School me on 50mm manual lenses...

So I've had a little conundrum with 50mm primes. I've owned the Canon 1.8, 1.4, 1.2, and Sigma 1.4. I've also sold/traded them all. Convinced that 50mm is just not the focal length for me, I went with the popular 35/85 combo. No regrets there, it's an awesome combo, but I find myself occasionally missing the in-between 50mm FL. While I'd love to have the 50L again, it's just plain too expensive. So I've been toying with the idea of getting a manual focus/manual aperture 50 to play around with - preferably faster than 1.8 that yields decent quality images, and ideally a couple hundred bucks or less. I don't really know what sort of options there are in terms of what lenses would fit with an adapter or if I'd need an EF mount conversion to keep infinity focus on a full frame, quality of different lenses, etc. I've been poking around and piecing together bits of information, but let me hear your thoughts!

SMC Takumar 50 1.4 is always a good bet.
M42 mount, easy to find adapters for.

for around 700 USD I found also a pentax K 50mmf/1.2 on ebay.

Why not go back to the Sigma 1.4? Whilst there are plenty of good MF 50mm lenses about, the really fast ones are not exactly cheap either and the Sigma works out to be an amazingly good deal, especially if you shop around.

G.ZUIKO AUTO-S 50mm f/1.4 - $80-120 on ebay, OM to EOS adapter with AF confirmation is $17-25

Any of the OM 50 mm (1.2, 1.4, 1.8) or (if you can find one) the Zeiss C/Y 50/1.7 are all good.

The OM 55/1.2 has a fair bit of spherical aberration when wide open (which kind of defeats the purpose) but it sharpens up nicely when operated at f/1.4-ish. Some of the later editions were made without the radioactive glass that discoloured, so these are more useful. I can't speak to the effectiveness of leaving the lens out in the sun to provide the UV cure.

I'd spend the extra cash and get a Fotodiox Pro adapter - the cheap & nasty adapters are nasty and cheap. The big thing is maintaining axial alignment between lens and camera flange.

The Zeiss 50/2 MP is world class, but quite a bit more expensive.

the zeiss 50mm 1.4 stopped down to 2 or 2.8 is awesome as well, and half the price of the MP. I really like that lens, people seem to think its not that good, i think its underrated. The MP is awesome on every level but very expensive.

:p

vgrab wrote in post #13758897
the zeiss 50mm 1.4 stoppex xd down to 2 or 2.8 is awesome as well, and half the price of the MP. I really like that lens, people seem to think its not that good, i think its underrated. The MP is awesome on every level but very expensive.

Why not contax zeiss? Probably a 1.4/50 or 1.7/50, they are quite affordable, the contrast is really nice. I don't really fancy of sigmalux because of the color....

If the Zeiss ZE 50 f2 Makro Planar is out of budget (best choice), check out the Zeiss C/Y 50 1.7...this lens set the standard against which all 50mm were judged for a long time - you should be able to find the lens + adapter for under 250 either here or on Ebay.

I've shot with loads and loads of 50s.

With your criteria, I'd get a used EF 50/1.4 or a Contax 50/1.4 or 1.7. If you want even cheaper, the Super Tak 50/1.4 is very good.

Once you get to $400-500 there are several dozen lenses worth mentioning.

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …octilux_M_Asphe​rical.html

Enough said.

plasticmotif wrote in post #13759265
I've shot with loads and loads of 50s.

With your criteria, I'd get a used EF 50/1.4 or a Contax 50/1.4 or 1.7. If you want even cheaper, the Super Tak 50/1.4 is very good.

Once you get to $400-500 there are several dozen lenses worth mentioning.

i wouldnt recommend the EF 50 1.4...

You could spend a million dollars on a 50mm, but if the focal length doesnt fit your style then its still not going to work for you. Quality of the lens wont fix that issue.

vgrab wrote in post #13759409
i wouldnt recommend the EF 50 1.4...

for 320 bucks used its not that bad!


Also, my manual focus 50mm f1.2 is for sale. and it DOES clear the full frame mirror...

NicuB wrote in post #13758547
for around 700 USD I found also a pentax K 50mmf/1.2 on ebay.

700USD is way too much for K series. Half that price is still high.
On EOS you would have to mod it by taking aperture leaver out, otherwise it'll colide with mirror I believe.

If you want manual 50mm and don't want to splash on Leica, then it's very hard to get better lens than K(or A)50/1.2 from Pentax. I owned one, and it was seriously the best lens I have ever shot!

If you don't want to mod, then M42 S-M-C Takumars or SMC Takumars are great. If you don't mind modding, K series 50/1.2, 50/1.4, 55/1.8 or 55/2 are great (I had all but the last one), or M series 50/1.4 or 1.7.

Good luck