[ChrisPlatt]

I'm assembling a small kit for my daughter to use with her recently acquired Pentax MX.

Not sure how interested in film photography she will become I had planned to set her up with a modest set of inexpensive lenses.

I have a nice -M 50/2 for her. Then a good deal on an -M 50/1.7 came along. Soon that was followed by a -A50/2.8 macro.
I have a nice -M 135/3.5 for her. Then a good deal on a -M 100/2.8 came along.
I have a nice -M 28/3.5 for her. I will wait and see before an upgrade of that one.

Apparently this is a case of vicarious LBA, by proxy...

Chris

[pres589]

I own the 50mm smc pentax-a 1:1.7 and a 135mm. I would buy a new lens but not a tele and not a 28mm. My question is: is it worth buy a new 50mm (maybe 1.2 or 1.4, the 50mm is the lens that I use more) or the difference between smc pentax-a 1:1.7 and other better 50mm isn't so big. The other lens that I'm interested in is the 85mm.
My budget is under 300 €.
I hope I explained myself better, thanks for the support.

Addressing this directly; I would check the 135 over for condition and see what kind of image quality it provides. If it's not sharpish from wide-open I would sell it and look for a Tamron 90mm f2.5 Adaptall macro, the 52B or 52BB. It's close to 85mm, renders nicely wide open, and is a close focusing lens (which most 85's are not). Should be around 100 euro with a Pentax Adaptall mount if you shop smart.

I would keep the Pentax A 50 1.7 until the aperture ring breaks at which point I would either go get an M-series 50 f1.7, an A or M-series 50 f1.4, or a K-series 55mm f1.8. Or I would fix the aperture ring myself. I would not spend more than 50 euro on any of these options.


I would go looking for a 24mm or 28mm f2.8 prime OR a Tokina 19-35 zoom with the rest of the money left over. If you aren't concerned with space in your bag, the Tokina is quite nice to use. I really like mine.

[Jonathan Mac]

Addressing this directly; I would check the 135 over for condition and see what kind of image quality it provides. If it's not sharpish from wide-open I would sell it and look for a Tamron 90mm f2.5 Adaptall macro, the 52B or 52BB. It's close to 85mm, renders nicely wide open, and is a close focusing lens (which most 85's are not). Should be around 100 euro with a Pentax Adaptall mount if you shop smart.

I would keep the Pentax A 50 1.7 until the aperture ring breaks at which point I would either go get an M-series 50 f1.7, an A or M-series 50 f1.4, or a K-series 55mm f1.8. Or I would fix the aperture ring myself. I would not spend more than 50 euro on any of these options.


I would go looking for a 24mm or 28mm f2.8 prime OR a Tokina 19-35 zoom with the rest of the money left over. If you aren't concerned with space in your bag, the Tokina is quite nice to use. I really like mine.

Bear in mind that the 19-35mm comes in many brands but it's all the same lens, though there are AF and manual focus versions. Off the top of my head - Vivitar and Cosina but maybe others. I had a MF Cosina in PK and now I have an AF Vivitar in Nikon F.

[pres589]

They might have all shared that same basic design; I'm seeing Cosina, Tamron, Tokina, and then the "we're only a brand" brands like Phoenix all selling a 19-35 f3.5-4.5 zoom from that era. And they look similar. In any case, yeah, I think it goes without saying I was referring to a k-mount flavor of this lens for the owner of an MX. Mine offers autofocus which I've never actually used as I've never mounted it on an autofocusing camera body. It's not hard to focus manually.

[rvandenbrink]

But just how much better?

When I first acquired the MX and the Pentax M 50mm f4 Macro lens from a local CL listing for very cheap, I was blown away by the huge viewfinder. Shot a few rolls and started noticing how sharp the results were from the macro lens and made me wonder just how good was this lens? So I tested it using Kodak Techpan @ ISO25 processed in Kodak Technidol. Results below clearly show that the detail captured on this film using this lens cannot even be resolved by my Coolscan's 4000dpi nor a Nikon D800 @ 36MP.




The huge viewfinder of the MX will allow you to achieve critical focus which is very important when shooting the f1.2 lens wide open.

I ended up using that 35-135 even on the LX I ended up with, and was happy with the images.
I didn’t start looking seriously at IQ and better lenses until I went digital (and stuck with zooms even then)

[TwoUptons]

Bear in mind that the 19-35mm comes in many brands but it's all the same lens, though there are AF and manual focus versions. Off the top of my head - Vivitar and Cosina but maybe others. I had a MF Cosina in PK and now I have an AF Vivitar in Nikon F.

I think there are a couple of variations on the "19-35" theme.

I have the Tokina 20-35 f3.5-4.5, and it's actually very good, while the Phoenix/Vivitar/etc. 19-35mm lenses are widely considered less good. Tokina also made a 19-35 that is apparently in the "less good" category.
The Tokina 20-35 works just fine on the MX, but it is fairly large on such a small body...
They're all late 90s lenses, so AF variants (with lousy manual focus ergonomics) will be vastly more prevalent than MF variants...

-Eric

[Abbazz]

I would favor the period M series lenses on the Pentax MX. A small kit comprising the M 20mm f/4, the M 40mm f/2.8 and the M 85mm f/2 would handle almost any shooting situation wirh superb results while fitting in a small fanny pack.

Cheers!

Abbazz