[Fenwoodian]

I'd look at current Samyang lenses as they'll easily beat out legacy glass. They're a great value, not necessarily bargain-basement priced, but they'll certainly last a while.

Lenses to consider include the 14mm F2.8, 16mm F2, and 24mm F1.4.

Great recommendation!

I have the Samyang 14mm lens. I spent a day comparing it with the Pentax 15mm Limited lens on my K3ii camera. While both lenses have very nice overall IQ, I ended up selling my Pentax 15mm and keeping the Samyang 14mm because the Samyang had much better sharpness at all apertures in the corners.

[gofour3]

Phil: Thse may be the real Three Amigos but the FA Limiteds will always be the Three Princesses.

Geez I misread the OPs post, I missed the wide-angle part!

My favorite manual focus wides "angels" are:

K18/3.5
A20/2.8
K24/2.8
K24/3.5
K28/2
K28/3.5
K30/2.8
K35/3.5

Phil.

[christiandre]

Zeiss distagon 35mm f/2 !

[WPRESTO]

There are also the several Voigtlander FF-WA lenses, if you can find one in Pentax mount at a reasonable price.

[Sandy Hancock]

CHEAP, people! The OP is not looking for expensive lenses

[monochrome]

Cheap? To me the K35/3.5 and to a lesser degree the K28/3.5 are presently astonishingly inexpensive. Especially considering what I paid for my copies years ago.

[WPRESTO]

I will reassert a recommendation on the Tokina 17mm f3.5, if you can find one in K-mount and if you want a very wide WA for FF.

[pathdoc]

The SMC Pentax K 24/2.8 is the widest of all my old manual focus glass.

With a little time and effort it works just fine on a digital camera.

Tom G

OP is looking for lenses to pair with a Ricoh film SLR.

---------- Post added 28-01-16 at 21:14 ----------

I will reassert a recommendation on the Tokina 17mm f3.5, if you can find one in K-mount and if you want a very wide WA for FF.

Seconded. I haven't had nearly enough chance to use mine, but they are really nice performers and the build quality is awesome. If you want wide, you'll certainly get it from this - equivalent FOV on film is about what you get from 12mm on APS-C.

[ScooterMaxi Jim]

The Ricoh XR series did not make use of A setting, so the M series lenses are a good choice (and K series as well, but many of them are overvalued compared to M series). Personally, I would stick with K mount, not m42.

I feel that the Tokina prime lenses from the late 1970s were very close in sharpness to the Pentax 24 and 28 lenses (especially if you are looking at the f/2.8 lenses most commonly available), although Pentax had the better coatings and saturation. Kiron, Vivitar and some no-name brands such as CPC produced fine wide optics - usually in a larger lens. For ultra-wide the Tokina 17mm tends to be a bargain.

I worked in a camera store for years, so handled quite a few of these lenses. I owned and shot the XR-1 for several years. In several ways, better than the smaller Pentax bodies - even the LX which I also own.

[drypenn]

My K28/3.5 is a stunningly sharp lens at f/8, usable wide open, not hard to find and greatly undervalued, perhaps because there's a lot of them. It's also a joy to handle.

A bit more rare, the M28/2 is a lot faster, and renders interesting bokeh. It can also be found reasonably bargain especially when compared to its celebrated brethren the K28/2 (and this one's nearing the unicorn status.)

[bassek]

Not yet mentioned is the A24/2.8 that I got for a decent price last year.
+1 for the K35/3.5

Seb

[Cintramontane]

A local dealer has just got in a Vivitar 19mm 3.8, price 79GBP ($110). Is that a good lens and price?

[pathdoc]

I owned and shot the XR-1 for several years. In several ways, better than the smaller Pentax bodies

I quite like my XR-1, although it will probably be off for a general clean, service and seal replacement as soon as my ME gets back. It's got a very good feature set, and the placement of the body trim associated with the DOF preview button makes it ergonomically better than my Spotmatics for much the same size (IMO), but the thing I prize in a film camera is compactness/portability - and that's why I tend to favour the ME and MX. Except when big zooms are involved, at which point they get awkward.

[ScooterMaxi Jim]

I never owned the MX, but in many ways that would have been a favorite Pentax film body due to the entirely mechanical shutter. Same for the XR-1 which also had a great feel to me, not to mention the viewfinder layout and brightness. It was the right size for my hands, but the smaller cameras were OK too.

As for the Vivitar 19mm, it isn't the Tokina 17mm or Pentax 20mm in terms of overall quality, but probably decent if in good shape. The pricing might be a bit high based on what others paid (in the ratings here), but those folks got some good deals. The Vivitar is the same as Cosina, and likely showed up in other brandings, as well. Quite a bit of barrel distortion, but most lenses that wide of that vintage were similar.

[jeverettfine]

Not yet mentioned is the A24/2.8 that I got for a decent price last year.
+1 for the K35/3.5

Seb

I have an excellent Pentax-A 24 2.8 and use it regularly on my K-3 (being a 35mm equivalent...my favorite fl since...like forever). Every now and then I have thought about selling it, but then quickly change my mind. I know I will use it regularly on a K-1 when I get one and I still shoot an occasional roll of film on my MX.
They are fairly uncommon, for good reason.