📸 5 MUST-OWN Lenses For Pentax K3 ii In 2024 [Guide]

Jan 13, 2024 | Buying Guides

Are you looking for the best lenses for Pentax K3 ii in 202?

If so, you know that choosing the best lens is complicated.

But don’t worry; I will show you the best Pentax K3 ii lenses for your personal needs in this guide.

Since you already probably own Pentax K3 ii, I take you are familiar with its features. I was impressed with Pentax K3 ii’s rugged, weather-sealed body, excellent image quality, and large viewfinder.

Best Lenses for Pentax K3 ii

The first time I got this camera, I played with the kit lens and tried to maximize its potential.

After some time, I concluded that the kit lens was insufficient. Then I decided to tackle the problem with better gear.

If you wonder how to get this camera to work wonders in the photographic sense, you’ve come to the right place.

Throughout intensive testing, I found that Pentax K3 ii lenses best fit the Pentax K3 ii

body. If you want to squeeze the maximum potential out of this Pentax body, keep on reading.

Editor's Choice
Best Runner Up
Best Budget

Pentax 70-200mm f/2.8ED Lens

Pentax D 15-30mm f/2.8 Lens

Pentax 50mm f/1.8 Lens

Unleash your creativity with this powerful lens. Capture stunning images with remarkable clarity and depth.

Explore new perspectives and capture breathtaking landscapes with this versatile lens. Perfect for photographers on the move.

Elevate your photography without breaking the bank. This lens offers exceptional quality and incredible low-light performance.

5.0
4.9
4.7
Editor's Choice

Pentax 70-200mm f/2.8ED Lens

Unleash your creativity with this powerful lens. Capture stunning images with remarkable clarity and depth.

5.0
Best Runner Up

Pentax D 15-30mm f/2.8 Lens

Explore new perspectives and capture breathtaking landscapes with this versatile lens. Perfect for photographers on the move.

4.9
Best Budget

Pentax 50mm f/1.8 Lens

Elevate your photography without breaking the bank. This lens offers exceptional quality and incredible low-light performance.

4.7
Lasso Brag

Best Prime Lens for Portraits

Pentax 50mm f/1.8 Lens

The lens in matter offers the best from two worlds; it is lightweight due to plastic manufacture, yet, it does not feel cheap.

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  • Lens Type: Normal
  • Mounting Type: Pentax KAF
  • Focal Length Range: 50mm
  • Minimum Focus Distance: 0.45 meters
  • Weight: 0.27 pounds
  • Dimensions: 1.54 x 2.48 x 2.48 inches

Pentax DA 50mm f/1.8 allows outstanding depth of field control thanks to its fast aperture. Super protect coating protects the lens’s optical surface, while rounded diaphragm blades create a circular aperture for smoothly defocused backgrounds.

The lens, in the matter, offers the best of two worlds; it is lightweight due to plastic manufacture, yet, it does not feel cheap.

The plastic I am mentioning is of the highest quality. Even after some minor beatings in the test, the lens didn’t show one sign of damage. Focusing points are utilized best, although I like to shoot with a single focus point.

The focus system is reasonably fast and accurate, without too much hunting. In terms of sharpness, there is slight softness at an f/1.8, but this prime lens shines out around an f/2.5 to an f/3.5. If you shoot at these apertures, you will consistently get sharp images.

Portrait photography is gorgeous with this lens. All the images I took with it looked sharp, with defocused background and smooth blur.

Separations between subjects and the background are incredible, and the large aperture allows one to shoot even under the night sky. The only objection is the lack of a weather-resistance feature.

Pros

  • Fast shutter speeds
  • Great contrast
  • Excellent image quality

Cons

  • Made from plastic

Best Wide-Angle Lens for Landscapes

Pentax D 15-30mm f/2.8 Lens

Pentax-D 15-30mm f/2.8 is designed with eight seals that prevent water intrusion, paired with extra-low dispersion glass elements for clear and sharp images.

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Pentax D FA 15-30mm f/2.8 is an ultra-wide lens with an incredible minimum focusing distance of 28 cm. The lens’s extra-low dispersion glass elements are responsible for high-resolution pictures with outstanding edge-to-edge sharpness throughout the entire zoom range.

This wide-angle lens is weather-resistant and comes with an SDD motor for quick and accurate motor operations.

I was mainly delighted with the outstanding color rendering this lens produced. Generally, I like nicely saturated images, and this lens delivers just that.

Sharpness is also extraordinary, as this Pentax lens shines even at an f/2.8. If you step down further, you can get even sharper images, but the results are negligible and relevant for print purposes.

I highly recommend using a tripod with these optics. The lens is massive and excellent. The design is superior to the competition, and this piece of equipment feels great when I shoot from the hand.

One thing worth mentioning is the silence and precision with which autofocus operates. Most of the time, I had trouble even hearing the focusing motor.

This lens acquires light-speed and precise autofocus that is way ahead of the other lenses from the category.

