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Pentax pancake for NEX?

Rawfa

Active member
I was wondering who here has tried using the Pentax 70mm pancake on the NEX cameras. I have a 50mm f1.4 that I really love, but since the Pentax to NEX adapter is too bulky I haven´t been using it much...but with the 70mm pancake things could be different.
 

ampguy

Member
Do you mean pentax slr lens? It's still going to need the thick NEX to pentax K (or M42) adapter, so while shorter than a full size lens, it will still be large.
 

douglasf13

New member
The whole combo would only be a bit more than 2 inches, so a tad over double the length of the Sony 16mm 2.8.
 

Bugleone

Well-known member
None of these lenses are exactly "bad boys",...they are ergonomically poor for this purpose as they have poor manual focussing and require aperture to be changed via the adaptor since there are no aperture rings on the lenses. How this works in practice is open to argument. None of the pancakes have especially large max apertures........

.........Frankly, there are better candidates for legacy lenses on the NEX's
 

uhoh7

New member
the dirt cheap konica AR 40mm pancake is great on the nex. Very compact with adapter, light, fast and quite sharp.
 

ampguy

Member
great suggestions. I guess my point is that if you're using an SLR lens on the nex, the adapter is going to be pretty thick, about as thick as many M/ltm lens, which can use an much shorter adapter than SLR adapters.

So, for example, I think the Canon 28/2.8, CV 15, and 21s, CV 35/2.5, lux 35/1.4, 50/1.4 will all stick out less than an SLR lens with adapter on the nex (of equiv. fl/speed), pancake or not.
 

douglasf13

New member
Ahh, found a couple now that I knew to look. My bad. :eek:

Sorry for posting bad information, and thanks for the correction.
No problemo. Canon EOS lenses are the real difficulty on NEX, since they are entirely electronically controlled. Someone is making an outrageous adapter for EOS that actually has its own aperture system built in to it, but reviews that I've seen aren't too positive at this point.
 

uhoh7

New member
great suggestions. I guess my point is that if you're using an SLR lens on the nex, the adapter is going to be pretty thick, about as thick as many M/ltm lens, which can use an much shorter adapter than SLR adapters.

So, for example, I think the Canon 28/2.8, CV 15, and 21s, CV 35/2.5, lux 35/1.4, 50/1.4 will all stick out less than an SLR lens with adapter on the nex (of equiv. fl/speed), pancake or not.
I don't have any of those, but I can tell you the konica 40mm sticks out less than either the 28mm elmarit-M or the 50mm Summilux M mount.

about 35usd for the lens and 20usd for adapter.

F/1.8, light, and pretty sharp.

One of the cheaper RF footprints on the nex----though an LTM adapter + several russian primes in LTM would be inexpensive and good also.

But you are right, of course, nothing can beat an m-mount pancake, except the sony 16mm.
 

ampguy

Member
You're right, the pancake 40/1.8 AR, and it's adapter would be shorter than the 50/1.4 pre asph lux, and probably very close to my J3 50/1.5 with ltm adapter.

I'll have to keep an eye out for one of those, as with 50s on the NEX I'm often backing up a bit, but not enough to need to switch over to a 35, usually if I realize I need wide, I go straight down to a 28 or 21, or even the kit 16.

So many choices!

I don't have any of those, but I can tell you the konica 40mm sticks out less than either the 28mm elmarit-M or the 50mm Summilux M mount.

about 35usd for the lens and 20usd for adapter.

F/1.8, light, and pretty sharp.

One of the cheaper RF footprints on the nex----though an LTM adapter + several russian primes in LTM would be inexpensive and good also.

But you are right, of course, nothing can beat an m-mount pancake, except the sony 16mm.
 

sebboh

New member
I don't have any of those, but I can tell you the konica 40mm sticks out less than either the 28mm elmarit-M or the 50mm Summilux M mount.

about 35usd for the lens and 20usd for adapter.

F/1.8, light, and pretty sharp.

One of the cheaper RF footprints on the nex----though an LTM adapter + several russian primes in LTM would be inexpensive and good also.

