[jcoat]

I'm looking into getting a mid-range zoom for my Pentax MX... Something around a 28-70 or 28-80. Seems all the zooms are around f3.5 (most seem to have a limited macro function at the long end), and I'm looking for a cheaper option, perhaps a Takumar, Vivitar, Promaster, ect.

Yeah... so I get we're not looking at amazing optical performance. Anyone own a couple of these over the years. Any recommendations? Hoping to find something acceptably sharp with decent bokeh.

[troika]

The Pentax-A 35-105/3.5 is steller on my MX and works well on digital as well. I'm sure that you could find something a bit cheaper, but I recall paying south of $100 for it and have never regretted it.

[pres589]

I've got a Tokina 28-70 f2.8 to f4 (or something like that, it's currently in storage and I don't have access to it) and it's pretty great. The Pentax M 35-70 f2.8 to f3.5 seems very good (I haven't used it personally). I don't know about "decent bokeh" with either of these; they're okay but not impressively good. They're old zooms. The "fun" of decent but not great lenses from that era, especially zooms, is that they don't really perform that well until they've been stopped down a bit. That's not a huge issue on a modern DSLR but with film you won't have the latitude to do so on a whim unless you don't mind pushing film pretty hard and/or you're going to be using a tripod often.

[Aaron28]

vivtar series 1......has 28-90/f2.8-3.5......and the 28-105f2.8-??

have the 28-90 good lens even wide open if focus is correct......also has 'a' contacts making it useful for flash depending on body

[TwoUptons]

I’ve never had a manual focus “normal” zoom I was totally happy with.

The closest has been the A 24-50, which is wider than you’re after.

I’ve had better luck optically with some of the AF zooms, though those have their own ergonomic issues...

I’ve also heard good things about the 35-70 f2.8-4.0. I really like the autofocus F35-70, though I don’t know how related they are...

I think the period of decent 28-70-ish lenses came after autofocus began to dominate... call it the late 80s or early 90s...

-Eric

[micl161]

I have this one and its sharp and light, also have a very good review from others.


Tamron Adaptall-2 SP 35-80mm F2.8-3.8 (01A)

[Walkingwolf]

The Pentax-A 35-105/3.5 is steller on my MX and works well on digital as well. I'm sure that you could find something a bit cheaper, but I recall paying south of $100 for it and have never regretted it.

I second the above. I have used the A 35-105 f3.5 on film and digital cameras and have never been disappointed. As an aside, if you happen to have the 1.7x TC you will find it works well with this lens, still giving great results though you can’t stop down as much but for a bonus you get A/F.

[luftfluss]

I have this one and its sharp and light, also have a very good review from others.


Tamron Adaptall-2 SP 35-80mm F2.8-3.8 (01A)

This is an excellent lens with a super-useful "macro" mode, but it seems like the OP wants something considerably wider.

[From1980]

In my opinion the OP is asking for a wider range zoom than was available in a decent lens of the same era as MX. 35-70s were often quite good then so I also like the SMCPM 35-70 f/2.8-3.5. As has been mentioned, nice 28-80 and beyond lenses came later. I observed the 3rd party Tamron, Kiron, Tokina, and others produce the desired range and handling before the main camera manufacturers seemed to get on board. So, for that range I also believe the best priced reasonable quality results will be from the 3rd parties.

[johnha]

I've got a Tokina 28-70 f2.8 to f4

I had one of these and wish I hadn't sold it. Most zooms of the MX era where 35-70, some later 28-80 zooms were more tuned to AF and had quite slow apertures for manual focussing.

Tamron made an Adaptall 35-80/3.5 with good macro capabilities, otherwise the A35-105/3.5 is a very good but quite heavy & bulky lens. 67

[EssJay]

I too agree with the recommendation of the Pentax-A 35-105mm f3.5, its a fantastic lens. It is one of the few lenses that have followed me through the transition from film to digital and still holds up well against my modern lenses. Cheap too. You should be able to find one for 100ish bucks - sometimes cheaper. Paired with the Pentax-M 24-35mm f3.5 and a Vivitar series 1 70-210mm f3.5 and you got yourself a cracking kit of constant aperture zooms.


I also second the recommendation of the Vivitar series 1 28-90mm f2.8-3.5 "stovepipe". Cheap and a great performer as well ... huge though. And as already stated the Pentax-A 24-50mm f4 - But this one tends to be a little harder to find for a decent price, usually going for around $165ish on ebay.

[BarneyL]

The best, arguably, are Contax 35-70 F/3.4 and Leica Vario-Elmar-R 35-70 F/4. These can be Leitaxed into K mount, but that's quite a bit of effort and cost, on top of the pretty steep (for a manual zoom) price.

Next, I'd consider aforementioned Tamron Adaptall SP 35-80 and Tokina AT-X 35-70 F/2.8 (beware of the Ricoh pin though).

Pentax-A 35-105 is pretty solid choice as well, but at least in my part of the world, these are too expensive for what they offer.

Last but not least, Kiron stovepipe 28-85 is good bang for the buck. It can also be found with Vivitar branding.

[pres589]

I had an Access 28-70 Macro zoom which did have decent bokeh. They're rare and I don't know who actually made them. Ref: The Access 28-70 mm f/ 2.8-4.2 P-MC Macro Lens. Specs. MTF Charts. User Reviews.


My copy had fungus issues that I discovered when I was about to try selling it here so I threw it away.

[pid]

I love my old SMC Pentax-M 35-70mm F2.8-3.5 Reviews - M Zoom Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database.
Colors and rendering are beautiful. Often much more pleasant than the pictures with my DFA 24-70/2.8 with its much cooler colors.
If you dont mind to focus manualy it is a great and compact fast zoom, easy to use. You can focus at 70mm and push the Zoom down to 24mm to get sharp pictures at all focal lengths.

[pepperberry farm]

Pentax SMC A 35-105/3.5 was called a 'Stack of Primes' for a reason: