[TooLoose]

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I am new to Pentax and DSLR in general (but have been shooting point-n-shoot for years) and am still trying to sort out which lenses I can use on my camera other than the obvious (Pentax FA and DA, Sigma, Tamron, Rokinoh, etc., the more popular ones I find listed at large camera retailers like B&H.) I see quite a few brands listed here and there (and on eBay) by brands I don't know and wonder if anybody can suggest some lenses I can hunt down. I want a wide angle prime (11-24mm), relatively fast (2.8 or faster) manual focus and economical.

I know about the Bower 14mm, f/2.8 and the Vivitar 13mm f/2.8 but want to know about others.

A used lens would be okay.

As for the economical side of it, a lens as this is not my primary interest and I just want to experiment a bit, and if I like it, perhaps purchase a Pentax lens down the road.

I don't want anything TOO wide angle and I also want the option of adding a UV filter to protect the lens. Am I asking too much? I would like to stay with lenses that I can attach without an adapter, too.

Thanks.

[Docrwm]

Waiting patiently for RioRico's post on this thread.......

[RioRico]

Why me? Am I the UWA expert now? There's a Viv 13? I didn't know that. The widest I knew of were the Samyang-Bower-etc 14, and fisheyes. What I *can* say is that there are no bargain legacy UWA manual primes. IMHO the most cost-effective UWA is the Tamron 10-24, but that's not a manual prime. THE budget prime is the very nice and slightly fishy Zenitar-K2 16/2.8, which defishes to an equivalent of 12mm. Defishing loses some resolution in the image margins, so it's best to downsample defished pix. Anyway, the Zen can be had for about US$200 in single lots.

[TooLoose]

I was wanting a faster lens than the zooms. I've noticed that one advantage of prime over zoom is often the primes are faster lenses. The Tamron is on sale now, but I won't have the money together in time for the rebate expiration. How do you think this Tamron SP AF 10-24mm f / 3.5-4.5 DI II compares to the Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX DC HSM? Is it worth an extra $150? I am disappointed that I can't find an older manual lens with fast f-stop for cheap.




compares to the Sigma

[boriscleto]

I am disappointed that I can't find an older manual lens with fast f-stop for cheap.

Because they never really existed.

[Marc Sabatella]

Vivitar is one of the many companies that markets the Samyang-made lenses, just as Bower is. So my guess is, any listing for a Vivitar 13/2.8 was a typo, and it's really the same as the Bower 14/2.8. And I concur that this or the Zenitar are the best alternative if one doesn't want to spring a bit more for the DA15 or to go with a zoom.

[Docrwm]

Why me? Am I the UWA expert now? ...........

Because I find your answers to questions like this the most illuminating.

[RioRico]

I was wanting a faster lens than the zooms. I've noticed that one advantage of prime over zoom is often the primes are faster lenses.

Primes can indeed be faster. For our cameras, no zoom faster than f/2.5 has ever been produced, and none faster than f/2.8 is available now. Fast WIDE primes are apparently tougher to build because the fastest I see are 14/2.8 or 16/2.8. NOTE: Fast zooms ARE made for small-format cameras. I have a lens for a Super-8 cam that's 15-25mm f/1.2 and it only cost ONE BUCK! Can't use it on my K20D though. Darn.

I am disappointed that I can't find an older manual lens with fast f-stop for cheap.

As Boris said, there ain't none and there never were. The most cost-effective decent wide lens is the DA18-55. If FF days, anything shorter than 20mm was ultrawide and exotic and costly. That's FOV-equivalent to 14mm on APS-C, which is also the cutoff for rectilinear primes. Yes, I have a Tokina 21/3.8 that was pretty cheap. Anything shorter ain't cheap. Like I've said, CHEAP and WIDE and OLD and GOOD are mutually exclusive.

The Tamron is on sale now, but I won't have the money together in time for the rebate expiration. How do you think this Tamron SP AF 10-24mm f / 3.5-4.5 DI II compares to the Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX DC HSM? Is it worth an extra $150?

