[nukeglus]

Hi everyone!
With the announcement of the new full frame I would like to buy a pair of used lenses with good value for money, which can cover all standard focal lenghts ... say from 24/70 to 200mm: i prefer landscape and portrait photography.
At the moment as full frame I own the FA 100 macro WR and the FA 50 1,4. I thought something like a couple of zooms, like sigma 28-70 2,8 and one 70-200...
I searched in the database but there are too many lenses in the range
Any suggestion?

Thanks in advance!!

[peterjcb]

Why not look into some nice manual FF primes?
A prime will almost always yield better results and you would want to optimize that especially with a FF.
Determine your specific style of shooting whether it be wide, normal or tele and pick up some bargains now before the end of the year when prices might tend to go higher on the FF stuff.
There are some wonderful manual lens bargains out there right now.

Some zoom recommendations that I own and like:
FA 80-320 , 70-210, 28-105
There's also a cool fisheye F 17-28 that you might want to look at....all above are FF.

[Wheatridger]

To celebrate the announcement, I've just ordered an FA 35/2, plus the only Tamron 14/2.8 I could find on the net. Those might turn out to be appreciating assets, do you think?

[AquaDome]

Standard kit used to be 28mm, 50mm, and 135mm primes. Add a 35-105 zoom for walking around and you're all set.

[northcoastgreg]

I searched in the database but there are too many lenses in the range

I'm not sure looking for a cheap zoom lenses from the nineties to use on a $2,500+ camera is such a great idea. While it's true that FF camera will draw more resolution and more "DOF control" from those lenses, there's more to IQ than just resolution and narrow DOF. There's also characteristics such as lens contrast, color rendition, bokeh, quality of the rendering of tactile objects, separation of objects from background, quality of the rendering of resolution, etc. etc. I would avoid any of the old variable aperture zooms lenses designed for 35mm film. Such lenses don't feature the anti-reflective coating technology or the edge to edge resolution to compete even with mid-range APS-C zooms.

The best budget option for FF zoom is probably the Tamron 28-75. The Sigma 24-70 may be a good option as well.

If you really want to go cheap with FF glass and yet still get pro-like quality, older manual focus primes is the way to go. Many of the old Pentax SMC primes may perform quite well on a Pentax FF camera. I would single out in particular: the K or M 28 f3.5; the K 35 3.5; the K 55 1.8. I've received very positive reports from photographers who have used these lenses on Sony A7 series cameras, and even seen a few images (which looked stunning). These are very sharp and contrasty lenses, and I would expect them to perform splendidly on a Pentax FF camera.

[jimr-pdx]

To celebrate the announcement, I've just ordered an FA 35/2, plus the only Tamron 14/2.8 I could find on the net. Those might turn out to be appreciating assets, do you think?

That's what I keep thinking about my SMC 17fe, perhaps interest will pick up now? . Maybe even the 80-200 f/3.5, I could let that go for less than $2200

[bobpur]

My Tamron SP 24-135 will do nicely

[bassek]

F-series primes and zooms are fine. I have also the Sigma EX 15-30 and the EX 24-60, both FF according to the database. No idea how good the corners are on FF.

Seb

[wtlwdwgn]

The A series will be more convenient for MF lenses but any of the K or M series will be good choices. The M series are smaller and lighter but I love the feel of the K series. The 28 f/3.5s are the most reasonably priced WAs as are the normal 50 f/2s and 55 f/1.8s. The A series 70-210 f/4s are a good buy now too. Just my $0.02.

[c.a.m]

That compact, multi-coloured, industrial-looking, cult-following stack-o'-primes jewel - the Pentax-F 35-70 - might take on a new life with the new FF.

Mine cost me ~$25.

- Craig

[mikeodial]

Standard kit used to be 28mm, 50mm, and 135mm primes. Add a 35-105 zoom for walking around and you're all set.

That 35-105 is a nice lens. I had one earlier this year.

[DeepThrob]

That compact, multi-coloured, industrial-looking, cult-following stack-o'-primes jewel - the Pentax-F 35-70 - might take on a new life with the new FF.

It's usualy on my camera when i have no particular place to go. It does so much well.

[nukeglus]

Thanks for all your advices! I'm looking for some lenses you suggested, and by now i found:
M28 f2,8 at about 50 Euro;
F35-70 f3,5/4,5 at about 80Euro;
FA28-200 f3,2/4,5 at about 100 Euro;
Sigma EX DG 28-70 f2,8 at about 240 Euro;
Pentax A 70-210 f4 at about 56 Euro...
what do you think? Unfortunately here in Italy there isn't a rich used market...
I'm searching for 35-105 but i didn't find it yet...

[hoopsontoast]

I have used the older Sigma EX 28-70mm f2.8 and 20-40mm EX f2.8 on Sigma cameras (1.7 crop) and they were good (both a little soft at f2.8) but massive and heavy.

I have the FA20-35 which is a dream (size/weight at the expense of brick like build).

[arkav]

Thanks for all your advices! I'm looking for some lenses you suggested, and by now i found:
M28 f2,8 at about 50 Euro;
F35-70 f3,5/4,5 at about 80Euro;
FA28-200 f3,2/4,5 at about 100 Euro;
Sigma EX DG 28-70 f2,8 at about 240 Euro;
Pentax A 70-210 f4 at about 56 Euro...
what do you think? Unfortunately here in Italy there isn't a rich used market...
I'm searching for 35-105 but i didn't find it yet...

I've got the M28 f2.8, and I've never been all that impressed with it on my DSLRs - it always seemed a bit soft. Keep in mind that with M series lenses, you'll likely have to do Green Button metering unless Pentax decides to "de-cripple" the mount on the FF camera. It's a bit of a pain. Personally, if I were going with an older prime, I'd try to get something in an A series ( if IQ of different versions are more or less equal ). I don't mind manual focus, but I'm less enthusiastic about the green
button metering. If you've got a flagship body, you can meter using DOF preview, which I prefer to using the green button to set exposure. Bodies that don't feature DOF preview as the 3rd position of the on/off switch ( like my K30 ) lack this useful feature.
I don't think anybody knows which way Pentax will go with that for the new FF. Hopefully, they'll still have metering enabled when doing DOF preview.

I've played around a bit with the Pentax A 70-210 f4. I think I've read that there are different versions, so that may be something to be careful of. The one I tried seemed ok, if be a bit flare prone. Nothing to write home about.
While the A setting allows you to meter directly and control aperture from the camera body, you will have to dial in the focal length whenever you zoom in or out if you want to
use the in-body SR. Personally, I've found that to be a bit tedious whenever I've used an A series zoom. But if you're shooting on a tripod and not changing your focal length much, it might not be a big deal to dial in your Focal Length.

Just a couple of "usability" issues to keep in mind when considering older lenses.