Wide Angle Advice, Please

I'm looking for a solution for my wide angle needs. I have a K1000 and a KX and would like a 24 to whatever zoom. So, my questions:

1) What choices are available?
2) I now have a Vivitar 24 but there are no detents at the 1/2 stops and the aperture won't stay between stops without holding it. Very frustrating. Do other lenses have this problem?
3) Are these zoom choices constant aperture?
4) I also have two Nikon FAs. Should I consider Nikon lenses instead?

I've got an Exakta Varioplan 18-28mm F 1:4 -1:4,5.
The stops are 22,16,11,8,5.6,4 and will stay in between.
It's an PKA lens, solid crafted, like new, nearly 2 years old.
For 50€ plus postage from Germany you can have it.

-Linus-

As far as Pentax is concerned, you have a choice of three flavours of 24-50 (M, A and F), or 24-90 FA.

Generally, the 24-50s are regarded favourably, but are no longer available new, and the 24-90 is excellent, though not cheap.

My general view of zooms is that you get what you pay for, and older ones with a high zoom range should be avoided like the plague. Fortunately, 24-50 is a very short range.

Variable aperture is standard on almost all zooms nowadays except the most expensive. Bear in mind that it helps to reduce both weight and cost, so there are pros as well as cons.

If lens quality is your main consideration, there is no point moving to Nikon or Canon. Those makes do however offer a very wide range of lenses, though the good ones are not cheap, and the cheap ones are not good.

Unless you are a sports photographer who needs fast, long, lenses, perhaps with image stabilisation, Pentax should suit you fine.

G

I would certainly stick with Pentax lenses.

The SMC Pentax 24mm f2.8 is superb and highly sought after.

The SMC Pentax-M 24-35mm f3.5 is also an excellent lens, really the first of the wide zooms to be viable in terms of quality.

The SMC Pentax-A 24-50mm is as good, with a slightly wider zoom range.

The more recent 24-90mm autofocus lens is superb quality but has a variable aperture. It also takes 67mm filters, whereas the older manual focus zooms take a more modest 58mm.

Finally, if you like ultra-wide photography how about the autofocus 20-35mm? I don't have one of these, but it's an interesting lens with a good reputation.

I have the 20mm f/4 M lens, it's well regarded and sharp as a tack. You can find them used on ebay because of all the lazy people with sooper-dooper auto everything cameras, who are afraid to focus and meter manually!

I use old M lenses even on my digital *st D, and they're still as sharp as the day I bought them!!

I agree, my 24mm f2.8 A gives me fantastic front to back sharpness at f8 and smaller.

I didn't realise these lenses were so sought after though - any idea what a near-mint 24/2.4 A with original lens cap and hard case would be likely to fetch on the market these days? I bought it for £70 some years back.

I would agree that the M20/4 was reasonbly sharp. However, it does suffer very badly from distortion. Although more expensive, the A20/2.8 is a far far better and one of the best corrected ultra wides available.

Kim

There is indeed distortion with the SMC Pentax-M 20mm f4, but it is terrifically compact and convenient, and with landscape photography the distortion doesn't really matter too much. I wouldn't use it for architectural record photography though....

Hi all

Following on from some of the comments, I've been looking into a decent wide-angle at 24mm, and have compiled something of a shortlist for which I'd appreciate some input:

1 - Sigma 24mm f/2.8 'superwide' - Relatively cheap but rare as hen's teeth in PK mount. Quality reported to be very good for a non-EX sigma lens.
2 - Tamron 24mm f/2.5 - around £70, as it's adaptall lens mount no problem. Getting a bit old, and hence many quite battered examples.
3 - Pentax 24mm f/2.8 - Quality excellent, but rare and quite pricey.

Much as I'd like the Pentax, I think the tamron could be the one to go for as budgets must be adhered to (the missus seems awfully determined to get the bathroom redone!)

I've been toying with the idea for some time, but have been making do with a Sigma 28-70 EX zoom at the wide end. It's actually pretty good, but 28mm has a few distortions and I'd sometimes appreciate a little wider focal length. All comments welcome regarding my shortlist.

Matt

The worst scenario is that you buy the cheaper lens, you're not happy and then end up having to buy the Pentax lens anyway. We got wise to this after a while, and made a decision to stick with Pentax. It's cheaper in the end, and much more satisfactory.

I agree the SMC Pentax 24mm f2.8 is a bit pricey just now, but they can be found in very nice condition from time to time. I've just picked up a mint one for £125, more than I wanted to pay but it is in exceptional condition. (The asking price was £150)

You might find the SMC Pentax-A 24-50mm f4 for less than that, but not much less, and that is a fine lens as well.

It's worth watching eBay very carefully, eventually the high prices may fall a little as the mood switches to some other desireable lens!

Matt, the only one that I can comment on is the Tamron - surprise, surprise!

I have model 01B but I think it's optically identical to the later 01BB that had the plastic window over the focus/aperture scales - the difference is purely cosmetic and updates the appearance of the lens to match the styling of most AF lenses.

It is a very good lens and a fine substitute for a marque lens, I'm sure you wouldn't be disappointed.
I paid £65 for mine from Jessops (second-hand), quite a few years ago and I expect you'll be able to pick one up from eBay for less - don't forget you'll need a PKA Adaptall2 mount too!

I just ordered the Zenitar 16mm f2.8 wide angle lens. It has some great reviews from users on dpreview. It is fully manual, and I will use it on my DS.

Well, the M 20 f/4 may have a touch of barrel distortion, but the new Lens Correction filter in PS CS2 seems to have a handle on it.

Even the tiny bit of distortion that the 16-45 has at 16mm is easily cancelled out. CS2 is truly awesome!!

Just a PS to Arthur's post... Panatools (from here: http://www.path.unimelb.edu.au/~dersch/ ) was always able to correct distortions (and a good deal else besides). Has a very "math" interface, which isn't too difficult to sort out if you read the instructions.
Works in Photoshop Elements, and all versions of Photoshop

CS2's lens correction is nice though
Matt