Nice lens for a K1000

[GeoffHill]

Hi there

I was out using my K1000 last week, and I quite like it, however, the lens with it (50mm f/2) is non coated, and has seen better days.

I've got no idea about k-mount lenses, so what should I be looking for Any recomendations for a good, sharp, fast replacement?

 

[Ian Grant]

All K mount 50mm f2 Pentax lenses are multi coated. From the mid 70's Pentax have used multi-coating on all their lenses.

Look for a Pentax M f1.7 or f1.4 they are slightly smaller.

Ian

 

[dynachrome]

I have two of the 50/2 SMC M lenses. They are nothing special but are OK if closed down a little. My favorite standard lens for my K1000 is the 55/1.8 SMC Pentax lens. This has the same optical design as the older screw mount 55/1.8 SMC lens. It's extremely sharp and well made. It was introduced along with the KX, KM amnd K2 models in 1975. Asahi also made a 55/2 which was sold as a budget lens. From what I have been able to tell it is the exact same lens as the f/1.8 model but is just marked f/2. I have this one too and it's also excellent. The 50/1.7 SMC M lens is smaller and lighter but I don't think it's any sharper than either of the 55mm lenses. My 50/1.4 is a Sears lens made by Ricoh. It seems sharp enough but I have not compared it to the original 50/1.4 SMC Pentax or the later 50/1.4 SMC M. If I am shooting with one of my K mount cameras and don't need the speed of the f/1.4 lens I will take one of the 55s.

 

[GeoffHill]

A quick scan of ebay shows the current 50 1.4 looking a bit plasticy, not really what im after. I like the feel of the K1000. It feels solid, and putting a plasticy lens on the front would loose this. The 50/2 feels solid, but is bashed about a bit, being 3rd hand.

A quick scan of ebay reveals no k mount 55mm lenses, other than this one

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RICOH-Riconar...VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

Are they any good? I quite like the new special edition 43mm. It looks like it would have the solid feel that I'm after. would this work with the k1000?

 

[Ian Grant]

Get a Pentax lens the build quality is better, they are easy to find, usually there a a few on ebay, just wait a little. I have a Chinon K mount f1.4 50mm lenseson a CE-4 and they are superb, well built and very sharp. I had 2 before, 25 years ago, which unfortunately were stolen.

Ian

 

[John Koehrer]

I'm not sure about the current offerings from Pentax but the older lenses were not cheaply made. For the AF stuff they need to be of a lighter construction to allow the AF to work.
I also don't recall Pentax making a 55mm in the K mount, but they did in screw mount.
You can check at the KEH site for what's available & pricing, even if you don't buy from them it's a good reference.

 

[shengja]

for a Pentax K1000

You have a 50mm f/2 lens, which is called a prime lens or the "normal" lens. This lens sees things pretty much the same way that you do. Most people are interested in getting a zoom lens for dramatic close-ups and some people are then interested in getting a wide angle lens. Some are also interestedin getting a macro lens. Since you are new to this whole thing, I'll make a couple of suggestions in the lower priced range. You can probably find similar lenses make by Sigma, Tamron or Tokina that will cost even less and they will be decent lenses. You will also find some Vivitar and Soligor lenses from that era that are okay to use. Even on the low-priced end, I prefer to but lenses made by the maker of the camera so that all of your lenses will work the same way. You won't have to focus to the left on one and focus to the right on another, etc. Genuine Pentax lenses may be labeled Pentax or Asahi Optical. Usually, they will also say "SMC" in the name.

Now, these lenses may not test up to the same quality as the really high-line Pentax lenses, but they are a starting point.

A nice zoom range is provided by the 75-300mm zoom. 300mm is a pretty good zoom, meaning there is a lot of magnification. It's like using a small telescope or some 6-power binoculars. It costs about $130.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controll...

If you want to have a multi-purpose lens that goes from wide angle to normal to telephoto, you can get the 28-105mm zoom. 85-to-105 is a nice focal range for portraits, so this lens covers that as well as giving you a decent wide angle all the way down to 28mm. This might actually be the best additional lens to buy, as you will get an idea about the differences between wide angle and telephoto. You can add a 1x or 2x "teleconverter" to get the range out to 315mm, too. The lens costs about $190.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controll...

Now - these are auto-focus lenses that I don't think the K1000 supports. You should still be able to use them in manual focus, but you could save more money by finding some all-manual lenses on eBay. You may have to ask someone's help in choosing them, though, because there are so many available.

 

[deryckb]

The Pentax K 55mm are much less common than the Pentax M or A 50mm f1.7. The A version has the advantage that they will work better with Pentax DSLRs, but I have read that A aperture control is not a robust. The 43 ltd will work on a K1000, but is a lot more expensive.

For more information have a look at http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/index.html and http://stans-photography.info/. Stan's pages are the result of discussions saved from the PDML (Pentax Discussion Mailing List), but has not been updated since 2001.

 

[pentaxuser]

Geoff. I have a copy of the 1982 Good Camera Guide. It rates the f2 as 6/10 saying "Image contrast fine but some softness wide open. The olverall camera rating is 7/10. Interestingly the Ricoh f2 lens as fitted to the KR-10 but a Pentax fit is rated at 9/10 which is the highest rating given in the book. Equalled but not beaten by only a couple of other lenses such as those fitted to 2 Nikons and the Contax.

FWIW The Ricoh KR 10 is rated the highest in the whole group on a value for money basis. It's funny how secondhand prices now have diverged from the new (as of 1982) prices. The Ricoh and several others are in the bargain buy group but the K1000 which was cheaper than the Ricoh then (£85 v £105) has become a collector's item by comparison.

pentaxuser

 

[dmr]

The Pentax K1000 has been my main camera for 20 years now.

Although I don't use the stock lens very often (I use a zoom mostly) I do recall from reading the photo mags back when I got this thing was that the stock 2.0 lens of that era was highly regarded, even though it was 1/2 to 1 stop slower than many normal lenses. I've used it wide open and it does perform well.

At times I think it would be nice to get a 1.4 or 1.2 and get that extra 1 or 1 1/2 stops, but since I really don't use the normal lens much, I just haven't done it.

 

[mabman]

I was given a Pentax 50/1.7 for Christmas (I actually got someone's entire ME Super kit, which is great as that's my current favourite K-mount camera), and although I've only run a couple of rolls through with it, I'd say it's a bit sharper than the 50/2, but not enough to make me jump around and shout it's praises from the heavens. It's main advantage to me is it's somewhat shorter than the 50/2, which makes it easier to fit in a camera bag with lens attached

My favourite Pentax-compatible lens is still the M42-mount Jupiter-9 (85/2) with an adapter, which of course has its limitations - all manual, and tighter focal length. For walk-around shots I gravitate toward either the 50/1.7 (because I happen to have one - the 50/2 would work as well) or a 28mm I picked up recently. I also picked up an M42-mount Industar-50-2 (50/3.5) that's a pancake, and cheap - haven't tried it out yet, though.