WIDE ANGLE FOR PENTAX 67

If I want to buy a wide angle lens for the Pentaz 67 which one would

be best, the 55mm or the 75mm? I already have the 105mm as my

standard lens and the 176mm as my portrait lens. I don't do much work

as interior architecture and enjoy doing landscape photography very

much. I am not a professional photographer either and do most of my

work in B&W.

If I were you I would buy the 75/4 as this would leave enough gap for the 45 which is the only lense that can give you enough DOF for real near-far landscapes compositions.

I have the 55 it is tack sharp all the way to f:22 but it is too close to the 75 and maybe I am going to sell it.

 

This of course is IMHO and may not necessarily reflects your needs.

 

Cheers

 

Roberto

The best way to do this is to think of the 35mm equals.The 75mm is equal to 35mm lens(approx),the 55mm is equal to the 28mm lens (approx).Do you shoot more with either lens in 35mm?I own the 90mm as a normal,so I was inclined to get the 55mm(75 & 90 are real close).The 55mm F4(mine is the older model) is an awesome lens!Ive shot landscapes to group shots at all apertures,with amazing results.BTW,there is an entire forum for the P67's here at PN,their archives have some insight & user reports.As far as glass quality,for get about it!All the Takumars are very sharp once you stop them down a couple stops!

Go for the 55mm lens and don't even look at the 75mm lens, which isn't

anywhere close in quality terms. The brand new 75mm lens is supposed to be

a bit better than the old ( still produced model ) but it is much more expensive.

 

I used the 55mm and 75mm lens and found that the 75mm always seemed to

produce slightly fuzzy pictures, which were never as sharp as I would have

liked. I sold it last year with zero regrets. Along with a similar 135mm lens,

which was also softer than I would have liked. These were both Takumar

lenses, which were in theory exactly the same design as the newer Pentax

badged versions that are still in production.

 

I have the 45mm, 55mm, 105mm and 200mm Pentax lenses for my P67II and

that is pretty close to ideal for my needs. I wouldn't choose between either the

45mm or 55mm, but budget for buying the 45mm at a later date. I would

reckon that I use them both, much more so than the 105mm or 200mm lenses,

but if pushed I would say that I find the 55mm lens the most useful focal length

if you only want one wide angle lens.

Since you already have long lenses but have no wider lenses, and shoot landscapes, consider the big 55-100mm zoom. That is if you can live with the weight of such a beast. I currently have an opposite problem to yours. I have the wide lenses but not any longs ones, 45mm, 55-100mm, 135mm. Note I

have the 2X converter but the sharpness seems poor so don't use it. I use the big zoom probably 80% of the time in my landscape work. Users consider it a sharp lens despite being a zoom. One thing that certainly helps is that it adds a lot of mass right at the camera body which will tend to reduce the shutter movement vibration effects. On the negative side additionally, at least mine does not focus distances quite at the infinity stop but instead a smidgeon in front so that I always focus distances manually which is not really a problem for me. Also there is a lot of difference between 45 and 55 than the numbers suggest so a 45mm in the bag is often a necessity. -dave

I think that Allan must have had a bad sample of the 75mm. I have tested some 75s on an Edmunds resolution chart and can't believe how sharp they are. The 75 is the lens that stays on my Pentax 67s for landscape photography. The old ones are just as good as the new ones so save some money and buy an old one.

I have the 45 and old version 75. You�ve been getting varying reports on the optics of the 75 and I�ll share mine too! When accumulating optics for the P67, I�ve had 3 different 75�s go through my hands. 2 were a bit soft but the one I�ve kept is quite good.

 

The 45 is nice performer but I catch myself wishing I had the newer 55 as the reports are always so glowing and I�m always thinking that I could have gotten by with the 55 for almost all of what I�ve used the 45 for. If you tend to do work with interiors or need the foreground to infinity depth, I�d lean toward the 45 but if not, the gratifying (sounding anyway�.no personal experience) optics of the 55 might be the choice.

I'd have to agree with Craig...I've been using the later-produced 55/4 SMC Pentax, and it's blisteringly sharp...you could cut yourself...

I have the newer version 45mm and the older version 75mm. I wouldn't be without either one and I don't know how I would select one over the other. I do think I would choose the 45 over the 55 if I were going to own the 75mm as well. There is no way that the 55 will substitute for both the 45 and 75mm lenses. I have never owned a Pentax 67 lens that wasn't sharp, old or new model. Good luck.