No doubt, Pentax's fast glass is often out of reach to someone on a budget. My advice is to seriously consider Konica. They made an outstanding 85/1.8 and various fine, fast wide angles that can be had for a fraction of the Pentax price. Ditto for third-party lenses in Konica mount, such as the outstanding Vivitar Series 1 135/2.3.
You can also get a Pentax SLR and equip it with sharp third-party lenses. All the 90mm macros are very sharp, though admittedly the fastest is no faster than f/2.5. There are no readily available third-party K-mount 35/2s; Vivitar made a fine 35/1.9 but I've seen only one specimen in K mount in four years. At f/2, the sharpest Pentax 35/2 is probably the FA (autofocus), followed by the original, scarce K (SMC). Each goes for about $200 to $250 used. For a fast 28 for less than $150, go for the Vivitar 28/2 Close Focus (55mm filter). However, as Shel recently pointed out, the drawback to using third-party lenses is that they yield different color casts, their flare resistance is usually not up to Pentax's gold standard, and they sometime focus the "wrong way." Paul Franklin Stregevsky 13 Selby Court Poolesville, Maryland 20837-2410 [EMAIL PROTECTED] H (301) 349-5243 - 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 .
