Hi Marcus ... Truth is, much of the Pentax "fast glass" pales in comparison to the Leica lenses when used at wide apertures. Likewise the Nikon lenses. I also don't think you'll be saving much money by buying fast Pentax lenses.
For example, unless you've got a lot of time to hunt around for a bargain, the manual focus 85mm lenses from Pentax will run from about $500.00 to $1,000.00. An excellent quality Leica 90mm will fall somewhere in between. You get sharper images at wider apertures, smaller lenses, and a quieter system. Moving to 35mm, the 35mm/2.0 is not too easy to find, and doesn't really start producing high quality images until it's stopped down quite a bit, and is huge, making hand-held shooting a problem for some people. OTOH, the pre-ASPH 35mm Summicron, which is not much bigger than a Pentax rear lens cap, will cost a little more, maybe as much as $600.00 or more depending on condition, but offers far better results at wider apertures. The M28/2.0 is a weak performer until the mid-apertures, and the slightly better A28/2.0 isn't a lot better. If Leica prices are still too high, you might want to consider the Cosina-Voigtlander lenses. They are small, light, optically excellent (many die-hard Leica users swear by them), fast, and they can be used on both Leica M (with an adapter) and screw-mount bodies, as well as the less expensive Voigtlander bodies, giving you a lot of flexibility now and down the line. http://www.cosina.com/Voigtlander.htm http://www.cosina.com/lenses.htm Marcus wrote: > > Hello, I recently have been looking for a new 35mm > system. I need fast lenses for shooting mostly wide > aperture and almost exclusively hand held with > Kodachrome 64 and 200, while traveling. So I need > lenses that are relatively sharp wide open. My first > choice would be 35mm f2 Summicron and 90mm f2.8 > Tele-Elmarit, but I can not afford even used Leica > gear. > > In the past I had a Pentax Spotmatic SP and I really > enjoyed it. Now I have been looking at Pentax gear > because I think it is very undervalued and the lenses > have great coatings. But I am finding that while most > lenses are inexpensive, the ones that would best serve > my needs cost as much or more than the competition. > > So while we can all agree that Pentax makes great > stuff, can anyone tell me if my money will truly be > spent best on Pentax or should I keep looking? > > In Pentax I would like: Two MX bodies, M 28mm f2, A > 50mm f1.4, and K 85mm f1.8. > > I can not even find the 28mm f2 except for at B&H used > for $375. The 85mm is pretty hard to find to and I > think at least that much money. > > Now from Nikon, while I prefer the MX, there is the > FM2, the 35mm f1.4, 85mm f2, and even a 24mm f2. These > are all readily available on the used market, and the > prices are not driven up so much by collectors, which > I believe is the case with the Pentax lenses. > > Can anyone comment directly on the comparative > performance of these lenses, or offer any advice? -- Shel Belinkoff mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://home.earthlink.net/~belinkoff/ - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
