Score
IQ: 8/10
Build: 9.5/10
Overall Rating: 8.5/10
Specs
Focal length: 55mm
Aperture: 1.4 min - 16 max
Mount: M42 screw type
This is a Sears branded Mamiya / Sekor normal lens. The first thing I noticed when I received this in the mail was that it is fairly heavy - a testament of its build quality. The barrel is all metal and the glass appears to be thick and heavy.
There are two things that need to be noted about this lens' mount:
- The SX version that I have has a small pin (pictured below) at the back of the aperture control ring that locks the aperture ring when tightened on to the body. This is not a big problem however because being a M42 screw mount, a slight unscrewing of the lens frees the aperture ring and it can be rotated and tightened back. It's just a bit of a hassle but that's pretty much it.Otherwise you can opt for modifying your lens.
- There is no auto / manual switch on this lens. This means that the auto / manual pin found at the back of these M42 lenses needs to be engaged manually using any type of intervention you choose. This is personally not an issue for me as I opt to shoot with this lens wide open.
What I like about this lens is its color reproduction. In my personal opinion it produces colors that 'pop' producing vivid / saturated images (edit: this user of Mamiya/Sekor SX agrees). I found it to produce nice yellows, reds and blues (see test images below).
I also love the bokeh created by this lens. It is smooth and creamy while the area in focus is quite sharp even wide open - and at f1.4 that's a lot of bokeh!
As always the Tomioka controversy continues regarding Mamiya lenses. No one knows for sure whether Mamiya ever got their lenses made by Tomioka or not. And if they did, which ones are they. The only Tomioka indicator on this lens are the 'clockwise aperture blades'. Perhaps the image quality can be attributed to Tomioka optics or design.
Test images:
I also love the bokeh created by this lens. It is smooth and creamy while the area in focus is quite sharp even wide open - and at f1.4 that's a lot of bokeh!
As always the Tomioka controversy continues regarding Mamiya lenses. No one knows for sure whether Mamiya ever got their lenses made by Tomioka or not. And if they did, which ones are they. The only Tomioka indicator on this lens are the 'clockwise aperture blades'. Perhaps the image quality can be attributed to Tomioka optics or design.
Test images:
Auto Sears/Sekor SX 55mm f1.4 @f1.4
Temp adjusted to 7400
Exposure +0.05
Auto Sears/Sekor SX 55mm f1.4 @f1.4
Auto Sears/Sekor SX 55mm f1.4 @f1.4
More test images elsewhere on the web:
- http://forum.mflenses.com/viewtopic.php?t=30842
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladenla/sets/72157623422603304/with/4856836311/
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladenla/sets/72157623422603304/with/4856836311/
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