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Old 3rd March 2020, 02:15 PM
Svend Svend is offline
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Default Wide zoom recommendations for Pentax

Further to the subject of wide-normal zoom lenses discussed here: http://www.film-and-darkroom-user.or...446#post131446
I have been looking into these as a possible viable option over a 24mm prime. I know there are a few dyed in the wool Pentax users here (Mike O'Pray and Pentax Pete, raise your hands please ), so does anyone have a recommendation from personal experience for a 24-50 or similar? In your experience, is there one that is truly as good in image quality as equivalent primes? FYI, I definitely want to have 24mm at the wide end as priority; the long end is less important to me. It doesn't have to be a Pentax model either...I am open to 3rd party lenses as well....Vivitar Series 1 perhaps?

My main performance criteria is how it works on a film camera (Pentax MX) with monochrome film. Manual focus (of course); AE function not needed; lens speed is not important. But it must be sharp...good colour rendering is a bonus, as I do use Ektar on occasion.

Very curious to hear some comments.
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Old 3rd March 2020, 02:34 PM
John King John King is offline
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Default WA for pentax

There was one marketed in the 1990's and sold under the Cosinon and reputed to be a 19mm F3.8 prime. It was also sold under the Vivitar name Do not touch it with a barge pole. Whatever aperture you used it was a soft as Cushell toilet paper. In fact it was way and above any others, the worst lens I have ever used.

There was another also sold under the name of Vivitar/Cosinon and was a 19/35 zoom now that wasn't a bad lens from F5.6 down, to F16. They were both marketed for Pentax but I have not seen either the rubbish one or the zoom in any fitting for a good few years. Pentax themselves made a 20mmF4 which was quite a good lens but again have not seen one for years. I know it was made with the Pentax Bayonet fitting.
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Old 3rd March 2020, 02:57 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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Pentax have made a few K mount 24mm prime's all of which were said to be pretty good, I had a 24 to 105 lens made by pentax years ago, I had it with my Pentax mz5n that I had a while ago and while it was a AF lens it worked very well with a Pentax P50 that I had, it was certainly no slouch right though the full zoom range, certainly sharp enough for some 20/16 prints I made from both 24 and 105, again, like John I haven't seen one for a while now, in fact I haven't seen a 24 for a while in Pentax fitting,The full range of both Sigma and Tokina were made in Pentax K mount, also the Tamron adaptall mount lenses were no slouches,I have had a couple of 24mm to 80 tamron over the years and all were very sharp and good contrast,maybe worth searching for the Tamron lens and mount
Richard
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Old 3rd March 2020, 05:22 PM
Svend Svend is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John King View Post
There was one marketed in the 1990's and sold under the Cosinon and reputed to be a 19mm F3.8 prime. It was also sold under the Vivitar name Do not touch it with a barge pole. Whatever aperture you used it was a soft as Cushell toilet paper. In fact it was way and above any others, the worst lens I have ever used.

There was another also sold under the name of Vivitar/Cosinon and was a 19/35 zoom now that wasn't a bad lens from F5.6 down, to F16. They were both marketed for Pentax but I have not seen either the rubbish one or the zoom in any fitting for a good few years. Pentax themselves made a 20mmF4 which was quite a good lens but again have not seen one for years. I know it was made with the Pentax Bayonet fitting.
Good advice John! Duly noted in my "barge pole aversion" column.

There's a Vivitar Series 1 24-48 that looks interesting, but there is almost nothing written about it online. Pentax made a 24-50 that gets good reviews, but it's expensive and hard to find.

