Pentax 645 wide lenses

[MattBurt]

I have a reasonably complete 645D kit built up with 35mm to 200mm covered by a couple of zooms and a prime at either end.
I like it but want to eventually get a longer and a wider lens. The longer end has several readily available choices so for that I just need to keep an eye out for the right deal when I have the money. No problem.

The wide end is harder to fill in. For zooms, there is the 33-55 which looks nice but I already have a 35 prime that is pretty close. A couple mm wider would be nice but I'd rather take it into the 20's. There my only choices seem to be the 28-45 which looks amazing but it way out of my price range for now. I'm watching for a good deal and saw one a few days ago when I wasn't in a position to buy yet so I'll keep watching for that one and saving my pennies. But I'd like to go even wider which takes me to the 25mm prime which Pentax made two versions but apparently not very many of them and they are now out of production. I never see them for sale so it's been hard to find one and when I do I'm sure it won't be cheap. I probably also need more money than I currently have which will eventually come with some patience.

This makes me wonder what else there might be that I could adapt to this mount. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm relatively new to MF so I imagine there is a lot out there I don't know about. I'd prefer a native lens for simplicity but if the lens and/or price was right I'd consider something a little harder to use if I could get the results I like. I saw a Hasselblad adapter on eBay last night so that might be one way to do this. But I don't know the lens lineup and I imagine those wider lenses are harder to find for the bigger sensor/film MF formats.

Anyone got any suggestions or ideas I should consider? Thanks!

[alatreille]

Hi Matt,

Just checked out your site.  Nice work...broken collar bone.  Not fun with the 645D I'm sure!  Heal up soon mate!

re: wides.  I've never shot with the 25, but I've just had the 28-45 on loan from and really enjoyed it, though it is a beast of a lens!

If you go for the 28-45 you could probably ditch the 35.  Even though I love my 35, there is very little difference between the zoom and the prime.  The 28 is equivalent to about 21 in 35mm fov.

From all reports I have read the 33-55 will not provide you the same quality of file as the 35.

Not sure if that helped, but it if you are patient, it wouldn't surprise me if we see another wide wide prime arrive in the next 12-18 months!

Cheers

Andrew

[MattBurt]

Thanks, it confirms what I suspected. I need time to save anyway so I'll just hang on and stitch vertical 35mm shots in the mean time.
I did get a longer lens, too inexpensive to pass up a 6x7 300/4 and a 645 adapter for about $200.