[pete-tarmigan]

Given that they've made fewer than 70,000 K-1's to-date and there are 25,000,000 legacy Pentax lenses, it seems mathematically impossible for K-1 to have had a material effect on the overall secondary market. Certainly a small number of storied lenses such as A*85/1.4 can rise appreciably but such lenses were already unobtainable.

But 97% of the legacy lenses out there are kit lenses (50/55m f2; slow, varying-maximum aperture 35-80mm zooms) and slow, varying-maximum aperture 70-200mm zooms. In the used market where I live, that percentage is about 99.8%. Any lenses other than those cheap, consumer lenses are rare, and therefore in greater demand, and fetch higher prices.

[stevebrot]

I believe prices of anything below 28mm FL began rising when K-1 was announced last year, as well as specialty lenses such as A50/1.2 and any F* or FA* lens. FA Limiteds have actually declined on average, when taking into account the brief deal-price specials.

As is normal for closed markets of collectible items, prices adjusted long before K-1 was actually available. Consequently there has been little change since April.

"Buy on rumor, sell on fact." ~ Lawrence Livermore

I am not actively in the market, but those are my observations as well. The supply for focal lengths 28mm and longer has historically remained good with high quality being readily available at moderate prices. Supply of ultrawide for FF (24mm and shorter) has been tight for about a decade with mixed quality. As a result, prices for high quality options in that space have remained high with poor availability.

As for zooms, quality is mixed with the better options difficult to source. Prices in that space have been mixed and continue to be so.

In other words, business as usual...


Steve

[loveisageless]

It appears to me from monitoring several sources i.e. ebay, KEH, B&H (used), and Adorama (used) that some individual lenses have increased in price. I've seen an increase in prices for the following lenses:

F or FA 50mm or 100mm f/2.8 macro lenses

F 28mm f/2.8

FA* 200mm, 300mm and 400mm lenses

F* 300mm f/4.5

I suspect the price pressure is coming from K-1 owners who have switched to Pentax and are looking for the Pentax equivalents of prime lenses they had with their Nikon and/or Cannon cameras.

[geomez]

It appears to me from monitoring several sources i.e. ebay, KEH, B&H (used), and Adorama (used) that some individual lenses have increased in price. I've seen an increase in prices for the following lenses:

F or FA 50mm or 100mm f/2.8 macro lenses

F 28mm f/2.8

FA* 200mm, 300mm and 400mm lenses

F* 300mm f/4.5

I suspect the price pressure is coming from K-1 owners who have switched to Pentax and are looking for the Pentax equivalents of prime lenses they had with their Nikon and/or Cannon cameras.

I've noticed that as well, except for the F or FA 50mm or 100mm f/2.8 macro lenses. I haven't noticed any upward motion price wise on those lenses.

[Obin Robinson]

As an owner of a K-1 and a K-3 I can shed some light on my personal observations. When I owned the K-3 I had a large collection of full frame and APS-C lenses. The K-3 performance is spectacular and my vintage full frame lenses looked great on it. When I got the K-1 I started mounting these old lenses and immediately was disappointed. The K-1 resolution was so high that it brought out all the flaws that I could not detect even on the K-3.

The K-1 sensor is good. It's damn good. On the other hand it's so good that all the haze, chromatic aberration, flaring, distortion, and focus errors in old lenses will become glaringly obvious. When you start pixel peeping you'll see every single flaw in your once vaunted lenses pop up and punch you in the face. What I love about the K-1 is that when you put good glass on it the entire system really shines and it makes the new digital era lenses look so much better than the old film era ones.

I've sold off many manual focus full frame K-mount lenses since buying the K-1 and the only ones I've replaced them with are Pentax 67 lenses. I am not even looking at any of the vintage full frame lenses because I'd rather just save my money for the new ones Pentax is releasing for the K-1. I already know the new glass is going to out-resolve the old full frame lenses so I'm not going to bother shopping for them on the used market.

TL/DR: the new Pentax full frame lenses are so good that there's no need for me to bother looking for the old gems anymore.

obin

[Fenwoodian]

I'm into premium, manual focusing Zeiss and Voightlander glass for my K1.

Zeiss ZK lenses in the Pentax mount are hard to find. Don't know if their prices have gone up, but they certainly have not come down. If the extremely rare Zeiss ZK lenses (e.g. 21mm, 100mm) ever did come on the market, I expect that the owner could sell them at a very high price and make a tidy profit.

