[48548]

You guys have gotten me to point where I want to go out and learn to shoot all over again... When I got my first MX from my uncle I already had a canon EOS autofocus camera a low end prosumer model an A2e, which I loved the eye focus and thought for the money it was the nicest camera I ever had. I also loved the 28-105 ultrasonic lens it came which was not cheap in my eyes. So as I started liking the pentax more and more I went and took a few photography classes in tempe at a community college and started devlope in the lab. Now 10+ years later I have 5 canon EOS lens and when it was new in 2004 I bought a 20d and grip and love that camera. But in the mean time I managed to get 2 LX, one NIB and a beat up one and started to get more bodies from the ME Super, to the super program and more mx bodies and a lot of accessories for each. The issue is I never really got any new or nice glass because I was spending more money on the canon stuff. Also as time went on, I wanted to have nice tools and for the past 7 years I built that up to where I am pretty happy with it, and unlike cameras old used beat up snapon tools keep there value. So here is what I have besides some others that i don't use. I was curious what are the better ones to use everyday and learn to be a better photographer. Also I have UV filters on them on to protect the lens because I am OCD about dust and dirt.

Here are the 6 best.



First is a tokina I got with my super program and winder for 75 total. It is an AT-X 28-85mm 1:3.5-4.5 with a 62mm filter size. This lens is a little lighter than the soligor but seems really nice better then i would have expected.





Next is the Pentax K SMC 1:2/28 This one came with one of the LX bodies.



Next is the soligor 28-80 3.5-4.5 also a 62mm filter. This lens seems really heavy and built well.



Here is a standard 50mm 1.4 pentax m. I think it came with a body, but don't remember which one.



Also this came with the better LX body, a zoom pentax 1:4.5 80mm-200mm with built in hood.



Then last but not least a tokina I did buy new for the photography class. This is an SZ-X 28-200mm 3.5-5.3 and 72mm filter size.

[gofour3]

The K28/2, M50/1.4 and the M80-200/4.5 would be the three lens kit that I would use. The classic film prime kit is a 28, 50-55 & a 135mm, you are just swapping the 135mm for the 80-200mm zoom. Two of these (K28/2 & M80-200/4.5) use 52mm filters, so that also helps for only needing one set. Too bad the 50/1.4 was not the K version then they all would be 52mm.

I would also try and get the original hoods for the K28/2 and M50/1.4 if you don't already have them.

Phil.

[interested_observer]

If you have not realized it yet, the K28/2 has some history behind it. Its the same optical design as the Zeiss (Contax) 28mm f2 Distagon, which has a cult following in Canon, as they refer to the lens as "Hollywood". Pentax acquired the design from Zeiss - more story, but it is a very nice lens.

• https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-slr-lens-discussion/60011-super-mu...-distagon.html
• SMC Pentax 28mm F2 Reviews - K Prime Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database

If you ever want to part with it, just give me a call.....

The forum has a lens database across both the various Pentax lens versions and third party lenses.

The M 50/1.4 is an excellent lens, also.

• SMC Pentax-M 50mm F1.4 Reviews - M Prime Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database

The M 80-200/f4.5 is pretty reasonable

• SMC Pentax-M 80-200mm F4.5 Reviews - M Zoom Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database

The Tokina 28-200 and the 28-85. Tokina does do a wonderful job with their glass, however they have discontinued the Pentax mounts - another story.

• Tokina MF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.3 Lens Reviews - Tokina Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database
• Tokina 28-85 mm F 3.5-4.5 AT-X Lens Reviews - Tokina Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database

The lens database does not have anything on the soligor 28-80

You have manual lenses, but other than shooting Canon, you don't say what if any (digital) Pentax body you have. I am just assuming that you are using your Canon 20D and your film bodies. The LX bodies are wonderful. Some of the lenses are better than others, however they are all very useable. I might suggest, that with all the manual lenses, the just discontinued Pentax K-01 would be a great digital body to use. No viewfinder, however it does have focus peaking and the essentially the same sensor as the K5. It also works extremely well with manual focus lenses. It is also going for $320 new and I have seen in the $200's used in the marketplace.

