pentax bayonet mount wide angle lenses

alex_d · Joined: 19 Jan 2019 Posts: 420

Hi,

I have a stubborn friend who has a Pentax APS-C camera (I don't remember the exact model).
He has a strong foundation in analog photography but struggles with digital technology.
I am too tired of his bs (remember-stuborn) to explain anything else/more to him..

Despite my better judgment, I want to help him by suggesting some lenses in the Pentax bayonet mount for his camera. These lenses will be used in an improvised studio for photographing fine furniture items.
So I am strictly looking for Pentax bayonet mount lenses only - no other workarounds.

I am familiar with the Pentax ME period and the 28/2.8 lens, although I have never personally used/seen one.

Question: Can you recommend any other potential contenders in the Pentax bayonet mount for his setup?

kypfer · Joined: 27 Sep 2017 Posts: 523 Location: Jersey C.I.

Seeing as this is a Manual Focus forum, I'm assuming you're after m/f suggestions.
A little more subject matter detail might be helpful ... "fine furniture" could cover quite a wide range of sizes, also how big is the "studio"?
Will a "standard" lens be adequate, in which case the aforementioned 28mm f/2.8 will be fine, but for wider angle options things can start to get a bit more esoteric ... lenses much wider than 28mm were fairly thin on the ground back in manual-focus times, so will likely often be collector items in this day and age.
The Tamron Adaptall-2 24mm f/2.5 or even the 17mm f/3.5 aren't usually too expensive, though the PK/A mounts for them often command a premium price Sad

Vivitar sold some nice PK/A mount m/f lenses and any Sigma offering might be worth considering.
If your friend is happy with totally manual exposure ... not usually a problem with a Pentax DSLR, a slightly wider range of suggestions could be available.

PS :- Confirmation of which model camera is being used might be interesting.

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

My Pentax K10 is APS-C, and the best wide lens is the 18-55 / 3.5 5.6 kit lens, it was always rated as one of the best kit lenses back in the day and it is a very decent performer.

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 2.4/35 for awesome image quality and close-focus ability. With PK adapter, of course.

titrisol70 · Joined: 14 Dec 2021 Posts: 183 Location: State of Denial

Pentax smc-A series work great with the DSLRs
The 28/2.8 and the (rarer) 24/2.8 are good
There is a 15mm but I have only seen it on catalogues

But he'd like to explore the F and FA series which are similar optically but have AF
The 20 and 24mm are very good

Or even the 21mm Limited line which is outstanding

PS, I'm also a stubborn Pentaxian Very Happy

D1N0 · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 2536

The SMC Pentax-m and or Pentax-a 24-50mm 1:4 could also be considered.

alex_d · Joined: 19 Jan 2019 Posts: 420

great, good answers, thanx.

@kypfer: i see i could go deeper in explaining stuff.
I'll summarize now; fine furniture is handmade 'furniture' made of wood,
very arty/designy, often made from exotic wood.
'studio' is his workplace, with indirect daylight from above,
some high hanging industrial light (cold) and old Tungsteen studio lights.

I wrote "wide" and Im thinking of std. wide as 24 / 28 / 35 (max) ..
so normal common budget wide lenses, nothing wild and special.
So also stuff as Cosina, Vivitar and other.
Now im writing this i remember of Revue brand (Cosina).
They were on pentax bayonet too.
So i suppose there would be some (nice?) lenses, not to be expensive.

I'm not aware of DA 18-55 and that lens good is, i will suggest it.

He has learned to use mf lenses (kinda) so thats good for now.

D1N0 · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 2536

The SMC Pentax DA 35mm 1:2.4 AL plastic fantastic is also a great option.

titrisol70 · Joined: 14 Dec 2021 Posts: 183 Location: State of Denial

The DA18-55 is the "kit lens" in most Pentax DSLRs. Surprinsingly good for the price
Also the upgrade is the Pentax 17-70 which I havent tried

If you are thinking off-brand, there are a couple of AF zooms from Tamron (17-50 and 28-70) and Sigma (18-50 and 17-70) that are cheap and very good but the pentax DA kit lens is in the same realm (and cheaper)

DConvert · Joined: 12 Jun 2010 Posts: 921 Location: Essex UK

My Pentax DSLRs are not ideal for manual focusing, the ancient K100d has a dim viewfinder (due to using pentamirror design instead of a pentaprism)
The K7 & K5 were brighter but still much harder to focus than my film Pentaxs. None of these have focus peaking, which I believe some later models have when in live view.

DA series lenses are be designed for Pentax APSC DSLRs (As long as he doesn't have a K1 which is full frame) any for them will work well as will DFA and older F & FA series lenses - these are auto focus.

A series lenses will work perfectly well as manually focused glass, allowing all exposure modes etc. (This applies to non Pentax PKA lenses as well, there are thousands of them!)

The M & K series (earlier manual focus) lenses will also work, but need special 'stop down metering' steps taken to meter correctly. M42 lenses involve just the same steps once an adapter is screwed onto the lens (with some adapters a flange will affect focusing - those that fit entirely inside the mount can have the locking spring unscrewed & can be left on the lens effectively making it PK)

There are excellent examples in all of these series, but for a wide view on APSC the DA lenses are generally best. Full frame lenses need to make more compromises to achieve the greater coverage. Full frame lens wider than 24mm tend to be considerable more expensive.

The various DA18-55 kit zooms aren't bad but the DA* 16-50 f/2.8 is apparently considered a big improvement
If going with primes the DA35 is great value for money but not really wide, so the DA21 limited & DA15 limited (both reportedly fantastic lenses) might be more suitable.

I have the DA10-17 fisheye which is near the ultimate in wide angles, but the fisheye distortion probably wouldn't be acceptable.

kypfer · Joined: 27 Sep 2017 Posts: 523 Location: Jersey C.I.

alex_d · Joined: 19 Jan 2019 Posts: 420

The model is from around 2018 or '19,
and it was about the same price back then as the XE3.
I was explaining to him and showing all the adapters,
lenses, focus peaking, and all those nice things that mirrorless cameras can do.
He went home happy, only to call me a few days later saying,
"Hey, I got a Pentax. I've been using them before, so they should be the same or similar."

alex_d · Joined: 19 Jan 2019 Posts: 420

@DConvert and all other

ok thanx, good replys and informative.

I was not aware of the stuff you wrote as no prev experience with digital pentaxes

Well I told him over the phone some stuff I've read here ..

but i had to cut the call cause stubbornness is beyond the acceptable ..

Don't try to help people who do not want to be helped!

pepperberry farm · Joined: 02 Jan 2017 Posts: 50

titrisol70 · Joined: 14 Dec 2021 Posts: 183 Location: State of Denial

If his model is from 18 or 19 it must be a K3 or K7, and yeah they have all those features

D1N0 · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 2536

Around that time K3 II, KP and K-70 were current aps-c models

DrBB · Joined: 26 Mar 2014 Posts: 116 Location: Croatia

I have Sigma Super Wide II 24mm f2.8 and Mini Wide II 28mm f2.8 in PK mount, both great lenses considering the price

alex_d · Joined: 19 Jan 2019 Posts: 420

ok thanx all !

DConvert · Joined: 12 Jun 2010 Posts: 921 Location: Essex UK