Pentaxians... Any out there?

Hey there, im also a pentax fan and used for many years a pentax mx and a full range of lenses that i still have. The problem is my eyesight since i cant see the whole viewfinder on the mx to focus acurate. Which of the film pentaxes has the best glasses friendly viewfinder ?
 
The LX has a couple of options: a standard prism with a wider diopter adjustment range ( FA1-W) and a system finder base with a revolving low magnification finder that mounts on it for lots of eye relief and the ability to use it looking down at the camera as well as at eye level. This does add considerable size and weight. These accessories will be a bit hard to find now but they are out there. If you're lucky the FA1-W will have enough diopter correction to use without glasses and still see clearly, and since you can see the f/stop and shutter speed in the finder you can set controls at eye level. For any of the other Pentax K mount cameras that I am familiar with, there were correction diopters made that slide over the eyepiece in a rectangular frame. If you have severe astigmatism you might be able to adapt one of these. The downside of the high magnification finder of the MX was always the difficulty of using it with glasses. The LX with standard prism is a bit more friendly for glasses than the MX, as well as being quieter and more easily hand holdable at slow shutter speeds due to better mirror damping. It is bigger and heavier, if that makes a difference.
 
The K3-III produces very nice images, even in a cloudy and dreary day


I measured the light for the leaves in the Lside and chose to desaturate everything except the bird.
Mindo, Ecuador, 2023
 
I just sent my pentax mx to get repaired since it started having problems and the lightmeter wasnt working. I am looking for a new 28mm lens to use it for street photography since i lost my smc 28 2.8 when i moved out and i cant seem to find it. Should i get the same lens or is there any better from pentax at almost the same size ? Since i almost always zone focus a little bigger focus distance would be welcome.
 
gzisis69 said:
... Should i get the same lens or is there any better from pentax at almost the same size ? ...
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The lens reviews over on pentax forums dot com might be helpful. Read, especially, the reviews of the K, M, and A versions of the 28mm f/2 and f/2.8 lenses used on film cameras.

rx7photog
 
Don't rule out the 28mm f/3.5 lenses, either. It was made in versions from the Super Takumar series to K-mount versions in the K and M series. The optical formula seems to have changed in nearly every version, starting with 7 elements in 6 groups in the original Super Takumar with 58mm filter size, to 7/7 in the later Super Takumar and S-M-C Takumar with 49mm filter thread, to 8/7 in the K-series, and to 6/6 in the M-series.

I have the S-M-C Takumar version and I find it excellent.

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gzisis69 said:
I just sent my pentax mx to get repaired since it started having problems and the lightmeter wasnt working. I am looking for a new 28mm lens to use it for street photography since i lost my smc 28 2.8 when i moved out and i cant seem to find it. Should i get the same lens or is there any better from pentax at almost the same size ? Since i almost always zone focus a little bigger focus distance would be welcome.
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I have both the M and the A 28/2.8 and the A seems to perform better wide open
It might be a result of variation between examples but if I had to chose I'd get another A
 
gzisis69 said:
I just sent my pentax mx to get repaired since it started having problems and the lightmeter wasnt working. I am looking for a new 28mm lens to use it for street photography since i lost my smc 28 2.8 when i moved out and i cant seem to find it. Should i get the same lens or is there any better from pentax at almost the same size ? Since i almost always zone focus a little bigger focus distance would be welcome.
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The mention of Pentax Forums lens reviews is a great one, they are a fantastic resource. I have looked into this a little as well, since the M 28mm 2.8 I briefly owned really didn't encourage me on APS-C or FF K-1. Very soft outside of complete center. Consensus seems to be that the K series (or just SMC) 28mm f3.5 is really good, but it's a little larger and heavier.

Then, if you have funds for a more expensive lens, the FA 31mm f1.8 Limited is a really superb lens. It's not super light, but, for what it is, it's fairly small.
 
I decided to give the 28mm smc m 3.5 a try since its small, has a relative long focus range between 1,5m infinity and 0,7m so i can play a lot with the 3 distances. Ill come back with results but i dont know when exactly
 
Where would you suggest to send my pentax mx with the new lens for repair- lube so that i can get the best experience of them both ? I live in Germany
 
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