But you are right, of course, nothing can beat an m-mount pancake, except the sony 16mm.
the hexanon 40/1.8 is a great lens for the NEX. i sold mine after i got the pen f 42/1.2 though. i think the contax g 45mm is also smaller and better on the NEX, though a couple hundred dollars more expensive.
 

uhoh7

New member
the hexanon 40/1.8 is a great lens for the NEX. i sold mine after i got the pen f 42/1.2 though. i think the contax g 45mm is also smaller and better on the NEX, though a couple hundred dollars more expensive.
once you get to the 275usd it takes for a contax, the options are getting pretty huge.

It's f/2 so fast but not super fast.

"Since all these lenses have totally manual and uncoupled diaphragms, these lenses could have had magnificent 9-blade or 11-blade diaphragms. This 45mm has only has a primitive 6-bladed diaphragm like a discount SLR lens from the 1960s. This means sunstars will only have six points, and out-of-focus highlights might become dopey hexagons.

Bokeh is only fair: not bad, but a little worse than neutral, but so what: this is an ultra-sharp, ultra good lens."

Ken Rockwell


For around 150 you can get a really sweet canon RF 50mm f/1.8, and there are many many options from 150-275 in ltm and M mount.

But for less than 50 bucks---

Love to see some shots from your pen-f!
 

ampguy

Member
I'm looking for 40/1.8 AR's on the auction site. btw, that pen f 42/1.2 is a pretty pricey lens, last time I checked, ~$800-1200 ish?
 

sebboh

New member
once you get to the 275usd it takes for a contax, the options are getting pretty huge.

It's f/2 so fast but not super fast.

"Since all these lenses have totally manual and uncoupled diaphragms, these lenses could have had magnificent 9-blade or 11-blade diaphragms. This 45mm has only has a primitive 6-bladed diaphragm like a discount SLR lens from the 1960s. This means sunstars will only have six points, and out-of-focus highlights might become dopey hexagons.

Bokeh is only fair: not bad, but a little worse than neutral, but so what: this is an ultra-sharp, ultra good lens."

Ken Rockwell


For around 150 you can get a really sweet canon RF 50mm f/1.8, and there are many many options from 150-275 in ltm and M mount.

But for less than 50 bucks---

Love to see some shots from your pen-f!
the difference between f/1.8 and f/2 in really marginal and if the f/1.8 lens is 40 years old it probably won't pass as much light as the contax 45/2 due to inferior coatings. i managed to get mine for only $200 (a year and a half ago i could have gotten one for $100 :banghead:). i really don't think you'll find many lenses for under $500 that can compete with the contax optically, and certainly not ones as small (adapter included). incidentally, i agree with everything in that ken rockwell quote (for once). from all the samples and tests i've seen the canon ltm 50/1.8 is mighty soft wide open and takes a fair bit of stopping down to sharpen up. the only m/ltm mount lenses that can really compete with the contax performance wise are the $1000+ leicas, the the voigtlander 50/1.5 ($400), the millenium nikkor ($2000), the zm 50/2, and maybe (though i doubt it) the old nikkor ltm 50/1.4. the pen f 42mm and maybe 40mm (no personal experience) will give it a run for it's money in some aspects of performance but they're not cheap either. i guess what i'm saying is for the optical quality, the contax 45/2 is a bargain. the big drawback is the on adapter focus ring. those cheaper ltm and pen f 38mm lenses are very good but if you shoot with both you'll notice the difference.

i've posted some pen f 42mm shots on a few threads here, but there not so easy to find so here is a link to a search of my photostream for shots with the lens http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=pen+f+42mm&w=28476552%40N04&ss=2&s=int
 

sebboh

New member
I'm looking for 40/1.8 AR's on the auction site. btw, that pen f 42/1.2 is a pretty pricey lens, last time I checked, ~$800-1200 ish?
it's a collectable lens so yeah, pretty expensive. i've never seen one actually sell for $1200 though, $900 is the most i've ever seen one go for and it was mint. i think that seller is a bit optimistic. it is a unique lens though - f/1.2, wider than 50mm, small, with a great mfd (~.3m), and it's quite sharp.
 
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