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Mitakon MC 85mm F2 Made in China
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 2:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think we should mark all posts in this thread from persons with less then 10 posts as spam Wink.


PostPosted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 6:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

aoleg wrote:
Note how her eyes are in focus, and the red ring on the bottom is in focus as well. That's field curvature.


I really don't know what to think about that... hmm... effect!


PostPosted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 7:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Welcome! I look forward your report! Thank you!


PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 10:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pancolart wrote:
I think we should mark all posts in this thread from persons with less then 10 posts as spam Wink.


Was that aimed at me? Smile


PostPosted: Fri Nov 05, 2010 11:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well it seems to me like the guy selling these lenses or supplying Ebay sellers made few accounts to promote his business. Anyway full size samples from Aoleg seems good to me though price/quality ratio still too high when there is Samyang on the scene. And Cyclops Smile.


PostPosted: Sat Nov 06, 2010 2:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just received my copy of this lens, so here is a description and some impressions.

I ordered the Pentax K-mount version. This is an A-lens, meaning that it can be used in Av mode and aperture can be selected from the camera when setting the aperture ring to A. The aperture range is f/2-f/22 with f/22 being marked as A. The aperture ring is wider than usual. There are 6 aperture blades. Filter ring is 52mm.

The lens is made of metal with just the focusing ring being partly covered in what is either plastic or hard rubber. Focusing is smooth and MFD is 0.85m. Markings are engraved. There is no style to speak of - the body exudes all the grace a cylinder is capable of exuding. This was manufactured for use, not for looks.

Assembly is tight - there is nothing wobbly. Overall, everything is functional and nothing looks in danger of falling apart with use.

The lens caps are peculiar. The rear cap is somewhat similar to the cheap rear caps used on the kit Pentax lenses - you just slide it over the mount and it doesn't lock on. The front lens cap has an interesting grabbing system. Both are made of softer plastic that scratches easily and have no special markings.

Optically, I am very pleased with what I've seen so far. The lens is sharp enough wide open for my use. Bokeh looks great too - background is blurred nicely. I'll have to try some highlights at 2.8 to see if the aperture shape gives ugly results - the hexagon opening has those weird joints in corners due to the aperture blades not fully meeting there - this problem disappears when stopping down further. Finally, I saw no significant CA, which was quite interesting as I am used to see some LoCA on fast lenses when used wide open, but I didn't notice any yet on the Mitakon.

I need to use this lens in better light and hopefully I'll catch some sun this weekend, but so far, I'm happy with what I've seen and I would say that the lens definitely performs better than its looks might suggest.


PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 3:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Finally, a sunny day here, so I managed to get some shots with this lens. Rather than including them inline, I'll just include links:

Here are three sets of test shots, each at f/2, f/2.8, and f/4:
http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/members/laurentiu-cristofor-albums-mitakon-mc-85-2.html
These test shots are not processed - they are just scaled down. My camera is set to neutral settings regarding saturation, sharpness, etc so that's why they look rather plain.

Some regular shots:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurentiucristofor/sets/72157625211495629/

All these shots are taken with the Pentax K-7.

I finally did force some CA: it came in the blue fringing variety but it's pretty well controlled and it disappears when stopping down the lens. The lens is pretty sharp in general and I like that it's sharp at infinity too - some lenses are not. It's not as sharp as a Voigtlander, but it's sharp enough for most practical uses. Multicoating is not very effective though - in one shot with frontal sun just outside the frame, the image came washed out - I guess the light got reflected inside the lens in some way.

Overall, I am pleased with this lens - it's a pretty compact 85mm and it offers very good performance for the price. It's nice to see another player in the small world of mf lens manufacturing.


PostPosted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 6:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Anyone know where to buy this lens in Europe?


PostPosted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 8:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Laurentiu Cristofor wrote:
Finally, a sunny day here, so I managed to get some shots with this lens. Rather than including them inline, I'll just include links:

Here are three sets of test shots, each at f/2, f/2.8, and f/4:
http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/members/laurentiu-cristofor-albums-mitakon-mc-85-2.html
These test shots are not processed - they are just scaled down. My camera is set to neutral settings regarding saturation, sharpness, etc so that's why they look rather plain.

