Well, I must say that I've never used the FA 50mm Macro. I do, however own an M 2.0 50mm. It's a nice lens: reasonably sharp even at 2.0 and it's linear. It's not a bad feeling lens, but certainly not as nice feeling as my 50mm screwmount Takumars (but few lenses feel that good). But it never was an expensive lens, even new. And, as someone already said, they tend to go for $20 or less on eBay. I'm sure Pentax made hundreds of thousands of them, and I think they were standard on many M series cameras.
Here's a pic I took with mine: http://www.urbancaravan.com/latte2.jpg Which I'm showing you for two reasons. First, the bokeh isn't bad, eh? Second, it was taken at f2.0, and I put the lens at the closest focus, and moved the camera in and out so that it focused on the front lip of the glass. Which is my point. It focuses fairly close in, but it ain't a macro. Comparing the M to the Macro is a bit like comparing apples to oranges. They were designed to do different things. The M is a general purpose relatively fast (at least compared to most zooms) ~compact~ lens, designed to work well with and look good on those small M bodies. The Macro is slower (macros tend to be), and obviously is designed to do Macro work. I don't know that particular lens, but I know that the screwmount Macro Takumars were among the sharpest most linear lenses ever designed - by anyone. As someone already said, if the two lenses you're looking at are priced the same, either someone is asking ~way to much~ for the M 50mm, or the FA 50mm Macro is ~the bargain of the year~. But, really, all things being equal (which they never are) these are two different lenses for different jobs, and you should choose accordingly. regards, frank Patrick Wunsch wrote: > I have a choice between the two Pentax lenses. The new ones is a FA 50mm > f/2.8 Macro and the used one a mint M 50mm f/2.0. The price is about the > same for each. I plan on using it with my K1000. Is there a big optical > difference between the two? Convince me one way or the other. Once again, > thanks for all the help! > > Pat Wunsch -- "The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true." -J. Robert Oppenheimer
