When I got my Lumix S9, it came with a promotional lens offer. Although I got a 20-60mm kit lens, there was an option to fill out a form and receive the 26mm f/8. It’s not a great lens, but I figured a free lens is better than none and filled out the forms. They actually sent me a Lumix S 50mm f/1.8. A much more useful lens for sure, but I also had ordered a vintage Pentax Takamura 55mm f/1.8. Although it isn’t a true 50mm comparison, as the Takamura is a 55mm lens, the focal length is very similar and yet the quality they produce is somewhat different.

Lumix S 50mm f/1.8

The Lumix S 50mm is a fast autofocus lens. It can rapidly lock onto Lumix in body AF detectors (body, head, eye, etc.). The autofocus is extremely consistent and continual autofocus is impressive. The lens itself renders a very detailed image. On it’s own, this lens appears to be a very strong 50mm prime lens for the Lumix fullframe camera bodies.

Takamura 55mm f/1.8

As a vintage manual focus lens, it is more of a challenge getting focus on a fast moving object. A 5 year old pacing back and forth, jumping up and down and moving in and out of the focus plane, makes it very challenging to capture. That said, if you have a still subject, or you get used to rapid fire shots, or peak focus alerting – the lens can still get a moving subject.

Lens Comparison

The side-by-side above shows the Takamura 55mm on the left, with the Lumix S 50mm on the right. The same color profile was applied in camera on both lenses. The two shots were taken within minutes of each other, so time of day wasn’t a factor. The only thing that changed was a) the lens and b) my subjected moved a bit to a different position. I tried to keep a similar focal distance to achieve similar results.

Comparing to the Lumix, the shots from the Takamura 55mm are more saturated. The Lumix by comparsion seems to have less of a handle on exposing for the highlights, which can make the shots appear more washed out. Colors in the background are less vibrant, and more desaturated.

With the Takamura, the images are also more smooth, with less micro-details. We don’t see every fiber on the shirt, or the pores in the skin, that a modern lens will render. However, this in itself gives it more appeal in my opinion.

However, the Lumix S 50mm shot of my son with the headphones, is simply amazing. The way the light renders on his neck. That wasn’t some professional studio light, that was a floor lamp he happened to be standing next to. I pulled the camera up and took a shot in seconds. I simply wouldn’t be able to do that with a manual lens.

Yet even with the ease of use of an autofocus lens, I still find myself keeping the vintage manual focus on the camera. There’s something about that dreamy look, the smooth shots, that while lacking micro details are still very detailed where it matters.

Video

I don’t have video examples to share, but I will comment that the video I’ve seen with the Takamura is very smooth, like the image samples above. The problem with a manual lens in video is the challenge of retaining focus, but that’s likely what good videographers get used to (manual focus). With autofocus lenses you may have focus breathing, or shifting focus.

The Lumix S9 has a nice feature to stay on a subject, so the focus doesn’t move if the target moves to the left or right of frame. It will continuously adjust focus as well, as the target moves closer or further form the camera. That’s awesome. That instant level of focus just can’t be done with the manual lens.

On the other hand, video with the Takamura 55mm is rich and smooth. It looks more cinematic and less digital. I can see a use for both lenses. One to film people, the other to capture environment scenes.