Pentacon auto 50 mm f/1.8 Multi Coating
Sony a7ii+Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8
The Pentacon auto 50 mm f/1.8 Multi Coating is a small and very cheap 50 mm lens with an unusually close focus distance of 33 cm. Is this “nifty fifty” worth adapting to a modern full frame camera?
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/1.8
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/1.8
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/2.5
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/1.8
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/1.8
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/2.5
Specifications
| Diameter | 60 mm |
| Length | 38 mm (focused at infinity) |
| Filter Thread | 49 mm (metal) |
| Weight | 194 g |
| Max. Magnification | 1:4.8 |
| Close focusing distance | 0.33 m |
| Number of aperture blades | 6 (slightly rounded) |
| Elements/Groups | 6/4 |
You can buy the Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 MC for a little over €20,- at ebay.de (affilitate link) or for around $45 via ebay.com (affilitate link).
Build quality and handling
My friend Rick helped me out with the photos with the lens on camera, thank you!
Compared to the Loxia 50/2 . Left: Zeiss Loxia 2/50, Right: Pentacon 1.8/50 MC
Compared to modern lenses build quality is very good, almost every part is made from either glass or metal. Compared to other vintage lenses like the Minolta Rokkor 55 mm f/1.7, build quality is less good, tolerances seem to be somewhat higher.
This is also reflected by some common problems that can be found in these lenses nowadays. I come across the Pentacon very often in thrift shops and flea markets and encounter the same issues with these lenses quite often. I have seen quite some lenses with either stiffened focus rings or focus rings that came loose. So if you buy this lens make sure to check for these issues.
All markings on the lens are engraved and filled with paint. The black finish shows some wear but does not look too bad for a 40 years old lens.
My sample is in good condition and still functions as it was supposed to, and handeling is very good. The focus ring has a pleasant resistance and travels about 320° from minimum focusing distance (MFD) to infinity, about 180° from MFD to 60 cm, 90° from 60 cm to 1.5 m and another 50° from 1.5 m to infinity. This is a very long focus throw for a standard lens, nevertheless it does not bother me as you can focus very precisely at close distances (which is what you probably want to use this lens for).
The aperture ring has soft clicks, 5/6 stop from 1.8 to f/2.5, and after that 1/2 click stops. To my taste resistance is a bit on the low side but high enough to prevent accidentally changing the aperture. It is also easy to set the aperture in between the click stops.
Pentacon 1.8 50 versions
The Pentacon 1.8 50mm is actually a Meyer-Optik Oreston 1.8 50mm (most East German manufacturers were merged into a single company named VEB Pentacon. With the exceptions of Carl Zeiss Jena, all fomer lens types were rebranded under the name Pentacon). The Pentacon 1.8 50m was produced both in M42 / Pentax as well as Praktica B mount. It was the standard affordable 50mm prime lens for the Praktica SLR and one of the most produced East German Prime lenses.
- Mounts available:
- M42 / Pentax mount
- Praktica B mount
- Made in east Germany
- minimum focusing distance: 33cm(some lenses also have 55cm)
- filter mount: 49mm
- lens elements: 6
- aoperture settings: 1.8 – 16
Early version – two silver rings and stripes on aperture
The first versions were produced with the M42 mounts for Pentacon and Praktica cameras.
The early version resembles highly the original Meyer-Optik Görlitz Oreston Version with its’ silver stripes on the aperture ring.
Some lenses are branded as “electric”, others are branded as “auto”.
Two silver ring version
This version does not have the silver stripes on the aperture settings any more. It is not completely black neither, having retained two silver rings at the front of the lens.
One silver ring version
Only one silver ring remains on this version of the Pentacon 50. From this version some markings start to be indicated on red and green.
Final all black version
The second version is the more common all black version. There are quiet a few different looking all black Pentacon 50mm lenses. Some are labelled as “auto”, some are “electric” and some are “Multi Coating” (MC). The colour of the labelling also varies from red to white and green. In my opinion there are no differences in terms of image or build quality between the lenses. Having an “electric” or “auto” does not make any difference when used on modern SLRs. The serial number is not marked on the front of the lens.
