[paulh]

I have not paid more than US$100 for any second hand lens

Ditto - Some of my favs are the aforementioned M50/1.7 and K55/1.8 - just a pleasure to use. I'll also give a nod to the Quantaray 28-90 AF macro. Punches well above its weight, and the macro is very usable. Probably my "go-to" everyday walkaround lens. Huge bang for the buck. (There's a couple of these in the Marketplace right now for cheap!)

My latest is a Pentax M35-70/2.8-3.5. I am absolutely floored by the images from this lens. Brilliant colors and sharp! Downside is it's a bit bulky/heavy, but worth it!

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Last edited by paulh; 02-08-2012 at 08:09 AM.

[sorted78]

I'm quite fond of the old Tamron lenses. I love the build quality and the Adaptall mounts. I'm still a bit fuzzy on the time ranges for Adaptall and Adaptall 2 though. I'm also curious how many lenses outside of the "Pentax family" the Adaptall mount allows for.

There is some useful info about the Adaptall and Adaptall-2 lenses here: adaptall-2.org

I've got/had a range of adaptall lenses and have found almost all of them to be very good. My particular favourites are the 28/2.5 and 105/2.5, both of whihc can be had for under $100 in the UK. The SP90/2.5 macro and SP 70-210/3.5 are also both excellent and you might find them for under $100 if you're lucky.

[GibbyTheMole]

Lenses I've paid less than $100 for:

Pentax M-50mm 1.4 - $60 - Just a perfect lens.
Pentax A-35-105mm - $60 - Prime sharpness in a zoom
Tair 3M-5CA 500mm f8 mirror lens - $95 - Best long tele I've yet used. Never mind it's a mirror lens!
Tamron SP 23A 60-300mm zoom - Somewhat prone to PF, but holy cow... it's sharp! Nice macro, too.

All great, all cheap.

[jezza323]

Tair-11a M42 mount

Russian made, 135mm f2.8 lens. Preset aperture, 20 blades, good fun! Cost me $90AU

[icywindow]

I echo the fast fifty sentiments in here, on my list there is:
Super Takumar 50/1.4 (attached to a Spotmatic body) - $50
Super Takumar 55/1.8 - $50
Rikenon 55/1.4 - $25 in a box of other TCs and Minolta gear

Also, the Pentax-A 200/4 gives me a lot of shots I like even wide open, I paid $90 for that.

Love the suggestions in here! I have my eye out for some older wide M zooms like the 24-35 and the 24-50 under $100 - I don't see them very often at all, but I'd like to find room in my bag for one.

[Jools]

Under $100

Sears 55mm f1.4 m42
Industar 50mm f3.5 m39
Helios 44-2 58mm f2 m42
Spiratone 135mm f2.8 m42

All provide beautiful bokeh, and are surprisingly sharp. And all manual focus.

[Drom]

This lens can be found in the $100 range. It is a wonderful lens for outdoor wildlife and portrait. It's one of my favorite lenses.
F 35-70mm 3.5-4.5; This one is also nice and is about $40 to $60 on ebay

Both support AF

[crewl1]

I love the A50 1.7 - still available under $100 usually.
I also have a Focal (Sears, JC Penney, K-mart) A28 2.8 that I scored for $5 at a camera show that is not too slouchy. I think they average around $40.
Warning: most have a Ricoh pin that will have to be removed.

[Aristophanes]

M 28/3.5
m 135/3.5
m 100/4

[boriscleto]

Got my Pentax-A 50mm F1.4 for 75€ i.e 100$ at today's exchange rate, and I am pretty sure that it's almost impossible to find a lens with such a creamy bokeh and as much sharpness at a lower price !
[/B]

I'd recommend the Super/SMC Takumar 35/3.5.

I would second both of these and add the A28/2.8. I acquired all three from Goodwill's auction site in the US.

The 50/1.4 was attached to a Super Program for less than $100. I overpaid for the 35/3.5 ($60). The A28/2.8 came with a Super Program, A50/1.7, and A135/2.8 for less than $200.

The best deal I've ever gotten was an Auto Sears MC 50/1.7 (Chinon). $10 shipped.

The F35-135 if you can find it and the F35-70 are excellent lenses as well. The F70-210 too. I got the 35-135 for $75 with a P30T on Craigslist. The 35-70 and 70-210 came with a SF1 from Goodwill ($140 after shipping).

[lytrytyr]

Got a Meyer preset 100/2.8 in M42 for the equivalent of $3, many years ago.
Compact, sharp, great bokeh, but some pincushion distortion.

More pedestrian: an M200/4 from KEH for $90, just cheap, small, and light enough for my modest long telephoto needs.
(I'm not a twitcher, and my sports are close-range contact sports.)

The ultimate bargain was my second DAL18-55, which had a negative price.
Since our garbage men don't charge for the disposal of kit lenses, that's a hard price to beat.
(When shopping for my second K-x body, the best quote for a body/lens kit
was lower than the best quote for the body alone.)

[Marc Sabatella]

A fast 50 or 55 would seem a no-brainer if you don't already have a portrait lens, altough perhaps with today's DA50 announcement, one might want to hold off on actually buying any other 50.

As for other focal lengths, you may nor may not still be able to find these for *under* $100, but shouldn't be much more, and you might get lucky:

M100/2.8 - works as a long portrait lens, but also a great lens for concerts and other events
M28/2.8 - a very good wide normal (a focal length I find preferable to 35mm)

The M135/3.5 is really quite good too for the price, and very easy to find.

[Mike Wise]

Since I need my income for more important things than my photo hobby, most of my lenses were bought for under $100. Here are some of my lucky finds:
Sigma 24/2.8 mini-wide (MF) $3.00
Pentax F 50/1.7 $20.00 attached to a MG body for some reason??
Pentax F 35-70/3.5-4.5 $75.00 attached to a non-working SF-1 body
Pentax F 35-105/4-5.6 $60.00 attached to a working SF-X body - my walkabout lens together with 16-45/4
Pentax FA 100-300/4.7-5.8 $80.00 - optically incredible; mechanically plastic

There are bargains out there. You just need to be patient and look.

[ripit]

There are endless options for good cheap lenses, which is one of the nicest things about owning a pentax.
I'll give a third recommendation for the Quantaray 28-90 AF macro. It is a US house brand lens so you might have a hard time finding it there. It is nearly identical and seems to be a slight modification of the sigma 28-80 (the quantaray is made by sigma).
I'll also second the recommendation on the vivitar 28-85mm 2.8-3.8 stovepipe.
Many ricoh lenses seem to at least be decent and some very good. I got a rikenon 50mm 2.0 for 6$ that is very sharp.
Vivitars range from top of the line to junk so do your homework, but there are many very good ones that can be had cheap. One in particular I have is the vivitar series 1 70-210mm 3.5 constant and it is very good. Mine is version 2 and is excellent. There are several versions, some better than others.
http://www.robertstech.com/vivitar.htm
There are many to consider and many brands have at least some good ones. The first place I always look are the lens reviews here.
Pentax Reviews - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database

[boriscleto]

Sigma 24/2.8 mini-wide (MF) $3.00

I think that would be the Super-Wide. The Mini-Wide is a 28