[Simen1]

I have seen a lot of APS-C K mount lenses sold at lower then usual prices here in Norway.

[monochrome]

I don't know about everyone else's, but my Pentax FF manual lenses look better on the K-1.

[mee]

I am hoping there will be a significant number of people who will off load their APS equipment after buying FF and in doing so flood the used market.

Don't think that is going to happen.. we had a small surge earlier in the spring. But not a huge showing of sellers. I think many people are keeping their APS-C setup as backup..

Plus the K-1 sort of streamed out at spurts onto store shelves.. not a huge floodgate opening all at once.

[monochrome]

Don't think that is going to happen.. we had a small surge earlier in the spring. But not a huge showing of sellers. I think many people are keeping their APS-C setup as backup..

Plus the K-1 sort of streamed out at spurts onto store shelves.. not a huge floodgate opening all at once.

I'll post the following APSc lenses tomorrow: SMC DA40/2.8 Limited; HD DA70/4 Limited; FA50/1.4. I've already sold the FA35/2 and FA24~90 and my K-3 kit and accessories. I'm keeping SMC DA15/4 Limited and SMC 35/2.8 Limited for use in crop mode and on K-01. They're not mere DA Limited lenses, but exceptional lenses in their own right.

I've been waiting for the DA prices to stabilize a bit. I have more to sell as well.

There really aren't enough K-1 owners to have had a material effect on FF lens prices other than to keep all but the 150~450 at list price.

[loveisageless]

I've noticed that as well, except for the F or FA 50mm or 100mm f/2.8 macro lenses. I haven't noticed any upward motion price wise on those lenses.

There are still reasonably priced ones, but it appears they are ones that often (at least on eBay) have fungus, haze or are pretty beat up. The well cared for ones have been trending higher I think.

[leekil]

A FA Limited 43 I just offered on ebay brought only $350 (no deal!).

I was watching that lens, and would have loved to get an FA43 for about 350!

But I think your problem there was that you had a reserve price on the auction. In my experience, it seems like that holds the price down. With a regular auction, if someone outbids you, you often react by bidding a little bit more -- "maybe with a slightly higher bid, I'll get it!" And with the (hidden) reserve auction price, there's no way for anyone to know how high they need to bid in order to be the top bidder. Most people don't bid their top amount first; they bid lower, both so they can get a bargain (which everyone wants) and also to hold the price below their highest bid until the end, when there is less chance that the person just outbid will have enough time or attention to say, "I'll just bid a little bit more", and bid it up.

[Wheatridger]

I don't know about everyone else's, but my Pentax FF manual lenses look better on the K-1.

Mine, too. I've been looking at todays' work with the F 24-50/4. Though there's a little glow around high-contrast edges (but still sharp edges) wide open, stopped down it's tack-sharp from corner to corner. My F 70-210 amazes me, and the F35-70/4 is also excellent so far. I've taken some very lovely photos with a humble F 80-200 zoom.

Only the latest lenses will give you all the latest features: WR, Quick-Shift focus, HD coatings, F 2.8 zooms. My older AF lenses just give me great results in 90% of those same situations. And, crucially, they won't break the bank or break my wrist slinging a five-pound camera and lens around!

[Class A]

The K-1 resolution was so high that it brought out all the flaws that I could not detect even on the K-3.

That does not make sense in practical terms for two reasons:

1. Normally images are enjoyed at a certain output size, say an 8x10 print. A higher-resolution sensor won't make lens aberrations more visible at a certain output size. Only if one pixel-peeps at 100% magnification, a higher resolution sensor will be a more effective magnifying glass and thus allow you to see more problems. However, pixel-peeping at 100% is neither a typical form of viewing (full) images nor does it represent a useful form for comparisons.
2. The K-3 with its 24MP APS-C sensor provides a higher level of magnification for the APS-C portion of a frame than the K-1 does. In the same area, the K-1 only has 16MP, so the K-3 provides 23% more resolution, i.e., 23% more power to see lens flaws. Since an APS-C image has to receive more enlargement than an FF image (factor 2.25), you'll see lens problems more with the APS-C image, if you print to the same size. This discussion leaves out the areas of an FF that are outside the APS-C frame, but even that area is not as bad as most people believe.

So for all of you who are saying their lenses look better on the K-1, you are backed up by Physics.

[virusn3t]

I havent see any big change in prices of lenses im looking for, they still expensive or rare.