After 1978 this version of the Pentacon 1.8 50mm was also produced with the Prakticar B mount.
Flare resistance
Flare resistance is among the worst I have ever encountered. Ghosting and veiling flare are very visible even in less challenging situations.
With a bright light source just outside the frame you can observe extreme veiling flare and contrast loss. Shading however does a wonderful job as can be seen below. I shaded the lens with my hand, this was wide open.
With the sun in the frame some red and purple ghosts can be observed. Stopping down reduces the size of the ghosts a bit, but they become more saturated and much more obtrusive. Veiling flare improves when stopping down.
However, in some situations you can use the terrible flare resistance in your favor:
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/2
Photos taken with Pentacon 50mm f/1.8 MC (M42)
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RCE
RCE
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Reviews » Lenses » Lenses Varie » Pentacon 50mm f/1.8 MC (M42)
Buying one
Across all its variants, these lenses are very common,
and not particularly well-regarded, and thus it is probably
the cheapest lens you can buy. You’d have to try hard
to spend more than £20
on one in an eBay auction, and if you don’t mind a little effort
you’ll get one for less than a tenner.
You want to get one free with a
Praktica MTL 3. I regularly see
MTL3-with-lens setups sell for significantly less than the price for
which the lens alone sometimes sells, and the MTL3 is a very,
very good camera.
If you don’t mind a 58mm f/2 lens rather than a 50mm f/1.8 lens, the
Helios 44M-4 f/2 is about as good (a little sharper), and it’s about
as cheap as this Pentacon.
Conclusion
| Pros | Average | Cons |
| – Price– MFD– Distortion– Size– Center sharpness near MFD | – Bokeh near MFD – Sharpness wide open – Vignetting – Build quality |
– Field curvature– Bokeh at longer distances– Contrast wide open– Flare resistance– Coma – Astigmatism |
The Pentacon auto 50 mm f/1.8 multi coated is certainly not a lens for everybody, though with a little patience and effort one can create good images with quite a special rendering.
There are some very serious flaws like terrible flare resistance and serious field curvature, but you can mostly work around them. Don’t see it as your only fifty but more as a special purpose lens for the times you want its special bokeh rendering.
If you like the looks of “classic” harsh bokeh bokeh, the ability to focus close, and if you can live with the flaws this might be a lens for you.
On top of that it is dirt cheap so trying it out certainly won’t break your bank!
If you buy the lens please consider using our affiliate links, we will get a small commission and it wont cost you anything extra.
You can buy the Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 MC for a little over €20,- at ebay.de (affilitate link) or for around $45 via ebay.com (affilitate link).
Variants
This lens was made from 1960 through to 1990, with
three major variants. The only big deal was the addition
of multi-coating, otherwise the differences are mostly
cosmetic.
Mine is a multi-coated non-«Electric» Pentacon lens,
serial number 1256109. That’s the one you see in the
picture at the top. It’s the one you’re most likely
to get, because it’s the most common.
This lens is the same as the Meyer Oreston 50mm f/1.8,
made from about 1960 to 1970. (While finding that out, Google’s search phrase
suggestions hinted that a lot of people misspell the name
as Meyer Preston, so hey, have some search-engine
bait.)
Later lenses are multi-coated, earlier ones (and all
Oreston-marked ones) are not.
There is an «Electric» version of this lens which gives
you open-aperture metering on the few cameras that support
this feature. Otherwise, it’s the same as non «Electric»
lenses.
There is a version of this lens for the Praktica B-mount
cameras. It appears to have the same optical configuration
(double-gauss, six elements in four groups). Think of it as
the same lens, except nothing I
will
apply.
For whatever reason, these got sold under the «AUTO
REVUENON» name as well. «Pentacon» is a much cooler name,
but the lens is identical.