Pros

  • Build quality
  • Incredible color rendering
  • Sharp images

Cons

  • Distortion at 15 mm

Best All-Around lens for everyday photography

Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens

Pentax 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 comes with a 3x zoom focal range that allows a wide range of shooting possibilities and it is reasonably lightweight

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Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 comes with a 3x zoom focal range that allows a wide range of shooting possibilities.

Pentax’s super-protected coating repels dust, water, and grease from the surface, while the original quick-shift focusing system ensures instant switching from autofocus to manual operation.

The lens is reasonably lightweight, despite its size and zooming capabilities.

I also like that the lens hood has a built-in sliding door, so I didn’t have to remove it to use the polarizer.

Furthermore:

The front element does not rotate during focus, which is excellent for filter usage. The weather sealing is a big plus for photographers who like to take their gear in the rain.

This all-around lens for Pentax K3 ii provides fast focusing and smooth zooming and focusing rings. I noticed slight distortion at full width regarding image quality, but it was easy to remove.

I was also delighted with the sharpness quality, which is quite good, even at an f/3.5. Also, images come out very saturated with pleasing colors.

If you like to shoot macro, you will enjoy the 1:3 magnification ratio to capture great close-ups. This lens is the best pick for anyone who needs an all-around lens as a workhorse.

Pros

  • Sharpness quality
  • Fast focusing
  • Lightweight

Cons

  • Slight distortion at full width

Best Telephoto Lens for Wildlife Photography

Pentax 70-200mm f/2.8ED Lens

Pentax FA 70-200mm f/2.8 is a weather-sealed lens that also provides dependable dustproof protection and also picture quality is outstanding.

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Pentax 70-200mm f/2.8 is a telephoto lens with a shake reduction mechanism and all-weather feature.

The matter lens also has a focus range limiter to minimize autofocus operation time by fixing the focus range to one of three sub-ranges.

Due to the lens’s considerable size, a detachable tripod mount comes in handy, and a new integrated lock mechanism secures the lens from falling.

The contrast and color rendering are both incredible with this lens. The colors are vivid and genuinely pop out if you shoot under the right lighting conditions. Sharpness is a story of its own with this telephoto lens.

The images looked incredibly sharp, and the chromatic aberration was almost nonexistent. Pictures appear strong across the frame with minor vignetting, visible only if you use the Pentax 1.4x teleconverter.

The focal range is quite versatile, and I could quickly shoot far away objects without compromising the image quality.

The only downside of this telephoto lens is the lack of image stabilization, but since the shake reduction mechanism does a beautiful job, it is not a deal-breaker.

Pros

  • High contrast
  • Good build quality
  • Consistently high sharpness

Cons

  • Considerable weight

Best Macro Lens for Macro Photography

Pentax 100mm f/2.8 Lens

Pentax 100mm f/2.8 features a full-frame design that is optically optimized for digital imaging and it produces sharp images full of details.

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  • Lens Type: Telephoto
  • Mounting Type: Pentax KAF
  • Focal Length Range: 100mm
  • Minimum Focus Distance: 0.13 meters (0.43 feet)
  • Weight: 0.75 pounds
  • Dimensions: 3.19 x 2.56 x 2.56 inches

Pentax 100mm f/2.8 macro lens has a maximum 1:1 image magnification ratio, and a super protect coating for the front element.

The lens is weather-resistant and perfect to use in challenging environments. I like the quick-shift manual focus that helps when shooting moving objects, but the autofocus tends to be slow in fast-paced conditions.

The picture quality, however, is excellent. The images with this macro lens for Pentax K3 ii are stunning beyond words. It is easy to notice myriad fine details and maximally preserved image sharpness.

At an f/2.8, I got decent results in low-light situations, but I recommend having an artificial light source or a flash when shooting in the dark.

The lens construction is incredible; the body is water-resistant, and the metal makes most of the material used. It feels rock-solid and does excellent even if you mishandle it a bit.

The lens, in the matter, is a go-to lens when you want to take pictures of reasonably close things. If you are looking for a reliable macro lens that is not too expensive, this Pentax is preferable.

Pros

  • Detailed images
  • Great build focus
  • Bokeh effects

Cons

  • Focusing at night

Best lenses for Pentax K3 ii – Wrapping Up

I had quite a good time testing out different  Pentax K3 ii lenses.

During that period, it proved right what you already know – this time, Pentax hit the score with an incredible camera.

However:

Only a variety of lenses can bring the best out of this camera. If you ask yourself if you need to buy new lenses for Pentax K3 ii, the answer is “absolutely.”

If you make that decision and follow this guide, your portfolio will improve exponentially.

Following this guide, I hope you can choose the right lens for your needs.

This blog has many other guides, such as A6500 Sony lenses and Tutorials for T6i lenses.

If you need additional help, please comment below, and I will do my best to help you choose the right lens for your Pentax K3 ii camera.

Disclaimer: "As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases."

Stacy WItten

Stacy WItten

Owner, Writer & Photographer

Stacy Witten, owner and creative force behind LensesPro, delivers expertly crafted content with precision and professional insight. Her extensive background in writing and photography guarantees quality and trust in every review and tutorial.

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