| Author: | | Loyal Site Supporter Registered: October, 2018 Location: Quebec City, Quebec Posts: 6,573
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 16, 2022 | Recommended | Price: $300.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Small, VERY SHARP, completes my collection of FA primes | | Cons: | Rare and still expensive | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K3, K3 III, K1
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I looked for a "like-new" used copy for a long time on eBay. Then I unexpectedly saw this offer last week. The metal outer shell is pristine (most offerings are all scratched and look like hell), the lens hood slides in and out smoothly, glass is glowing like new, everything mechanical works alright. I mounted it first on my K3 and was surprised by the AF speed: it rushes to correct focus at lightning speed. Optically it shows great sharpness and excellent contrast, even when used in backlit situations. All in all, a highly desirable medium telephoto to complete my collection of terrific FA prime lenses (20 mm, 28 mm, 35 mm, 50 mm, 85 mm, 135 mm and 300 mm).
Surprising how a 20 year-old lens can still look like it was assembled last month ...
Performance remains constant between f/16 (left) and f/5.6 (right).
| | | | | | | New Member Registered: September, 2016 Posts: 2
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 12, 2021 | Recommended | Price: $370.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | small, lightweight, built-in hood, absolutely stunning images | | Cons: | FA lens: screwdrive, no WR | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: Pentax K-1
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I am in love with this lens currently. It makes portraits so great I cannot believe it.
Creamy bokeh, amazing sharpness straight from f/2.8, low aberrations (for old FA lens), beautiful metal barrel, built-in lens hood.
Autofocus works great in live-view. Never misses. PDAF sometimes misses on K-1 (so as all FA lenses do).
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: October, 2011 Location: British Columbia Posts: 377
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 18, 2020 | Recommended | Price: $300.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Size, Autofocus Speed, Built in Hood, Weight | | Cons: | CA @ 2.8, flare in some circumstances | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-1
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I've been very impressed with this lens. At the time of this review, I've owned it for one year.
My favourite features of this lens have to be the auto focus performance and IQ. The AF is really snappy!
First of all, this lens for the price I paid is a steal! It has many of the optical and design characteristics (as well as several of the shortcomings) of the FA 77mm which I also own.
Sharpness is good wide open at f/2.8 but improves noticeably at f/3.5 and hits its peak around f/5.6-f/8. The bokeh, to my eye at least, improves at f/3.5 as well, in that specular highlights are rendered as less hard edged.
The only obvious optical flaw with this lens is its tendency to have purple CA that can often be seen on high contrast edges. In terms of build quality, the lens is excellent. However, it is a product of its era; the lens does not support quickshift style manual focus override, the manual focus feel leaves much to be desired when engaged, and there is no weather sealing present on the lens.
(Of course, my copy has been through the summertime jungles of Indonesia, the wintertime mountains of Canada, the dusty streets of Delhi, and the morning mists of northern Japan, all without ill effect).
The size, weight, build quality, and optical performance are all very good, though just shy of perfect.
Taken @ F/10 
Taken @ f/4 
Taken @ f/3.5 
Taken @ f/3.5 | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: September, 2008 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Posts: 677
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 14, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $310.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp, light, build quality | | Cons: | nil | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K1 mark II
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I purchased this on eBay, still boxed, with bag and in almost mint condition with no sign of wear or use.
Used mainly for street photography, it is sharp, has fairly snappy AF, great bokeh. It is a delight to use and I'm constantly amazed at how sharp it is and the OOF bokeh.
I feel it would be a great portrait lens as well.
I've had to adapt to the relatively shallow DOF compared to the Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 and DA70mm limited I've been using - but that's what short telephotos are like!
Highly recommended!
Here are a few images to demonstrate the quality (on my Flickr account)
 Pearls and earphones  Lunch!
 Reading - colour  Conversing | | | | | | | Forum Member Registered: December, 2015 Posts: 49
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 9, 2018 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharpness, and Accurate AF | | Cons: | none | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: Pentax K3-II
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I bought this used lens after the recommendation of a friend. I do not usually write on this type of blog, but I can not resist sharing my experiences with this community. This is probably the best Pentax lens in cost benefit. It has a remarkable sharpness, bocket and has small size and weight, to carry arround..
