[Class A]

First, thanks for the great work!

The arrangement on a graphical chart akin to how lens roadmaps are presented is particularly useful.

Yes some exceptions are not produced any longer, but most are readily available somewhere in shops.

AFAIC, this policy diminishes the value of your charts.

I think there should be charts showing only "current" lenses and other charts showing "legacy" lenses.

FWIW, before I learned about this thread, I had created another "FF lenses for the K-1 that can be bought new" thread with the intention of showing which FF lenses are available for the K-1.

My simple, clear-cut, "no grey zone" criterion for whether or not a lens is "current" is whether the lens manufacturer includes the lens in their current catalogue. I don't mean "discontinued" in the sense that some online dealers use it. I mean it in the sense that the lens manufacturer has moved the lens from the current catalogue into the legacy catalogue.

Lenses like the Simga 70mm f/2.8 Macro (to name just one of many examples) therefore do not occur in my list, since Sigma has removed this lens from its current catalogue.

[Class A]

So you think these old lenses will make a good image quality on the K1?

Of course they will.

1. If you create prints, say 8x10, the lenses will produce the same quality they used to produce on film cameras. The fact that a 36MP sensor allows high levels of magnification/enlargment does not impact on the quality of regular output sizes.
2. The K-1's sensor is not anymore demanding for lenses than the K-7's, K-5's or K-3's sensors were. The APS-C format is more resolution hungry than the FF format and if you were happy with your lenses on an APS-C camera, you will be more than happy with them on the K-1. Actually, on the contrary, if you find that a lens works well on the K-1, it is not a given that you'd be happy with it on a K-3, if you want to pixel peep at 100%, because the K-3 offers more resolution within the APS-C sub-frame than the K-1 does.

[clackers]

this whole FF subject is completely new to me...
So you think these old lenses will make a good image quality on the K1? I have ASAHI 28 f2.8 and 50 f1.7. When I read those pessimist I think these lenses will only produce some blurry washy washy images.

No, at worst there will be less quality on the edges in the corner.

APS-C cameras are great for old glass because in return for getting a smaller field of view they use the best part of any lens - its centre.

I have a film era Sigma 24mm f1.8 that is great with my K-30 in low light conditions, but I've never bothered putting it on my A7.

[i5_david]

thanks Class A and clackers for your responses.
you guys have serious insights
I thought about the corners as well as APSc only covers sweet spots. But to be honest, what do I do with my shots? I catalog them on my computer, put some of them on my 6 inch mobile phone or print them less than DIN A5, so I think this will work.

...and since I am not a pixel peeping freak I could imagine I will like the results. Hope to see some of the results in the coming weeks. thanks again!

[clackers]

thanks Class A and clackers for your responses.
you guys have serious insights

Glad to hear it.

There's a lot of great advice on this forum, and Class A is also a wonderful resource to consult on flash photography, amongst other topics.

...and since I am not a pixel peeping freak I could imagine I will like the results. Hope to see some of the results in the coming weeks. thanks again!

You might also browse the outstanding work by a lot of people in the lenses on FF thread. Members like @pinholecam have done lots of enjoyable pictures and at times listed the problems they've found with different examples of legacy glass.

[monochrome]

I'm pretty excited to use my manual focus lenses on the K-1. It will be interesting to read criticism of the old lenses that were intentionally designed to be soft at the edges. People who weren't alive when some of these lenses were assembled won't want them.

I'll bet they're as good as they were on film.

[beholder3]

I added the Horusbennu, Mitakon, Zenit, Arax lenses that seem to be still available as new.

[MattCard]

Thanks alot beholder3, it's very appreciated

[nick52]

The DA* 55mm works very well on full frame! Very managable vignetting, I don't always fix vignetting in post because its so negligible

[Na Horuk]

I added the Horusbennu, Mitakon, Zenit, Arax lenses that seem to be still available as new.

You can probably also add this Zenitar 50mm: Zenit MC Zenitar-K2 2/50 50mm F2.0 Lens Reviews - Russian and Zenitar Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database
Some people on this forum bought it some years ago, and I think it can still be bought.
I think you can see which Zenit lenses are still in K mount in this shop: Pentax Lenses
Some more are in m42, but I guess that doesn't count as adapter is needed.

That said, I have not verified that store or those lenses and can not vouch for their quality. Seems like some are really terrible, while others are acceptably decent

[beholder3]

Too many lenses available, so I had to split up the third party slide into two, to have them in some nicer order instead of total confusion.
Added Irix and roadmap and S20/1,8 also.

[Nicolas06]

I only put lenses on the chart where I found national dealers where I could buy them. That's not the case for the 12-24. So there is always a grey zone.

If you check my test shots linked above you can see that the 60-250 has strong but very corner restricted vignetting wide open. For me this is more than good enough as that can be corrected in post easily.

While I might give a go of lenses I already own if I upgraded to FF, I would not certainly buy an APSC lens not stated officially to support FF. DA*200 and DA*300 are officially supported bu there heavy vigneting for DA*55 or DA60-250...

I don't see the point to upgrade for FF if one use lenses not designed for it and get as such not so great results.

[beholder3]

I did add an extra slide for the Zeiss lenses, which are now available via Leitax mount.

[CypherOz]

I have several FF lenses for my K-1.
The Tamron 28-75/2.8 is my walk around/landscape lens.
The 50-500 Sigma is for wildlife etc.
I have a Tamron SP AF28-300/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF) Macro on order (2nd hand) as what I call a lazy (or travel aka happy snap) lens .

My Sigma 105/28 for macro and portraits and the SMC 50/1.7 for fun.

Pentax needs a big price drop on glass.

[carolina_sky]

... Pentax needs a big price drop on glass.

This seems unlikely, except for special Black Friday deals, etc.

Pentax seems to me to be following the razors and blades business model proven by many consumer examples (Gilette, Keurig, etc.). They sell the razor at a much cheaper price than the competition but get you on the blades. Actually pretty smart on their part since a lot of people focus on the body price, but if you're a serious photographer you will buy many lenses for each body so they will end up making much better margin overall and still appear to be the 'better value' option.

While I would love to see cheaper glass, I also want to see Ricoh be successful and this seems to be a pretty smart approach on their part. We *really* need more 3rd party lens support for Pentax to get better lower cost options, and to encourage this Ricoh needs to get more bodies out there, so that also reinforces their cheaper body more expensive glass approach.