The Pentacon 50mm f1.8. An Inexpensive Vintage Art Lens For Your Mirrorless Camera!

[@tomgilchrist553]

I recently picked one up and I love it now. I ordered another! Thanks for the tip on the set screws on the Fotasy adaptors as well. Very handy.

[@dongummphotography]

The Pentacon is a great art lens. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@smkunder1]

Will have to check this out, I have played with Helios 44/2. That’s a fun lens also.

[@dongummphotography]

I guess I am gonna have to get a Helios to try out. So many good things said about them.

[@erikvalkman9640]

It is such a pleasure to watch your videos Mr. Gumm. And I love it how some lenses which were once thought of as inferior are now reevaluated for their specific, artistic qualities.

[@dongummphotography]

Thank you!

[@michaelbuckley8986]

Thanks for the wonderful presentation of this lens👍

[@dongummphotography]

Thank you for watching!

[@eoinlundy]

Some lovely shots there. Nice colours with the lens.

[@dongummphotography]

Thank you!

[@amv2471]

Thank you for your suggestions and sharing your beautiful pictures I’ll take it into consideration for portrait photography 🙏🏻

[@classic.cameras]

I call these lenses "The greatest piece of crap ever made" as they are fairly sharp, the create great images and the focus a tad closer then other similar vintage lenses. Best of all they are cheap.

[@thomaskehl69]

Hej Don, nice video, thanx! especially for the M42 i suggest to buy one adapter for each lens. because there can be very small parts from the mount falling in the sensor when screwing in our out. I have a few old Pentax lenses, the 50/1.7 is very sharp too and of course the Helios…

[@apislapis]

My 1st SLR was a Praktica MTL3 which was the sort of camera this lens was built for but I never had this lens because back then, it wasn't considered sharp. I'm sure the lens I had was a slightly sharper 50mm f1.7 East German Zeiss. It's funny how things have turned out.

[@Wadidiz]

Really good review, and I was also surprised by the Pentacon's performance. Why limit yourself to an antiquated measurement system with "feet", when every other nation in the world uses metric? Reach out to the rest of us!

[@k4s3l]

There are PENTACON-s without a "multi coating" writing on it and You can modify them to make aperture in triangle shape. Bokeh is very interesting with this modification.

[@dongummphotography]

I have heard of that being done. I seem to recall it was a square aperture I saw. Thanks for watching!

[@campbells0ups]

i have the earlier Meyer-Optik zebra version, its excellent

[@dongummphotography]

I believe the Pentacon is a copy of the Meyer. Nice find!

[@triplebacon1]

f.8 was nice

[@Ranveer_Singh_Kahani]

Should i get this tomorrow..?

[@dongummphotography]

Well, I like the lens a lot so I would get one if I didn't have one.

[@chrisguli2865]

My very first SLR as a 14 year old kid was the Praktica LB2 almost as basic as you can get - a fully manual camera with a selenium sensor light meter on the side (no TTL metering!) - it came with this lens - some years later I gave it away to a friend with a couple of additional lenses. But now in the mirrorless world with a Nikon Z6ii I would consider trying this lens with an adapter - should be fun! It's amazing how the old lenses still perform on digital.

[@dongummphotography]

Thanks for watching! The old Pentacon makes a pretty interesting lens!

[@e.esiyok]

Hii its a radioactive lens ?

[@dongummphotography]

I have not heard that it uses thorium elements

[@ZOly62]

No, it is not radioactive and this is great lens with lot of pleasure and fun to shot.

[@e.esiyok]

@@ZOly62 thank u ❤️🔥🔥

[@RobertLeeAtYT]

Prices on vintage lenses have really gone up. I think this is due to in part to the ubiquity of mirrorless digital cameras now and the ease of adapting and using old optics on them. In part I think this is due to the resurgent interest in film photography. It's good to know that at least of these old things get to go home again. So, a good alternative is to buy the crop of newly manufactured Chinese (7Artisan, Meike, et al.) primes, but from the usual suspects of used photo equipment resellers. Most of these lenses are made to old optical formulas and displays the optical fingerprints (really impairments) that some photographers look for now. Importantly, none of these carry the nostalgia or banding price premium.

[@dongummphotography]

Thanks for watching! Good suggestion! I have a couple of the inexpensive chinese lenses. I may need to look at more.

[@flitsertheo]

It could be cheaper buying a lens attached to a camera. Often people who sell cameras don't pay attention to the lens.

[@jtshannon]

I just did a quick check and those lenses cost as much as a f1.4 Zuiko OM system lens now. Vintage glass has become very expensive on eBay, even a Sears or JCPenney lens for Pentax K mount can sell for up to $50. 😂

[@dongummphotography]

If you watch the video to the end you will see that I account for the current prices.

[@jtshannon]

@@dongummphotography yeah I saw that afterwards and felt silly.

[@SaxonSuccess]

Well, if prices have moved up, best I start selling on eBay again...