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: September, 2010 Location: Haarlemmermeer Posts: 13
5 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 28, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $275.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharpness, contrast, autofocus, built quality, size | | Cons: | little CA, but normal for a film lens | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-1
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Nice small lens for street photografy, sharp, contrasty and very fast autofocus.
 | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: July, 2007 Location: North West UK Posts: 390
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 7, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $200.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp, contrasty, great colours, well built, integrated hood. snappy AF | | Cons: | CA wide open, Not exactly the best looking lens. Small focus ring. a bit slippy to hold. | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 8
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: K-1
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It is a very nice lens that works beautifully on the K-1. Nice and sharp with excellent contrast, even wide open.
AF is snappy and quick, albeit a little noisy in action.
Build quality is also excellent. The housing is metal, the focus ring being rubber and the aperture ring plastic.
It also has that classic feature of 135mm lenses of the era, and that is the slide out hood. Why this no longer happens is beyond me!
Obviously not weather sealed, but we are talking about a 90's lens.
A small number of downsides, but don't let it put you off.
Firstly, the focus ring. it is too small. the size is okay on the FA50 and FA35, but on a bigger lens? hmmm.
Body is smooth metal, which can make it slippy to hold. Just be careful when changing lenses. I can imaging someone dropping it if not careful.
Finally, wide open it has small but harsh CA in contrasty areas. Care is needed in post to get rid of it. But once you have mastered this you will be fine.
They are not common on the second hand market, and I was lucky to pass a classic dealer and had one in stock. I had no option but to snap it up.
One day Pentax will bring out a brand new 135mm prime in HD-DFA(*) spec with silent focus and sealing, along with fixing the wide open CA. But until that day comes, try and find one of these instead and enjoy a very fine lens overall.
Image taken wide open in low light on the K-1
[IMG] Day 2 2018 by Iain, on Flickr[/IMG]
June 2019. Edit.
This is a minor thing, but worth noting, especially if you have the K-1. In low light this lens struggles to focus. I though it was the body, but no. Tried it on the K-3II and the same issue. Tried different lenses on both bodies, no problem. It seems a problem just with this lens, Certainly with my copy. But again, when it nails the AF, this is one stunning optic.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: July, 2013 Location: Oxfordshire Posts: 861
5 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 11, 2015 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Size/Weight, Speed, Sharpness and Build | | Cons: | Wide Open Aberrations, thats about it. | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-01 / K3II
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I really like this lens. Its very compact and lightweight for the focal length/speed. It also has generally great build with a nice solid body, the built in Metal Hood is great too, its only let down by the usual FA series un-damped focus ring. The body can be a little slippery which is a minor negative.
As a bonus it focuses relatively close, not near macro level although it does work very well with the Raynox adapters.
AF is very fast, especially with the K3II. It is also quite fast on the MZ-S although not shot any film yet with the FA135.
Its quite sharp wide open & f2.8 (looses a little contrast), more than usable in most situations when you hit the focus, stopped down to f3.5-f4 and above its excellent.
Bokeh is lovely, nice and smooth even when stopped down. Close to the Voigtlander 90mm APO/58mm Nokton and K85.
Aberrations are an issue when used wide open and in high contrast areas, but most if not all times can be fixed in PP. Thats about the only real negative in this excellent lens.
Shot with K3II
Rabbit by Robert Seymour, on Flickr
100% Crop (@f3.5 with default sharpening, little clarity in Lightroom)
Rabbit Crop by Robert Seymour, on Flickr
Two by Robert Seymour, on Flickr
Gaggle by Robert Seymour, on Flickr
With K-01
Viv by Robert Seymour, on Flickr
Untitled by Robert Seymour, on Flickr
Out for a walk by Robert Seymour, on Flickr
Solo by Robert Seymour, on Flickr
With Raynox DCR-250 Adapter
Rice Cake by Robert Seymour, on Flickr
Its also quite a cute little lens
Pentax-FA 135mm f2.8 [IF] by Robert Seymour, on Flickr
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: January, 2013 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 71
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 1, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $350.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Size, weight, sharpness, bokeh | | Cons: | noisy AF, not the best looking lens | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K5IIs
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Just got this lens few days back... positively surprised by this lens.