Richard - yes, the Pentax 24mm primes are looking attractive. The K-mount versions are rare, but the Takumars pop up here every now and then and are certainly perfectly usable with an adaptor. I love the rendering of those old Takumars -- so much depth and dimension in the images, not to mention they are all quite sharp. I think a Takumar might be the easiest to come by of all 24mm primes.
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Old 3rd March 2020, 05:38 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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The viviter series 1 24 to 48 was made by Kiron for Viviter, and as such is one of the best around bar none, Kiron lenses were as good or better than the camera makers lenses, so that would be a very attractive buy indeed, Takumer lenses were very good, and some early K mount lenses were also Takuma, but if you get a screw mount one then make sure that you get the right adapter, there are many chinese made ones that are rubbish, make sure you get a Pentax one, they should be plentyful, also, Kiron made lenses under their own brand following the succrss of their Seiries one, I have recently got a series one 70 to 219, according to the serial number it is the one made by Kiron, and even wide open it is tack sharp thoughout the range,to check it is a Kiron made lens the first 2 letters of the serial number is 22, and if you can find one of hese then the results would exceed you needs, and I believe the was a prime 24 in the series 1 range, made buy a range of makers for Viviter, including Hiron, again that 22, and if you het one of these then you get one of the best of the bunch
Richard
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Old 3rd March 2020, 07:16 PM
Svend Svend is offline
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Wow! Great feedback on Vivitar/Kiron Richard. Thanks for that. Up until a couple of weeks ago I never gave Vivitar much thought, until I tried that old 35mm/3.5 M42 lens that I mentioned...Tokina-made...incredibly sharp, and nice rendering. A real cracker, as you all say in the UK

And, yes, the type of M42 adaptor is an important choice. I made the mistake of buying an el-cheapo one that is almost useless -- it causes an offset from the camera body that prevents infinity focus . Into the bin with it. I have since got a recessed one by Fotodiox that works great, but I hear the proper Pentax ones are the best.
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Old 4th March 2020, 11:01 AM
Lostlabours Lostlabours is offline
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Vivitar made some superb Series One lenses, I always fancied the 28mm f1.9 but they command high prices second hand, and I very rarely shoot 35mm.

I could use a good M42 28mm lens though to complete my M42 kit of 3 Spotmatics and an SV, not to mention a pair of S1a's needing a CLA. Needs to have the full aperture metering capability for my SP F.

Ian
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Old 4th March 2020, 12:41 PM
Svend Svend is offline
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Ian - another vote for Series 1....good one. Looks like there might be an S-1 24-48 available here. I should know later today whether it will work out -- seems to be a problem with aperture not closing. I will let you all know if I get it.

You should have no trouble finding a good M42 28mm -- they seem to be quite plentiful, and at reasonable prices. Besides the excellent Takumars, my research has told me that there were many other excellent 28's made for this mount. Hard to beat the depth and rendering of the Takumars though...
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Old 4th March 2020, 01:48 PM
Lostlabours Lostlabours is offline
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I have two M42 28mm lenses, a Super Travena and a Chinon, bot have barrel distortion.

There were very few good third party 28mm lenses, the Vivitar S1 28mm f1.9 and the Tamron 28mm f2.5 Adaptall were the exceptions.

I do have a Tamron 28mm f2.5 and ES/F as well as K/M mount Adaptall mounts, but would like the 28mm SMC Takumar to make the kit fully Pentax.

Ian
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Old 4th March 2020, 02:56 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lostlabours View Post
I have two M42 28mm lenses, a Super Travena and a Chinon, bot have barrel distortion.

There were very few good third party 28mm lenses, the Vivitar S1 28mm f1.9 and the Tamron 28mm f2.5 Adaptall were the exceptions.

I do have a Tamron 28mm f2.5 and ES/F as well as K/M mount Adaptall mounts, but would like the 28mm SMC Takumar to make the kit fully Pentax.

Ian
Back in the day there were a lot of M42 lenses at the cheaper end f the market, made for the casual user, due to the many m42 cameras around, I have had a praktica 28 that was tack sharp, back in the sixties, made by Carl Zeiss, the Super Takumar were beautiful lenses, as were Tamron, ah yes I remember them well, Growing up in the sixties,in between the Beatles and 60's music I did take quite a few photo's using Praktica's/Zenit and towards the end a lovely Pentax spotmatic, I also remember the Super Travena, I had a 135 and a 28, they were pretty horrible lenses,
Richard
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