PENTAX SMC M
50mm 1:2 F/2
Manual Focus Lens
Pentax-M
I shoot a Canon 40D and am in need of a cheap but good IQ lens for portraiture shoots. I don't do many portrait shoots but all I have is a 10-22 and 70-200 and a broken 50-1.8. I never want to own another niffty fiffty so that is off the table.
AF, IS and all that is not needed. Manual functionality is fine.
Just hoping someone can chime in on the IQ of this lens!
You should ask on the alternative gear forum, a lot more experience with MF lenses and I'm sure you'll get plenty of people to give recommendations on other options. I would have recommended the f/1.4, but hadn't checked prices post micro 4/3 boom....
$50 is a very low amount of money to spend on a lens that you will want to use for decades. Save and buy the lens you will want to keep, rather than one that fits today's budget.
Especially manually focused lens will serve you well for your whole life. Get a lens that you like, even if it cost a few hundred dollars. I too suggest you to post the question on the alternative gear forum.
Sticking with Canon, the 50 1.4 is a very nice lens for its budget, I made a lot of portraits with it on APS-C. AF has it advantages if you shoot happy kids that never stay still.
If you liked optics on the nifty fifty before it broke, what about its predecessor, the 50 1.8 mark I. Same optics but a bit better build quality. I saw one listed here for $115 here last week so it's not too bad on price.
