Pentax mf lens prices.

When looking at KEH for a short to medium lens for my freebie K1000 body I see that prices are dam near as much as a AF lens for my primary carry Nikon. I really can't see spending so much on a lens for this body that I would like to occasionally carry with. Since I'm not covered in 24mm I checked and found I could find a better deal on a Nikon AF 2.8 and it's a hell of a lens. What justifies such high Pentax prices? Available quanities?

I have a lot of M42 and a few K mount Pentex, I had a long history with Nikon, F, F2 and F3, the Pentex's, from my point of view, are just as sharp and as well make any Nikon lens that I have ever owned. But as you mentioned, not sold in as large numbers as Nikon or for that matter Cannon.

What the market will bear.

Easy answer: Digital

Since you can actually use all the old Pentax lenses on the digital SLRs relatively easily, prices have been gradually going up over about the past 2 or 3 years. Some of the most desired lenses actually sell for more now than they did new. It doesn't help that Pentax dropped a lot of the focal lengths they used to make, so people have to go to the used market to find them. The 50/1.4, 35/2, and 28/2.8 still show up at B&H from time to time, but generally sell out within a few hours of being posted. The Limited lenses are nice, but I would be willing to trade in some of the build quality for something like the basic Nikkor-D line; e.g. a 85/1.8 or 24/2.8 for $300-400USD. Not everyone wants small (dim) pancake lenses, but I guess that's where Pentax figures they can carve out a niche.