Better lens??

[rdc1534]

I have a Pentax F 35-80 zoom on my zx-30

what would be "better glass" at a moderate cost

in the same zoom range?

cost is a factor so let that apply to your recommendation

[maxpometun]

The best you can get in terms of optical quality and cost is a 50mm F2/F1.7/F1.4 lens. Brand new Pentax A 50mm f2 is $60 at B&H and in terms of optical quality you just can't beat it. You can probably find used F1.7 or even F1.4 lens at reasonable prices. If you still want a zoom, I suggest you look for Pentax 24-90mm/3.5-4.5 or 28-105mm/3.2-4.5 or old powerzoom 28-105/4-5.6 (avoid new silver FA 28-105/4-5.6).

Cheers,

Max.

[unca mikey]

Your ZX-30 has the "crippled" Kaf mount (like my *ist), so stay away from F lenses, or

any Pentax lens without an "A" aperture setting.

 

I replaced the original FA J 28-80 kit lens with a FA 28-105 3.2-4.5 for about $200,

new, and have been very pleased with it. I have not seen this zoom on the used market.

 

I second the recommendation for a 50mm, if you can find one at a good price. Since

Pentax doesn't seem to be making 50mm primes any more (other than the f2 A lens),

prices on the used market have skyrocketed. I lucked out and got my FA 50mm f1.7 for

$90 last year, before the recent insanity.

[unca mikey]

Oh, one other thing. I looked at the FA 24-90, but decided against it for two reasons:

quite a bit more expensive, and much heavier, 12.5 oz. The ZX-30, like my *ist, is a

small, light camera, and I think the 24-90 is so heavy that the camera/lens combo would

not be very well balanced, and cumbersome to use.

 

That 35-80 is very light. Unless you are willing to spend several hundred dollars, I don't

think you'll see a dramatic improvement in optical quality. My biggest complaint against

the 35-80 is that it doesn't go wide enough. Maybe an equally inexpensive 28-80, just

for more coverage?

[bruce_rubenstein]

For a number of resons, there were few buyers of Pentax AF prime lenses. Now there are hardly any of them are even for sale new, and hard to find used. There is no longer any such thing as $100 50mm, AF Pentax lens. 50/1.7 start at around $150 and 50/1.4's go for upwards of $300.

[garver]

What is the problem with F lenses on cripple-mount bodies? I thought both F and A lenses worked fine, since they have the A setting and the linear aperture mechanism.

 

I've never been a zoom lens owner, but I have shot with them before and I do know that you get what you pay for with zooms. If you buy a more expensive Pentax zoom lens (which will probably have a larger aperture and be bigger and heavier), it will be better. The way to get good results cheaply is prime lenses, as others have indicated, although shooting with primes does, I guess, require a different way of thinking than zooms. (I've always been a prime person, so to me it's the only way)

 

I would suggest, if someone can verify for me that A lenses work well on your body, that you might try an A lens. Having recently purchased an ist DS, I've found it to be quite true that Pentax AF primes are difficult to find, but there are a decent number of A lenses, although I think the ist DS may be driving them up in price as well. The A-50/1.7 is not too expensive - one sold for $52 yesterday on ebay (as compared to $122 for an F, and $207 for an FA in the last week). There are also some A zooms that might merit consideration - and buying manual focus is another way you could get quality glass for less money. I just yesterday bought a manual focus lens for my autofocus camera.

 

The A-50/1.7 is considered one of the sharpest 50s. It might be worth a try for you. You might also consider an A-35/2.8, although I think this would be much more expensive.

[garver]

I forgot to mention this - I can't speak for the lens in general, but I have an A 50/2, and it is not great. They are incredibly cheap used, though, and I'm sure far better than most zooms, and definitely worth it for $20, but I would pay $50 for a used A-50/1.7 before I would pay $60 for a new A-50/2.

[Jochen_S]

I have such a lens too and am astonishingly pleased with it on the *istD.

Good lenses might be a 35 f2.0, 50 f2.8 macro (better get a FA, my F seems to be a dog) some 3rd party 90mm f2.something macro.

 

I doubt there are any really very good zooms around at all, and you meant resolution, when you asked for something better, didn't you?

[unca mikey]

Oops, you're right, F lenses should be fine. I got confused, quite easy for me! LOL Just

in case the OP doesn't know, a great online resource is Bojidar's Pentax K mount site,

which goes into detail on mounts, lenses, bodies, which works with what, etc.

 

http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/

 

Now, about zooms: I started piddling with photography in the 60s, and the conventional

wisdom was that primes are far superior to zooms, and that stuck with me for decades.

But for most amateur photography, I think that today's modern zooms are great

performers, and are terrific for those of us who like to travel very light.

[roman_sonnleitner1]

The F 35-80 is actually quite good for a zoom lens of its price range.

If you want something both wider and longer, you might look for the FA 28-105/4-5.6, I'm quite satisfied with mine. The FA 28-70/4 AL is usually considered the 'best' normal zoom in the Pentax line-up, but I don't have any personal experience. Another good normal zoom is the Tokina AT-X 28-85, but that one is manual-focus only.

 

Or you might just get a few good primes to go along with your zoom (at moderate cost you won't find anything better, anyway, unless you need a longer zoom range, like in the 28-106) - how about a few manual focus A-series primes, I only have M-series (which won't work on your camera), so I can't give you details, but a 50/1.7 or 1.4 might be a good start, and would compliment the zoom very well, since it would allow you to should in much darker conditions tahn your 'slow' zoom.

 

Here's a link with some personal opinions on various Pentax lenses:

http://stans-photography.info/

[franka t.l.]

The best option is , as many others stated , a fix focus 50mm, I too own and used the SMC-A 50/2.0 and I find it a great lens ( back then I got it for only $30.00 NEW ). Otherwise look for the FA 28-70/4.0 which somehow did not make it too high up the price hype and still can be get for reasonable price; its known to perform quite well on film. Some had words about its performance in a DSLR although I do not seem to get the same bad results