Here are all the variants I know about, in rough date
order. This list isn’t complete or definitive; let me
know if you have a variant not listed here.
| Name (as printed on lens) | Coating | Notes |
| Meyer-Optik Görlitz Oreston 1.8/50 | Single | The original. Single-coated optics. «Zebra» silver feelies on aperture and focus ring. |
| Meyer-Optik Görlitz Oreston 1.8/50 | Single | Cosmetic adjustments from the original. Black fluted focus ring. |
| PENTACON auto 1.8/50 | Single | Same as above, rebranded as PENTACON. |
| PENTACON electric 1.8/50 | Single | Same as above, with open-aperture metering on cameras that support it. |
| PENTACON auto 1.8/50 Multi Coating | Multicoated | Original multi-coated version. «Multi Coating» written in red, so it’s known as «red MC». Cosmetic revamp, with diamond-patterned focus ring. |
| PENTACON electric 1.8/50 Multi Coating | Multicoated | Same as above, with open-aperture metering on cameras that support it. «Multi Coating» written in title-case. |
| PENTACON 1.8/50 auto MULTI COATING | Multicoated | Same as the other «Red MC» lens (non-Electric). Upper-case MULTI COATING. |
| PENTACON auto 1.8/50 MULTI COATING | Multicoated | Cosmetic changes from «red MC» variant: Green numbers on focus scale and «MULTI COATING» written in white, hence «white MC». Probably the most common variant. |
| AUTO REVUENON 1.8/50 MULTI COATING | Multicoated | Appears to be a rebranded «white MC» Pentacon 50mm f/1.8. There are other 50mm f/1.8 lenses branded «AUTO REVUENON» which are not the same; check the writing on the front of the lens. |
| PENTACON electric 1.8/50 MULTI COATING | Multicoated | Same as normal «white MC», with open-aperture metering on cameras that support it. |
| PENTACON PRAKTICAR 1:1.8 f=50mm MC | Multicoated | Praktica B-mount version, presumably same optics. |
Alternatives
There are a lot of very cheap vintage 50 mm lenses, I can not discuss them al so I made a small selection below of lenses I have used myself or have similar rendering.
Minolta MD 50 mm f/2
The Minolta is even a bit smaller and lighter. Build quality is quite similar but the Minolta feels a bit more robust. Contrary to the Pentacon, the Minolta has a very flat field and it is already quite sharp to the corners wide open. The Bokeh of the Minolta is nothing special but also not distracting. In case you are looking for a (cheap) general purpose lens I would certainly get the Minolta instead of the Pentacon.
Revuenon MC 50 mm f/1.7
The is another small 50 mm lens. In terms of sharpness it is comparable to the Pentacon, it also suffers a bit from field curvature. The Revuenon has less busy bokeh but still its own character. Build quality is not very good though. As you can get the Revuenon very cheap as well it might be worth trying if you like the rendering.
Canon nFD 50 mm f/1.8
The Canon FD is another vintage 50 mm lens. It is sharper from wide open than the Pentacon. Flare resistance also is much, much better. The MFD of 60 cm however is below average and limits the amount of possible background blur. The Canon’s bokeh is quite smooth even at longer distances. Unfortunately the Canon suffers from onion ring bokeh which is visible in some situations like city lights.
Meyer-Optic Görlitz Oreston 50 mm f/1.8
Optically the Oreston is the same lens, the most important difference is the fact that its not multi coated. The Oreston has another housing though, like more Meyer-Optic lenses from that era the feature the “zebra” design. If the zebra design is important to you this might be a good choice for you, otherwise get the much cheaper Pentacon.
Bokeh
This lens shows the well known “soap bubble” bokeh in some situations, not very surprising as it is basically a Meyer-Optik Görlitz Oreston. This means bokeh has strong outlining in some situations and can be very harsh, in some situations even some swirl can be observed. Whether you like the rendering depends on your taste. I personally don’t like the strong outlining in general but there are a few situations I think it can work.