I got my Tamron 10-24 with last Xmas' rebate so it cost me US$375 shipped. I *could* have got an old Sigma 10-20 for a bit more, or a new Sigma 10-20 or Pentax DA12-24 for quite a bit more. I chose the Tamron because of 1) cost, 2) warranty, and 3) Sigma has known QC issues. I've read of too many folks trying 2-3-4 copies of the Sigma before getting a good copy, which they then love. Hay, you could get lucky! But my Tamron is a damn good lens.

[Adam]

There is a new rokinon 35mm f1.4 (see the lens database), and don't say that it's not a wide-angle, because it is, just depends on what you put it on

[Docrwm]

....I got my Tamron 10-24 with last Xmas' rebate so it cost me US$375 shipped. I *could* have got an old Sigma 10-20 for a bit more, or a new Sigma 10-20 or Pentax DA12-24 for quite a bit more. I chose the Tamron because of 1) cost, 2) warranty, and 3) Sigma has known QC issues. I've read of too many folks trying 2-3-4 copies of the Sigma before getting a good copy, which they then love. Hay, you could get lucky! But my Tamron is a damn good lens.

Went through the same thought process at the same time as you did and got the great rebate deal too. Very happy with the Tamron 10-24. It's made me want a <35mm prime with AF.

[Lowell Goudge]

check out this thread

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-slr-lens-discussion/167783-sub-17mm-m42-options.html

I just went through the same search.

the real issue is finding a good lens. I saw a 17mm tamron with no mount and a damaged filter ring from being dropped for $350. Kind of tunred me off, damaged and double reasonable price.

I ended up with a zenitar 16mm fisheye.

THis was all for an M42 lens, in k mount I have and quite like the vivitar / samyang 14mmF2.8 note that although specified as different focal lengths the vivitar and samyang are one and the same lens.

Edit note, I missed the last point of your post. Most UWA lenses have rear filters, or none at all,

no front filters unfortunately

[joe.penn]

What I *can* say is that there are no bargain legacy UWA manual primes

Sure there is (UWA 20mm or less?) -> Lens MC Mir-20M f3.5/20mm M42. s/n 950717. | eBay

It isn't 2.8 but with the superior ISO performance we have available to us, 3.5's can be looked at as yesterdays 2.8's...

[RioRico]

What I *can* say is that there are no bargain legacy UWA manual primes

Sure there is (UWA 20mm or less?) -> Lens MC Mir-20M f3.5/20mm M42. s/n 950717. | eBay

20mm is UWA for FF cams, not really for APS-C, else the various 18-55 and 17-50 and 16-45 zooms would be considered such. My M42 Tokina 21/3.8 was pretty cheap. I check my spreadsheet and see that its AOV on FF is 92 degrees. So let's draw the line around 90 degrees -- wider AOV is UWA, narrower ain't. And for APS-C, the cutoff is 15mm, which has 90 degree AOV. The fishy Zenitar 16/2.8 has AOV around 103 degrees on APS-C, so it's definitely UWA. Whew, have I used enough acronyms yet? Anyway, on APS-C we can say that 15mm and shorter rectilinears are UWA, and longer rectilinears are merely WIDE.

[RioRico]

What I *can* say is that there are no bargain legacy UWA manual primes

Sure there is (UWA 20mm or less?) -> Lens MC Mir-20M f3.5/20mm M42. s/n 950717. | eBay

20mm is UWA for FF cams, not really for APS-C, else the various 18-55 and 17-50 and 16-45 zooms would be considered such. My M42 Tokina 21/3.8 was pretty cheap. I check my spreadsheet and see that its AOV on FF is 92 degrees. So let's draw the line around 90 degrees -- wider AOV is UWA, narrower ain't. And for APS-C, the cutoff is 15mm, which has 90 degree AOV. The fishy Zenitar 16/2.8 has AOV around 103 degrees on APS-C, so it's definitely UWA. Whew, have I used enough acronyms yet? Anyway, the lovely Mir-20 would be UWA on my Spotty but only WIDE on my K20D. Such is life.

[.a.t.]

20mm is UWA for FF cams, not really for APS-C....

Granted.
For the record though, there's also the Spiratone 20mm f/2.8. I bought mine (in manual K mount) on eb*y last year for $100. For film shooters, it's a good value - if you can find one.

From PF member Hinman:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-slr-lens-discussion/24365-spiraton...est-shots.html
Hin's Tech Corner: Spiratone 20mm f/2.8 Test Shots