5+ Best Vintage Pentax Lenses | Unrivaled Guide 2022

One of the advantages of choosing a Vintage Pentax SLR is undoubtedly the compatibility of the camera body with all the lenses produced over the years by the parent company.

Pentax in fact adopts the same bayonet mount (K-Mount) as always, with the exception of the old lenses with screw mount (M42), however compatible via an adapter.

Compatibility is made more interesting by the presence of the stabilizer inside the camera body, which in fact makes any optics stabilized, even vintage, and by the presence of some features that make the use of old optics much easier than expected (for example the famous green button that helps in exposure).

But how to choose a vintage lens? What are the models with the best value for money, and what are the abbreviations to take into account?

Best Vintage Pentax Lenses

If your camera lens is dusty, is it not a high-quality lens?

Today we are talking about vintage portrait lenses. Modern equipment makes it easier for photographers to take great pictures. However, they can lack the creative elements and feel of vintage lenses.

While there are many filters and edits that can give a vintage feel to modern images, the best way to achieve vintage-style images is to use vintage lenses.

Best Vintage Pentax Lenses | Comparison Table 2022

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2022

The easiest series to find online

M Series: These are totally manual lenses, therefore without any automatism. They generally have a good build, and all come with an aperture ring.

They are usually found at rather low prices. All models manufactured after 1971 by Pentax are treated with an SMC (super multi-coated) anti-reflective lens coating.

Serie A: Lenses that allow you to keep all the automatisms of your reflex camera (time control and aperture for example), except the autofocus. They generally have a good build, and all have an aperture ring with an “A” (auto) position.
Prices are quite low, except for some highly sought-after models. All models manufactured after 1971 by Pentax are treated with an SMC (super multi-coated) anti-reflective lens coating.

F Series: Lenses belonging to the first generation of autofocus, allow you to maintain all the automatisms of the reflex and are equipped with an aperture ring with position “A”. The autofocus is not super fast and in some cases, it is quite noisy. Constructively speaking, these are fairly robust lenses, but apparently more uncomfortable and awkward than the previous series. The prices are logically higher than the counterparts without autofocus.

FA Series: Lenses equipped with second-generation autofocus, similar to the Fs, vary slightly in construction (I find them slightly more robust) and in external appearance. Autofocus is often quite noisy, but it still depends on the model under consideration. From a constructive point of view, I point out the fact that in the lenses of this series tested the conformation of the focus ring makes, from my point of view, manual focus quite uncomfortable.

Note that some FA series lenses are still in production.

The acronyms adopted by Pentax

• SMC = Super Multi-Coating indicates lenses equipped with the homonymous anti-reflective coating on lenses.
• * = with the asterisk (indicating the “star” series) Pentax indicates the optics of a particular value.
• AL = optics with aspherical lenses.
• SDM = optics with ultrasonic motor.
• IF = Internal Focus (focusing is done by moving the lens inside the lens).
• ED = use of Extra (Low) Dispersion glasses to reduce chromatic aberrations.
• WR = use of lens design (Weather Resistant) which protects the lens from rain and humidity.

What is missing?

In this post, I have deliberately omitted to talk about the DA and D-FA series lenses, as they are lenses designed for use on digital SLRs, and therefore are not to be considered vintage.

The Vintage that I recommend spending little

Especially with the recent presentation of the new Pentax Full-Frame, it could be a good idea, especially for those starting out or on a tight budget, to buy some vintage lenses, which allow you to save while still having excellent quality and still covering the full-frame.

Unfortunately, I have not personally tried all the lenses produced by Pentax (indeed .. to be honest, I have tried very few), but among those, I have tried, I can certainly recommend some, that I find perfect lenses for quality/price ratio.

An economical and quality 50mm

The Pentax SMC-A 50mm f 1.7 is an excellent lens, which is used for around 55-60 euros, the construction is very solid, and the focus (manual only) is pleasant thanks to the very wide and comfortable ring. Since it is equipped with an aperture ring it can be used upside down to obtain macro photos and has excellent sharpness already at full aperture.

For those who want to save money, there is the M version, which is totally manual, or the f 2 version (which, however, I have never tried).

For those wishing to spend a little more, there is the f 1.4 version which is described by all as excellent but has a much higher cost.

A vintage tele-zoom

Another lens that left me extremely satisfied with the value for money is the Pentax 70-210, available both in version A (about 70/80 euros at the time of writing) and FA (about 100/120 euros). It is a zoom with excellent sharpness, which compares well (and in my opinion wins) with the various modern economic zooms, such as the Tamron 70-300 or the Sigma 70-300.

It should be noted that in the FA model the autofocus (which is quite slow) is very noisy.
However, in my opinion, it is a best-buy.