Soap bubble bokeh @f/1.8Pentacon 50/1.8 soap buble bokeh @f/1.8Pentacon 50/1.8 soap buble bokeh @f/1.8Pentacon 50/1.8 soap buble bokeh @f/1.8
In some situations the background still has some structure which I like in some situations but not so much in others.
I like the rendering in this picture (f/1.8)
A situation in which the background is nervous and I don’t like the rendering (f/1.8)
Bokeh near MFD (background is a few meters away) f/1.8 and f/2.8:
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/1.8
Pentacon 50mm f/1.8 @1.8
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/1.8
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/1.8
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/1.8
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/1.8
Pentacon 1.8 50 recommendation
The Pentacon 50 is a fun little lens to use. It is light, compact and is easy on the wallet. For a nifty fifty in this rice range it offers a lot of value for money. It is very versatile also. You can get in close to your subject or use it for landscape photography. If you don’t want to pay too much or if you are not sure about which vintage lens to get, try out the Pentacon 50. The Pentacon 50 is a sure bet if you want to experiment a bit with manual photography.
If you want to invest a bit more you do get some better alternatives out there. On paper the Pentacon 50 sounds like it is in one league with the Carl Zeiss Pancolar. The minimum focusing distance of 33 cm is actually better than that of the Pancolar (35cm). They both have an aperture of f1.8 and are multi coated. So why should you spend 3 times more for a Pancolar you ask? The problem with the Pentacon 50 is that it is soft – even when stopped down. You will not get the sharpness that a Tessar or Pancolar can deliver. It lacks a bit of contrast. The bokeh is present but not in the most flattering way.
Nonetheless, if super sharpness and bokeh is not your main priority I would still recommend to get a Pentacon 50 – especially if you are on a tight budget. For about $30 you will be able to enjoy all the advantages of vintage lens photography: a compact fast lens, a solid all metal construction with a great feel to it, offering good image quality at a tiny price. The Pentacon is therefore also the ideal entry into the manual lens world.
Compatibility
This will work on all M42 screw-mount cameras.
Fujica’s weird M42
cameras that permit open-aperture metering, like the
ST705, will require that you
push both the shutter button and depth of field
preview button to meter. That’s Fuji’s problem, and not one
with this lens.
You can switch between automatic and stopped-down diaphragm, so
this will also work fine on the most primitive M42 cameras that
do not have an auto-diaphragm mechanism. All
of
this lens have an automatic diaphragm.
The lens takes 49mm filters and caps, which is the same as
Pentax’s shorter lenses. (I use a Pentax lens cap.)
Daffodils.
Canon EOS D30, Pentacon
50mm f/1.8 at about f/5.6, accidental polariser.
Optics
Sadly, the Pentacon 50mm is not especially sharp.
Contrast at f/1.8 is low, and it’s fuzzy across most of the
frame. You don’t need to pixel-peep to find this out; it’s
obvious at reasonable enlargements if you compare it to
performance at smaller apertures.
It gets much much better as you stop down. f/2.8
is far superior, f/5.6 is decent, and f/8 is rather good.
I always use whatever aperture I need to get the shot I want
on any lens. If I have to shoot this lens at f/1.8 I do:
I have never noticed any distortion with this lens. That’s
not to say it has none, just so little that I won’t notice it
without contriving a test.
There is a little chromatic aberration.
Even this multi-coated version has plenty of flare, so be
careful.
Versions
The Pentacon auto 50 mm f/1.8 MC is a very small vintage 50 mm lens. It is the direct descendant of the Meyer-Optik Görlitz Oreston 50 mm f/1.8. There are a lot of different versions of this lens in m42 and Practica B mount.
- The oldest version has silver stripes on the aperture ring and is branded “electric” or “auto”.
- The second version has no stripes on the aperture ring but has two silver rings at the front of the lens.
- The third version still has one silver ring at the front, the focus ring of third version has a spiked profile.
- The last version is all black. This review is about the last and most common all black version.
Here you can find some more information about all versions.
