[disconnekt]

TL;DR Been looking for a decent cheap fast 35mm lens in K-mount in my but the ones I've found have been out of my price range (lowest Ive found been a bit over $100).
Found a "Special Auto" Albinar 35mm lens in K-mount that's more in my price range, but can't find that much info about the brand

Does anybody here ever use them/have any opinions on the brand?

---

Last edited by disconnekt; 03-20-2019 at 04:58 PM.

[Docrwm]

There's not much out there but you might look at this resource:
The Albinar Special 35 mm f/ 2.8 MC Auto Lens. Specs. MTF Charts. User Reviews.

[disconnekt]

Yeah I found the link earlier, just wanted to see if it was worth spending the money on it or not

[K-Three]

Cheap, Decent, Fast,
Pick any two, you are not going to find all three in one lens

[pres589]

I've never touched that lens. I do have an Albinar 28mm "macro" f2.8 and it's pretty much junk. Bad flair, soft, very strong yellow cast to images. My least favorite 28 out of the five or so I have, easily.

Grain of salt as this isn't the same lens.

[ZombieArmy]

DA 35 f2.4 meets your qualifications nicely I'd say.

[disconnekt]

Its for a film camera, not a digital one.

[pres589]

If you are using a Pentax body that can control the aperture in-body (so a Super Program or almost any other body after that save for a few exceptions) the DA 35 f2.4 would still be my preference to anything from Albinar. And unless I were shooting black and white film, I wouldn't want a lens on a film camera driving such a yellow cast onto everything like my Albinar 28 does.

I have a Vivitar branded, Tokina made, 35 f2.8 m42 lens that I think I paid $10 for here on the forum. I like it quite a bit (although it's soft like butter at f4 and wider). Something like that might be a nice solution for a cheap 35mm lens.

[TwoUptons]

The price of Pentax 35mm lenses seems to have been a bit nutty lately.

I’ve seen A and M 35mm f2.8 lenses selling for more than the DA35 new... and I can’t see paying over $200 for a used 30 year old lens when the FA isn’t much more new...

And I’ve never been excited about any of the third-party 35mm lenses I’ve come across in K-mount. I have seen some cool ones in M42, though. And maybe there are some TX mount-swapping opportunities or something.

I suspect that by the time the K mount was out, 35mm wasn’t ‘cool’ any more except as part of a 35-70 zoom...

So this may be a tricky problem to solve...

-Eric

[Just1MoreDave]

...I have a Vivitar branded, Tokina made, 35 f2.8 m42 lens that I think I paid $10 for here on the forum. I like it quite a bit (although it's soft like butter at f4 and wider). Something like that might be a nice solution for a cheap 35mm lens.

$10 with free shipping!

[disconnekt]

@pres589 Don't have a Super A-type camera, its a Kalimar K-90 TTL 10000 (fully mecahnical camera, baterry needed inly for light meter) so cant use DA type of lenses, mainly limited to the Pentax K/M/A and 3rd party equivalent type of lenses. But yeah, the fact I cant find any reviews on the lens & brand in general is makeing me hesitant on buying it.


@TwoUptons yeah, the prices have been ~$100 on the low end to ~$200+ (even for 2.8's), even 3rd party 2.8's have been near the $100 mark and it like: 😨😧, and I figuered at that price range I'd might as well get a Mitakon 35mm f2 brand new from B&H.

I have seen some M42 screwmount lenses from 3rd party lenses online that have an overall good reputation (Vivitar being one) in the $20-30 dollar range that I can use on my Sears TLS, which I could get an adapter to use on my Kalimar, but even then the adapters are a pretty penny (even used ones). I dont want to try buying the cheap knockoff ones due to not wanting it to mess up the camera & lens.

[pres589]

I got an $8 m42/k adapter from Amazon, Pixco branded, that seems decent the bit I've used it. That Mitakon sounds cool but it doesn't have a real k-mount on it, just the flange, so it doesn't convey aperture ring position to the camera mount and it doesn't have a stop-down lever.

Patience, searching, or moving to a 28mm are probably your best options. Posting an ad here in the Wanted section may turn up something.

[disconnekt]

Yeah, I figured I'd just skip that lens & wait :/
May just snatch a M42 lens when one pops up shopgoodlwill lol

[disconnekt]

Update: pretty much went "fork it" (excuse my french lol) and bought a Vivitar 35mm f2.8 (Tokina made) M42 mount lens I found on ebay for ~$17 bucks.

Figured I can always use it on my Sears TLS, and eventually down the road get a good M42-to-Kmount adapter to use in my Kalimar Kmount lens. Plus side it has a 52mm filter thread, so I can use my polarizer without a step-down ring (or buying a new bigger sized one entirely). Should be here by Friday.

[TwoUptons]

I have a couple of Vivitar lenses with Tx mounts, so the mounts are interchangeable. It’s very handy.

Is yours one of those?

-Eric