not bad.
It seems to me that the first versions of the pentacone look one on one like a Mayer optician, you can only distinguish by the inscription)
I saw a review with you, I've been looking for it for a long time, I have lost it. which lens draws a specific hare in the form of a loop?
Hi, I bought such a miracle, can someone tell me how to cut it under nikon?
Magic lens! Added to my collection) Especially good in conjunction with NEX.
With your permission, I’ll duplicate the voipros from the branch dedicated to Takumar 50 / 1,4.
Is it worth overpaying 2 times for Takumar 50 / 1,4 compared to PENTACON auto 1.8 / 50 MULTI COATING? The first is offered for 1500 UAH. the second 800-850 UAH. Need a manual fast portrait for crop 2.
Thank you!
I twisted almost all the manuals to my Olympus consumption 520 - building 2 means you have either Panas or Olik - starting with Volan 0.95 and ending with metal Brussels junk))) I mean including 50 points - a friend uses optics ...
Council - do not evaporate and do not drive. Look at the quality of a single model, screw on the safety of the lens and see how it feels.
I like my Pentacon. I liked the practice of mtl3 on canons and on hail.
I bought it in the 98th and still it is like new, although I skated the whole country with it.
Something like this
The answer is no if it is only a half step)
I bought my Pentacon, relying specifically on this review of Arcadia
:-)
It was three years ago, since then the lens serves me faithfully. Due to the fact that it is light and compact, I often take it with me on hikes.
A couple of pictures from my copy - here:
http://mihanev.ru/blog/pentacon-auto-50mm-f-1-8-multi-coating.html
I note that the lens is good in all respects, and, perhaps, only the nature of the bokeh will not suit someone - but this is purely individual
I took my copy yesterday
In continuation of his opuses about the manual ... Yes, a good lens, suitable optically and mechanically, does not bloom and does not smell over the years. It's just that automatics are more convenient and practical). For many years, I used an estimate of 4 plus current due to the fact that on the new ff it is already clear that the number of lines will be repeated from the 70s. Happy use.
Yes, it is very easy to operate.
Good afternoon, Arkady, tell me which adapter is needed for this lens so that I can shoot them on the Fujifilm X-T10?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/M42-FX-M42-Len-to-for-Fujifilm-X-Mount-Camera-Fuji-X-Pro1-X-M1-X-E1-X-E2-Adapter-/232098570668?hash=item360a2721ac:g:t~QAAOSwNRdX7Otf
Thank you very much!
flower
only one
You see, even on such a size photo card does not ring))). And along the way I should! Well, to everyone, then their own.
Hello hello.
In general, I did not try to do it very sharply if you are talking about this, or not about this?
Do not know what to say. As if you wait for the default ringing on the makruchka and then you drive around the lightroom ... But so that the other way around ... Come on, everyone decides for himself in the end what he needs from the optics ... Who needs the circles to whom the stars ... I repeat - the most suitable 50k of the entire Warsaw Pact. Both constructively and optically. All-weather proofed for many years of operation. And about the flowers - well, you like it like that - well, okay.
And by the way, in your piggy bank - NOT ONE objective for 30ue can take it SO. I was straightforward to look). Good luck
here from yesterday
Great photos, dude.
With regards to the following, years have passed, and its value is gradually approaching the steward).
I don’t know if it makes sense to shoot on it now, in the presence of the second generation Yangnu, very worthy, by the way ...
Rather not anymore...
But the fact, according to Ivan's vague remarks, is that he is certainly one of the most good fifty dollars on the manual in the lower price register.
Hello
you know, in full frame he is completely different
and here
MS Pentacon 1.8 / 50 aperture F 11 Taken with a Praktika LTL 3 camera on Fuji100 film from a tripod, at a shutter speed of 2 minutes. The color rendition is interesting - green tint.
He really is green, now I am engaged in color correction of the clip shot on him in Davinci Resolve. In 4k.
An excellent lens, I consider it the best of all analog 50mm lenses, and I have a lot of them: Olympus 50mm 1,8 Pentax-M 50mm 1,7, Revuenon 50mm 1,7, Rikenon 50mm 1,7 and 2,0. Stopped shooting with it when I got 55mm 1,4 Super Reflecta
Not some brand name - Refuenon. On the secondary market, there are often cheap lenses, where were these lenses produced?
In my opinion they were made by Chinon.
By the way, Auto Revuenon and Pentacon lenses are identical and shoot equally well. I have version 1,7
Manufacturers are different actually. How can they be identical?
If I am not mistaken, both the Pentacon and the Auto Revueenon were made on the basis of a lens made in the German Democratic Republic by Meyer-Optik Görlitz, so that they are the same optically and mechanically
Brothers-acrobats ...)