FF compatible lenses for K-1

One of the most frequent caveats from commentators of the K-1 is the lack of a wide range of full frame lenses in K-mount, so as it is a rainy bank holiday Monday I decided to see what is currently available on the market now:
Pentax - 12 no.
Sigma - 7 no.
Tamron - 5 no.
Samyang - 7 no.
Irix - 1 no. (2 variants)
Schneider - 3 no. (a bit esoteric these)
That is a total of 35 lenses in a range of primes and zooms, tilt-shift and macro, from 14mm up to 500mm.

Hi, we put together this list:
https://www.ephotozine.com/article/pentax-full-frame-and-aps-c-lenses-29263

We'd love to add any more we may have missed,

Thanks

Josh

Well, there's all the old lenses that you've missed out, or is the list meant to be just current ones?

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The list is covering those currently available new.

The longer list might contain many hundreds.....

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Best regards, John

True, but I'd rather see Pentax lenses listed that you can get for pennies than 3rd party lenses that cost a packet.

Still, it's not that sort of a list.

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One thing I've wondered, does anyone know why Pentax continued to produce a small number of FA series lenses after the last film SLR was discontinued, and produced them alongside the DA range?

Was it the case that those in particular were seen as still required on aps-c for some reason ..... Surely the ongoing demand from actual film SLR users could never have justified it?

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My Guides to the Pentax Digital Camera Flash Lighting System : Download here from the PentaxForums Homepage Article .... link
Pentax K7 with BG-4 Grip / Samyang 14mm f2.8 ED AS IF UMC / DA18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL WR / SMC A28mm f2.8 / D FA 28-105mm / SMC F35-70 f3.5-4.5 / SMC A50mm f1.7 / Tamron AF70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD macro / SMC M75-150mm f4.0 / Tamron Adaptall (CT-135) 135mm f2.8 / Asahi Takumar-A 2X tele-converter / Pentax AF-540FGZ (I & II) Flashes / Cactus RF60/X Flashes & V6/V6II Transceiver

Probably simply that people kept buying them. Do you remember the 50mm f/1.4 fever that struck here a couple of years back? It's an ideal portrait focal length of course, on APS-C. The Limited lenses were also legendary for quality and they still have it today. If they sell, then why not keep them going.

Of course now they all have a new lease of life with the K-1. Unless it was a Long Game and the intention was always there, so they were kept at the ready.

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Best regards, John

To answer your question Nigel, the FA lenses that continued to be produced had no direct DA/DA* substiture, the DA35f2.4 doesn't quite replace the FA f2 version, and the FA50 f1.4 has no direct replacement; the 200 and 300 were replaced by DA*, and the DA*55 somewhat occupies the slot vacated by the FA*85.

Now that the K-1 has at long last hit the shelves I would possibly expect the old FA versions superseded by HD D-FA variants with in-lens AF.

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AKA Welshwizard/PWynneJ
Assorted Pentax/Nikon/Mamiya stuff

That makes sense, thanks, plus of course the matter that Pentax must have believed they would keep selling, as John implied. Lets hope we do get the modern DC motors and HD coatings in updated versions for the future!

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My Guides to the Pentax Digital Camera Flash Lighting System : Download here from the PentaxForums Homepage Article .... link
Pentax K7 with BG-4 Grip / Samyang 14mm f2.8 ED AS IF UMC / DA18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL WR / SMC A28mm f2.8 / D FA 28-105mm / SMC F35-70 f3.5-4.5 / SMC A50mm f1.7 / Tamron AF70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD macro / SMC M75-150mm f4.0 / Tamron Adaptall (CT-135) 135mm f2.8 / Asahi Takumar-A 2X tele-converter / Pentax AF-540FGZ (I & II) Flashes / Cactus RF60/X Flashes & V6/V6II Transceiver

The only way to see if a lens is full frame compatible is not to rely on someone's untested data but to try the lens and see. Take the DA70mm f2.4 limited for example which isn't on that list. This proves to be perfectly fit for full frame use, The only non full frame aspect regarding the 70mm is that it sets the camera to crop mode!
I've just taken an image of a newspaper (full double page spread) in room light, hand held at 1/80sec, full aperture (f2.4), ISO 1600 and cropped off all but the bottom left hand corner 982 pixels from the 7360 present in it's width (showing what Photoshop calls Actual Pixels.) This is quite a test for any lens in not ideal conditions and this is the result.


Stopping down, putting the camera on a tripod and using a lower ISO would presumably make it much sharper but for normal shooting it's probably no worse than using the FA77mm Limited. I certainly wouldn't feel the need to rush out to swap it over for that FA equivalent.

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John K

For reference, this was the full image from which the corner above was taken:

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John K