The K lenses are a bit bigger and a better fit on the KM, KX, K2, K1000. For the ME and MX, you want the smaller lenses as part of the matching kit.
And that's the real beauty of the M's. Carry a big, slow zoom or put the 50/1.4 on the camera and the M85/2.0 plus M150/3.5 in the bag. You've got a small, light, nice handling camera kit that won't kill your shoulder and has prime lens sharpness. (Updated today to the limiteds, 43mm & 77mm, plus the A20/2.8) I think the weight issue was an important one for Pentax as they tried to combat the encroachment of Zoom lenses in the '70's. Pentax was selling a full lens line and eschewing zooms, but getting killed at the camera counter by Vivitar and their zoom lenses. The sales point was always 'inferior zoom' sharpness. Eventually Pentax relented and added Zooms, but for a long time only the M zoom was the 40-80mm and that was introduced as by Pentax with an 'apology' on quality. In the screwmount Takumars, the only Zoom I know of was the 85-210mm and the list price was US$600+ (more than a 6x7 at the time!). Regards, Bob S. > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > I've also really wondered how much REALLY smaller and lighter the M > lenses are than the K lenses. At the extreme focal lengths it is quite > noticeable--the Ms weigh about half as much. In the more normal focal > length range they weigh about 75% of what the comparable K lens weighs. > My ideal 20/28/50/105/200 kit weighs about 3.5 pounds if K lenses and > 2.5 pounds if M lenses. That's 70% of the weight of the K lenses, but > the Ks are only an extra pound, and it's spread out over 5 > lenses.
