Penta 110 24mm: flare and softness

Hi

I've seen some pentax 110 lenses now (bought a few, looked at a few) and noticed that many are dirty (back and front) and need a little love.

With a clean-up they aren't very prone to flare (as has been mentioned in some forums). I took these today with my 24mm in what can only be called provocative circumstances



now, orienting the camera into portrait you can see that direct sun is falling on the lens ... look at the wood under the bridge which the handrail is attached to for detail and contrast changes.



but if I cast a shadow over the lens I get just a small reduction in contrast (and a colour change cos I had AWB set ...



exposure was 1/4000th for all

so if you're seeing way more flare than this then your lens may be grubby.

You can also see that the edges don't look really soft on this lens. Well I've found that it depends on what you're photographing. For instance here:



softness is quite apparent but here:



doesn't really intrude much

Personally its better than C mount stuff and if you have the 24 and an adaptor then just go get the 50mm as its a great portrait lens. This is about as close as you can go



naturally you should be careful with a tiger in your bed