Return to Pentax

Hi left Pentax a year ago selling 10D and lenses. Bought canon 5DMkII and 3 L series professional lenses one being the 70-200 2.8 L IS. Owned MX & ME Super film in the 70s. Missed pentax so repurchased my 50mm FA 1.4 lens and ordered K7D. Do the recent prime lenses from pentax compare with the other mainstream camera/lens makers for image quality and sharpness. Interested in the wide angle zooms around 10 or 16 mm makers and are pentax better than say tamron or sigma or even samsung.I particularly like the inbuilt shake reduction of pentax as the canon IS professional range cost 1000s. I am looking for the best sharpness available whilst retaining full autofocus. Thanks

Welcome back Graham,

Enjoy your new K-7 when it arrives.

The latest Pentax primes compare very well with other manufacturer's offerings. I have a couple of FA primes (28 and 50) and the 35 Ltd.

If you are looking for a wide angle zoom I'm sure the DA 12-24 would be your first port of call. A very highly respected lens. I don't own one but many on the forum do and I'm sure they will chip in with comments

For primes, the DA Ltd and FA Ltd are all great lenses. Look at reviews on Photozone.de to get an idea of how they perform. I don't think it's just about comparing with other manufacturers; remember Pentax is an optical company and capable of making some of the very best lenses out there.

In addiiton, Cosina-Voigtlander make great manual focus primes for PKA - 20mm, 40mm and 58mm. All are excellent and give the Ltds a good run for their money in both build and image quality.

I have not used it, but the Pentax 12-24 is generally very highly rated by owners, and covers a very useful range unless you are seriously into superwide territory.

Best equivalent to your 70-200L would be the 50-135 f2.8 DA*, which performs brilliantly.

The DA 12-24mm is probably the sharpest lens I have ever owned, and the DA* 50-135mm is a close second.

K.

Pro-master & Pentax master have all recommended Pentax DA 12-24mm F4 ED AL (IF) Zoom. A quick look on the internet can get this around mid £500s additionally filter size is 77mm that matches most of my canon lenses / cokin filters. Thanks for the information. )

Graham,

I can't vouch for the 12-24 for want of personal experience. However the 50-135 is excellent, as are the FA31, DA 40 and DA 70 primes.

The 12-24 is an exceptional lens in my experience. As Kris says, remarkably sharp for a zoom. It also deals with distortion extremely well. I think the consensus is that it outperforms the Sigma & Tamron. Don't know how it compares to Canikon lenses, though the dpreview of the the Tokina version (basically the same lens) of the Nikon mount (here: link) was very positive. I can't recommend it highly enough.

It will be very interesting to see which kit you prioritise when you get your K-7. A lot of people seem to pine for full-frame; you'll have the option of either! I wonder if you'll be tempted by the Pentax 645D when it arrives!

Plus (because of the difference in crop factor) it is only slightly less wide than the Tokina 11-16 on Canon (11 x 1.6 crop = 17.6mm, 12 x 1.5 crop = 18mm)