I have been doing some testing and yes the Pentax lens is sharper but I had to use a pretty big magnifying glass to see the difference.
I know the Pentax is a stop or two faster.
The question I have is how much improvement will I see if I get a Pentax-A 50mm F1.7 or F2, they are supposed to be a couple of the sharpest lenses around, particularly the F1.7?
Should I just pull my head in and use a bit more unsharp mask with the zoom?
Generally. primes are usually sharper than zoom lenses... you trade off the convenience factor of zooming for sharpness and better low light performance.
Everything's relative
Peted Wrote:I have been doing some testing and yes the Pentax lens is sharper but I had to use a pretty big magnifying glass to see the difference.
At what apertures did you compare them? I think many people are pleasantly surprised at how well a decent consumer-grade lens performs when stopped down.
But obviously your Pentax will have a big advantage at f/2.
Sigma is bringing out a 30mm, F1.4 wonder what sort of price they may be?
I'd say twice the price of a 2.8.
For price comparison only, the Canon 35mm f/2.0 lens retails for under US$250, while the 35mm f/1.4L lens can be had for under US$1,100.
Sigma's offering should be somewhere between the two.
Can we narrow it down?
The f/1.4 aperture should make it more expensive than the f/2 lens (assuming that it's sharp), and Sigma generally prices their EX lenses well below Canon's L glass. The Sigma is a DC lens, meaning that its user base is limited to owners of digital SLRs with APS-C size sensors, so that makes it much more of a consumer lens than the pro-targeted Canon 1.4L. That being the case, Sigma could aim for a street price of US$300 and they'd probably have a huge hit. If they price it much higher ($500), the optics had better be
very good.
Keep in mind that the Canon f/2 lens is also quite good for a consumer-grade prime lens, so that might mean that Sigma tries to underprice Canon (and of course everyone else with a similar lens) and come out with a US$199 price point. I've got my fingers crossed!
All speculation on my part.
That all sounds pretty reasonable, for me though I think that I can do without, the new crop of mini zooms (18-50mm) seem to have got it pretty much right for most gumby consumers like me that have limited funds.
Haha, once you try one, you'll never look back!
But save your money!
I just checked
centre.net.au and the 50mm f1.4 is $652 (AUD) and the f1.7 is $492 (AUD).
I couldn't find a f2?
I have an old Pentax-M 50mm F2 (cost me US$6.05), it is completely manual by that is not a problem. I also have a Pentax-S 50mm F1.8 (cost US$20) with an adapter and extension tubes now so I have plenty to play with for a while anyway.