Some regular shots:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurentiucristofor/sets/72157625211495629/

All these shots are taken with the Pentax K-7.

I finally did force some CA: it came in the blue fringing variety but it's pretty well controlled and it disappears when stopping down the lens. The lens is pretty sharp in general and I like that it's sharp at infinity too - some lenses are not. It's not as sharp as a Voigtlander, but it's sharp enough for most practical uses. Multicoating is not very effective though - in one shot with frontal sun just outside the frame, the image came washed out - I guess the light got reflected inside the lens in some way.

Overall, I am pleased with this lens - it's a pretty compact 85mm and it offers very good performance for the price. It's nice to see another player in the small world of mf lens manufacturing.


Thanks for the samples!

It seems like a pretty decent lens, it just needs to be available at a bargain price and then it would make perfect sense!


PostPosted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 8:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

blende8 wrote:
Anyone know where to buy this lens in Europe?


I don't expect this will become available outside China unless someone picks it up to distribute it. This is the sad part. The factory that makes it doesn't seem to have the connections and distribution that Samyang has. Maybe this will change if they sell more domestically. ebay seems to be the only source for now and discoverdc was reliable and provided helpful answers to my inquiries.

fatdeeman wrote:

It seems like a pretty decent lens, it just needs to be available at a bargain price and then it would make perfect sense!


I think $125 is bargain. The big issue, however, is availability.

I took some more shots yesterday showing the lens to a friend. I focused close to infinity on some traffic signs and I noticed more pronounced blue fringing around the black on white letters in this condition. Stopping down to f/4 reduced the problem. Nothing worrisome, just a detail I noticed.

Another friend has ordered the Samyang - when he gets it, I'll try it out a bit to see if there is any easily noticeable difference in the f/2-f/4 range.


PostPosted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 11:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Looks like somebody has done his homework:
Click here to see on Ebay.de


PostPosted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 3:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pancolart wrote:
Looks like somebody has done his homework:
Click here to see on Ebay.de

us$125 is reasonable price with us$2x to $3x profit.


PostPosted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 12:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pancolart wrote:
Looks like somebody has done his homework:
Click here to see on Ebay.de


Nice! Should be able to see more samples now Smile


PostPosted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 1:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MF-85mm-f2-0-Prime-Lens-Portrait-Lens-Pentax-PK-A-mount-/170601707749?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item27b8a778e5


PostPosted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 1:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Did anyone mention the resemblance with Helios 44-3 ?


PostPosted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 1:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another one: http://nikon-discount.net/obiettivo_mitakon_85mm_f2_mc__.html


PostPosted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 2:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

enzodm wrote:
Another one: http://nikon-discount.net/obiettivo_mitakon_85mm_f2_mc__.html

We can have our own lens if we order enough lens from the manufacturer.


PostPosted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 4:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pancolart wrote:
Did anyone mention the resemblance with Helios 44-3 ?


The Mitakon is supposed to be a Biotar, like the Helios.


PostPosted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 7:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Laurentiu Cristofor wrote:
Pancolart wrote:
Did anyone mention the resemblance with Helios 44-3 ?


The Mitakon is supposed to be a Biotar, like the Helios.

It is a double-gauss lens, planar type design.


PostPosted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 7:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

calvin83 wrote:
Laurentiu Cristofor wrote:
Pancolart wrote:
Did anyone mention the resemblance with Helios 44-3 ?


The Mitakon is supposed to be a Biotar, like the Helios.

It is a double-gauss lens, planar type design.


So what exactly distinguishes the Planar from the Biotar, given that they're both double Gauss designs? Is the Biotar a double Gauss with asymmetric 2nd and 5th elements, or is it something else? I see a lot of double Gauss variations being called Planar (see the diagrams on this page), but I can't figure out the rule by which a double Gauss gets to be called this way.