Pentax PK bayonet 1.4/50mm alternatives: CHINON COSINA RICOH

Pancolart · Expire: 2013-11-18

Overview of alternatives to Pentax made lenses. Updated rework of this topic: http://forum.mflenses.com/viewtopic.php?t=43590
Please add links to your own reviews or tests. Missing is Rikenon P version i don't have.

There are three families based on manufacturer:

COSINA:
Typical rebranded representative: PORST COLOR REFLEX, Vivitar VMC
- convex rear element
- 8 aperture blades turned upward
- mount has 4 screws
- focusing grease tends to get dry (late COSINA lenses problem)
- Φ49

CHINON:
Typical re-branded representative: REVUENON, AGFA COLOR
- rear element 100% flat
- 6 aperture blades turned downward or 8 (Revuenon variant)
- mount has 5 screws
- winning CHINON smooth focusing
- similar serial numbering (AGFA missing C letter, see photo)
- Revuenon look seems to be Leica Summilux-R I inspired http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.en/index.php/50mm_f/1.4_Summilux-R_I
- Φ49

RICOH Rikenon (XR):
Typical re-branded representative: Sears MC
- convex rear element
- 8 blades turned downward
- largest rear element diameter
- Ricoh PK teflon smearing blades problem
- mount has 4 screws
- Φ52

Group photo:

COSINA:

CHINON:

RICOH Rikenon XR:

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Okay, so there's three lenses represented here. How do they compare as photographic tools? Are they very similar or are there noticeable differences in their rendering and capabilities? If they all perform very similarly, that kind of means there's no point in worrying about the maker, right? If there are meaningful differences between the three, it would be nice to hear about them.

Pancolart · Expire: 2013-11-18

Rick1779 · Expire: 2014-06-06

Caoting seems slightly different

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

berw · Joined: 20 Oct 2012 Posts: 38

Well, i have two of these, the XR Rikenon and the Agfa Color. Didn't use them much (blame my Canon 60mm macro for that), but here's some comparison shots, at f/2.8

XR Rikenon

Agfa Color

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Cheers! Both look good to me, I think the Rikenon looks a tiny bit crisper but that looks to be higher microcontrast than resolution I think, which suggests the Rikenon has better coatings.

hifisapi · Joined: 25 Sep 2012 Posts: 941 Location: USA

why bother with any of these dubious quality lenses whent he smck smcm smca pentax 50mm F1.4 are outstanding
and still cheap???

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

In England, at least, these third party lenses are cheaper and much more common. It's the XR Rikenon that interests me, as I doubt Ricoh issued lesser quality lenses than Pentax did, but I might be wrong on that and Rikenons vary in quality? Rikenons are cheaper than Pentax M and A series, and not hard to find, so I am interested to know how they compare to Pentax.

I have an older 1.4 Chinon in M42 here at the moment, need to play with it a bit more, but so far, it's not impressing me at all, which is again why I was interested in how these more modern variants perform.

hifisapi · Joined: 25 Sep 2012 Posts: 941 Location: USA

back in the sixties and seventies, the 50mm F1.4 lens was one of Pentax's very best lenses, designed to show off top of the line quality as the first lens on the body. I wouldn't be surprised if the rikenon lenses were lesser quality.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Perhaps, but there were other superb 1.4s that I doubt leave anything to be desired vs the Pentax, I have the old Miranda 1.4/50 with 8 elements and it's great, not as good as the awesome Hexanon 1.4/57, but little is imho. Not had the Pentax 1.4 to compare, would be nice to see a comparison of the Rikenon to the Pentax.

Excalibur · Expire: 2014-04-21

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Hmm, that is interesting, I have been having veiling fare problems with the Chinon 1.4 I have here, I thought it was just me, but both of those users report the same thing. Sad

Although the Chinon I have here is M42, it is probably related to the PK mount ones shown here. It's labelled Auto Chinon 1.4/55 but looks like a Cosina made item as the aperture markings are identical to the supposed Cosinas shown here. Six aperture blades folded upwards.

So many variations it seems....

Pancolart · Expire: 2013-11-18

berw · Joined: 20 Oct 2012 Posts: 38

Will do, when i get home from work

berw · Joined: 20 Oct 2012 Posts: 38

OK, here's some older shots with the Agfa Color and the XR Rikenon. Not artistic shots, just playing with lenses.

Agfa

Rikenon

Pancolart · Expire: 2013-11-18

Rich colors, fine bokeh, thanks for sharing!

kopi234 · Joined: 25 Jul 2012 Posts: 103 Location: Indonesia

last sample of afga, very amazing!

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

So how do you know who made these, is it just guesswork?

How do you explain this lens I have, labelled Chinon but with a barrel marked the same as the supposed Cosinas?

Or is it just a coincidence this lens is marked up in exactly the same way as the 'Cosina'?

Whoever made it, it's a crappy lens, worst 50-ish lens I've used apart from the dreaded Domiplan.

TrueLoveOne · Expire: 2013-12-24

Chinon did not produce their lenses themselves, it's a rebrander. So it's not uncommon that they can be found in different designs.

I've had several 55mm Chinon versions, but never a bad one, my guess is there must be something wrong with yours.
Besides that: this thread is about the 50mm versions.

@pancolart:
Which reminds me.... i do have the Revuenon 50mm version you have in the first pics. Somehow it's just been sitting on a camera on my shelf and has never been used. It's a PK mount, i will take some shots with it soon!

Pancolart · Expire: 2013-11-18

Ian your CHINON M42 is typical 1.4/55mm Tomioka, quite older then my posted COSINA PK 1.4/50mm. My guess is that at start Tomioka supplied complete 1.4/55mm lenses. Later both Cosina and CHINON produce bodies themselves, possibly with inserted Tomioka optical block. With PK 1.4/50mm COSINA presumably broke ties with Tomioka history. RED dot DOF scale markings are found on many different lenses even Fuji and Olympus.

Better question is PK CHINON 1.4/50mm since it retained Tomioka's flat rear element!
Though i had them both disassembled i sadly didn't compare at the time. That is still to be done. Maybe member Nukemall has some opinion.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Thanks for the explanation, it's clearly a very different lens to these 1.4/50 PKs, which look very nice to my eyes from the samples. I'll keep my eye out for a 1.4/50 to replace it. I need a 'normal' lens in PK for my Ricoh XR-X I've modified to use unperforated film, hence my interest in PK mount normals. It came with a Riconar 2.2/55 which is not bad.

TrueLoveOne · Expire: 2013-12-24

Revuenon 1.4/50, never used it before, it has sticky blades, but on the NEX no problem for these quick testshots. All straight JPG from the NEX3, no PP besides resize.

The lens:

And now some very UN-scientific testshots with some crops.

DOF at f/1.4:

at f/1.4:

Crop of the f/1.4 shot:

at f/2.8:

Crop of the f/2.8 shot:

at f/4:

Crop of the f/4 shot:

Another f/4 shot:

At f/8:

And finally a crop of an f/2.8 shot i took inside:

I should clean it and use it.... it's quite okay from what i've seen so far from these few shots!

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Nice samples, I'd say it's better than okay, it's as good as many more expensive lenses imho.

With third party lenses, you really have to try the lens out before you know how it's going to perform, experience has taught me that duds are petty common.

You definitely don't have a dud. Smile

Pancolart · Expire: 2013-11-18