Hope that helps....

[48548]

No digital body for Pentax. Just the canon stuff. Hard to spend money on two setups. I would like the lens hoods if I could find them. I think the atx tokina is top of tokina line. I didn't know they stopped the pk mount wow. I might look into a digital the thing is I want to get a new canon in a couple of years something close to a 5d mark 5 hopefully at that time.

[48548]

Also does anyone know anything about soligor?

[interested_observer]

Well here some information on the Soligor....

• Is Soligor 28-80mm C/D FD mount a decent lens? - Photo.net Accessories - Filters, Bags, Tripods Forum
• The Soligor Series #1 - Photo.net Classic Manual Cameras Forum
• Soligor 3.9 - 4.8 / 28-70 mm S/M zoom -- any details?

Some history - Tokina was founded by some Nikon engineers who wanted to make zooms when all Nikon did were primes. Tokina and Pentax had a partnership where they co-designed a number of lenses, Pentax would do the K mounts while Tokina did the Canon and Nikon mounts. These were the 10-17, 12-24, 16-50 and the 50-135. That is one of the reasons why Tokina does not offer the PK mount any longer - that and Pentax is under a 5% market share.

Since you are into using other lens mounts on your Canon - and you want to remain with the Canon body, you might want to consider this. Zeiss had a partnership with Pentax for a short time - this resulted in the K28/f2 that you have. Zeiss really wanted a Japanese firm to manufacturer for them (cost containment). So they moved from Pentax to Yashica where Zeiss licensed their Contax camera brand to them, and they (Yashica) produced cameras and lenses (Zeiss) for them. Hence the Contax (Zeiss) lenses in the C/Y mount (which is almost identical (but not compatible) to the PK mount Zeiss helped Pentax design). Note that there is a C/Y mount adapter for Canon that runs about $25. Yashica also had their own camera brand, that 1) suddenly switched to the C/Y mount and 2) their lens quality drastically improved. So, here is the part that you may be interested in....

Yashica no longer does cameras. Contax stopped production in 2005 (when they tried to go to digital). Essentially the C/Y mount is dead - but the high quality Zeiss glass is sought after by Canon folks and others that can change the mount to their camera bodies (see Leitax.com). That makes Yashica lenses very cheap (for the most part - the 15mm and 21mm still command a high price - their quality is very similar to Contax and the Canon folks recognize this). In the C/Y mount, they were the consumer glass available when compared to Contax. You might want to consider some of the Yashica lenses in the C/Y mount. They too would be manual lenses. But their glass is very good quality.

• Yashica SLR FAQ: What lenses are available?
• YashicaForum.com • View forum - Yashica Lenses
• Yashica - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Yashica C/Y ML lens database? - Photo.net Modern Film Cameras Forum
• Yashica / Contax lenses - Camerapedia
• Yashica Lens Thread - FM Forums

[48548]

The problem is all canon stuff is newer post 87 when they came out with the new eos mount, so with out contacts to run the lens you have no way to step the aperture down sine they are all electronic. So I assume the converters were for the older lens I think fd mount. I might look into a cheap Pentax digital body sometime.

[stevebrot]

Soligor...

Generic Japanese lenses of average reputation and variable performance imported into the U.S. by Allied Impex (also importer and later owner of Miranda). Back in the day Soligor lenses were attractively priced at a point below Vivitar and well below makers like Pentax. The lenses were rebranded product from established third-party makers and most were good by the standard of the day.

The company currently doing business under that name is headquartered in Germany and did not make the vintage lenses of the same name.


Steve


(FWIW, the history of Miranda, Soligor, and Pallas lenses and cameras is somewhat complex with quite a bit of cross-branding of product.)

[48548]

I found that on Wikipedia as well.

[stevebrot]

I found that on Wikipedia as well.

Indeed. There are also several threads on this site. The question about Soligor comes up every once in awhile and the above is pretty much my standard answer.


Steve

[titrisol]

Nice kit!
The 50 and 28 are awesome lenses, I love both.

On the zooms, the tokina ATX lensese used to be really good! so now go and wnjoy them