[wpvv]

A few years ago I bought from someone some nice Pentax K and M lenses. The seller inherited these from his uncle, but being a Canon man himself he sold most of it.
What interested me were the M50 and M100 macros, and the K50 1.2 was nice too! The entire sale included some more lenses, put in a box. I never gave these much thought, until now.

The K5iis and the possibility of a future full frame mirrorless get me interested in using these older K and M lenses againg [ at the moment I use medium fomat for landscape and a K10D with DA 2.8 zooms for family, people and events ].

What is in the box? 2 Tokinas RMC 24 2.8; a Tokina RMC 300 5.6; a Tokina RMC mirror 500 8.0; a Komura 2x convertor and a Pentax M 80-200 4.5 (first version).


I will take these lenses out and give them a try. Just curious, is anyone here using these older Tokinas as well? What can I expect? Mechanically the have the same solid, nice feel as the K and M lenses. It is a shame the focusing is the other way round, clockwise to focus closer in stead of anti-clockwise.

And would the M zoom be better than my A70-210?

[opfor]

I would check the lens review section. I think a lot would depend on the condition of the lens and how comfortable you are with manual.

[hoanpham]

These lenses are still very good. I have almost only manual lenses from film era and they are just great.
You may need to install a focus screen in your k5 to use them. It might be the best investment on your gear.
Also it serves as focus check even when you are using with AF lenses.
Other wise, manual focus is not hard at all.

[Jonathan Mac]

I regard a Kayzeye or similar focusing screen as essential if you want to focus manually when shooting below f/4. They're expensive but a joy to use with old lenses.

The two 24mm f/2.8 lenses will fetch a bit of money if you sell them as they're not that common and still provide a fairly wide field of view on digital.

[Glenn M]

I have the M80-200 zoom. It is very sharp with great contrast and colour, excellent for landscape
and very overlooked.

[GibbyTheMole]

My wife has the Tokina 500mm mirror lens. Softer than the Tair 3M-5CA & Tamron 500mm mirror lenses, but much better than the rest. I wouldn't bother using it with a 2x converter. I would imagine that would degrade the image quality a lot.

[wpvv]

I would check the lens review section. I think a lot would depend on the condition of the lens and how comfortable you are with manual.

Thanks, I gathered from there that both zooms are quite good. The faster zoom is heavier, that is no surprise!
Will delve deper in the internet to find more infos on the Tokinas.

[wpvv]

I very much like to work with manual focusing, partly because I cannot really trust the K10 to work well. That said, I do miss the large screens of my K2 and KX cameras of old... I will look into getting another screen as soon as I decide about whether I will get a new camera + grip.

Will post some 24mm shots tomorrow.

[wpvv]

Here some shots I took yesterday. Grey day, nothing special. Camera is the K10D at 400ISO. Lens is Tokina RMC 24mm (looks cool with the original pentax 35mm square lens hood!)



detail at 100%


outside, strange bokeh



Better bokeh, same ISO and aperture (4 or 5.6, not sure) as the above




Accidental shot, pressing the button on the handgrip...


In the garden from my window with the 500 mirror @ 1/125 and 800 ISO. Not really doing the lens justice. BTW, closest focussing is to 1,5 meter / 5 feet! That is remarkable.

[gebco]

I have an old Tokina 28mm 2.8 which I just pulled out thanks to your thread. I always liked this lens: it is sharp even wide open. However, since I got my Tamron 17-50 2.8 I don't use it as the Tamron gives me similar sharpness.

[magkelly]

My eyes are not great some days. I have a medical issue that messes with them so AF can be necessary a lot of the time, but yeah, I love my MF lenses actually. I have AF lenses from Pentax, Tamron and Sigma and they're really not bad, but a good Tak or Viv blows them away, IMHO. It took me a long while to learn to properly MF and even with the spit screen, magnifier et all it's still not easy for me sometimes because of the eyes, but I will never likely go to all AF lenses. Working with MF lenses, particularly the primes, it's made me a much better photographer.

[pacerr]

The SMC-M 80-200 is a surprisingly good performer - nice color and contrast. Out performs my DA 50-200.

H2

[wpvv]

I just posted some 24mm pictures in this thread https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/post-your-photos/204920-landscape-morning...kina-24mm.html. Will test the other lenses this week!