As far as I know, all versions are identical optically, the most important difference is the lack of multi coating of the older versions with the hill/valley type focus ring. Since flare is already a big problem with the multi coated version I would recommend to stay away from those older versions unless you like a lot of flare for creative reasons.
More samples
Most images in the review can be found in high resolution in this Flick album.
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/8Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/2.5Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/1.8Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/1.8
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/1.8
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/1.8
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/1.8
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/2.5
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/1.8
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/1.8
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/1.8
Pentacon 50 mm f/1.8 @f/1.8
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JuriaanM
My name is Juriaan, I am a passionate photographer from the Netherlands. I mainly shoot landscapes and the milkyway and I like to travel through wild landscapes around Europe.
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Build and ergonomics
The Pentacon 50mm is well-built out of metal.
My focus ring has always been a little stiff. It was when I got it,
and it was almost as stiff after being
professionally rebuilt.
I always have to keep a fingertip on the lens body while focusing
to ensure the lens doesn’t unscrew! I don’t know if this is
a problem with my lens or with all of them.
Focusing is very precise; infinity down to 0.33 metres
covers about 320° on the focus ring! I prefer this to
any of my Japanese 50mm lenses, which are not nearly as
precise.
The aperture ring is a little sloppy.
I really like the font used for the lettering on the
front of the lens.
Use on digital cameras
Warning #1: Full functionality on some
cameras will require that you buy an M42 adapter with a chip
attached which will tell the camera that you have a lens
present. Doing this can destroy your camera, and
at the very least will void your warranty, so use at
your own risk.
Warning #2: I read
reports that
the back of the Pentacon 50mm lens will hit the mirror of
the EOS 5D when the lens is focused to infinity. I don’t know
if this is a problem with just the 5D or all full-frame Canon
cameras, but please be careful out there.
With a simple mechanical adapter, this lens (like any other M42
lens) will work fine on Canon digital SLRs, though you’ll need
to meter and shoot stopped down in aperture-priority mode. For
more accurate and faster focusing, get an adapter with
a chip built in, which are slightly
more expensive. These will tell your camera that a lens is attached,
so electronic focus confirmation will work.
Pentax digital SLRs should work great in aperture priority
mode; you’ll get focus confirmation and metering without needing
to resort to any tricks like gluing a chip onto the adapter.
Pentax even made
an
M42 adapter, which is what I’d recommend
if you can find one. Pentax is a serious optical engineering
company that knows how to make this sort of thing to the
required precision that you won’t necessarily get from the
Chinese machine shops that knock out Canon adapters.
Nikon SLRs require an adapter with optics for infinity focus,
because the flange-to-focal-plane distance of the F mount is longer
by about a millimeter. I’d avoid these adapters with corrective
optics, but without such
corrective optics, the furthest focusing distance with a
2mm-thick adapter will be about 0.94 meters with a 50mm
lens; with a 1mm-thick adapter, this increases to about 1.53
meters. Someone should double-check my figures, but if I’m right,
this makes it useless as a general purpose lens.
On top of the adapter, you won’t get metering on
most Nikon SLR bodies. From what I gather, the more expensive
SLRs that can meter with AI and AI-S lenses will give you
metering with these adapters; cheaper cameras like the D5100
will not. All camera bodies should give you focus confirmation.
I have not tried any of this, and any Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens
(like the superb 50mm f/1.8D) will be much more useful on a
Nikon body.
I don’t know how this works on interchangeable-lens
compacts like those from the Micro Four-Thirds system,
but I’d
like to know.
For use on digital, albeit at ten or more times the cost, Canon’s EF
50mm f/1.8, Nikon’s 50mm f/1.8D and Pentax’s old manual-focus 50mm
f/2 are optically far superior, if you don’t mind paying a
little more.
As this lens has stopped-down metering, you’ll probably
get more accurate exposure if you shoot it in centre-weighted
mode. I’d guess that matrix/evaluative meters will get confused
by the very dark image.
Headlight.
Praktica MTL 3 and
Pentacon 50mm f/1.8 shooting Kodak Ektar 100 (push-processed
to ASA 400).