This is a sleeper lens in Pentax lineup. All manufactures seem to be phasing out 135mm 2.8 lenses these days. No one makes a brand new 135 2.8. Canon and Nikon still have superfast 135mm but they are large and heavy. Not to mention pricey. Pentax has 100mm macro, and DA 200mm 2.8, but nothing in between. None of them is ideal for me as I think 100 macro focus too slow and is too big (non-internal AF design).
This 135mm fills the gap. The handling is excellent, especially with battery grip. Decent build and light weight. Built in hood is a nice touch. Don't really care of manual focus ring since i would not manually focus on my K5 IIs.
Impressed by sharpness and bokeh. Much better than any other 135mm 2.8 I've used (K 135/2.8, OM 135/2.8, Canon SF 135/2.8). CA is minor and easily corrected. Overall 9/10.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: November, 2013 Posts: 791
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 21, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $425.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Color, Compact, Metal Build, Close-focus, Built-in Hood, 9-Blade Aperture, Screw Drive | | Cons: | Price, Slight fringing wide-open | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K-01
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This is a must have lens unless you have the DA* 50-135mm. Even then, nothing can match the close-focus ability that the Pentax-FA 135mm prime has. It is just fun to shoot with and produces photos with great bokeh and outstanding sharpness in a wide range of situations.
Lots of good qualities 
Sharp
Fast
Metal Build
Unmatched close-focus ability for a 135mm prime (2 ft or 70cm)
Built-in hood
Screw drive (reliability)
The only downsides are the cost because it's rare, and you get some slight fringing when shooting wide open in certain scenes.
Note: Photos are far better than displayed here in forum view.
 | | | | | Junior Member Registered: November, 2011 Location: Košice, Slovakia Posts: 46
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 21, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $480.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | size, bokeh, AF speed | | Cons: | nothing | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: K10, K7, K5
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I love this lens, is unobtrusive...
 | | | | | Junior Member Registered: January, 2013 Location: Texas Posts: 32 | | Review Date: January 5, 2013 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp at full aperture, min focus of 0.7m, | | Cons: | manual focusing very lose, not usable | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 10
New or Used: New
Camera Used: MZ-S
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Near-perfect lense: good aperture of 2.8, lightweight, fast AF, telescopic hood, ratio 1:4 (0.7m), very sharp at full aperture.
One big minus though: the manual focusing ring is near the front of the lense and is very loose, practically not usable.
Two small other concerns: the focal is strongly reduced at short distances, which is inconvenient for macro photography of insects, and the sharpness, very good at 2.8 (rare!), doesn't progress at smaller apertures.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: October, 2011 Location: Aylesbury, Bucks Posts: 492
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 12, 2012 | Recommended
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Fast, sharp, IF, fast autofocus, portable | | Cons: | It's fugly! | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 7
Value: 7
New or Used: Used
Camera Used: Pentax K-r
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Make no mistake, the FA 135 is optically excellent, but is let down by the details.
First the good. The image quality is excellent. F2.8 @ 135mm is a truly cavernous aperture making this lens perfectly suited to capturing action in a darkened theatre or concert hall. On digital it has an equivalent focal length of 200mm which makes it highly suited to a day at the zoo as well. For its focus range (70cm - 5m - infinity) it has a short focus throw which makes autofocus nice and snappy. It's quite small (around the size of the DAL kit lens) which means that it won't weigh you down unnecessarily and will fit easily in your bag or even in a pocket. The fact that it's internal focus also means that it won't suddenly grow enormous when you actually use it. Filter size is 52mm which is both affordable and mainstream.
Next the bad. With its metal barrel, the build is fundamentally solid, but the finish is simply awful. Most reviews of this lens mention the focus ring as a negative. They're not wrong: it's rubbish. It's very flimsy and not dampened at all. Together with the short throw this makes manual focus tricky to say the least. And when you do turn it, the word that springs to mind is "gritty". Not pleasant. There's a pointless pretend DOF scale underneath the distance indicator with markings for F16 and F32. I don't know about you, but I shoot at F32 all the time. The pull out metal hood should be a nice feature but it isn't. It feels flimsy, doesn't extend or retract smoothly and wobbles appallingly.
And the ugly. I'm guessing that the optics are the same as the F 135 and the A 135 before it. However, it's been given a dubious FA makeover. The FAs are universally ugly. That smooth dark charcoal is not an attractive finish and doesn't match current DSLRs at all. I have to say I wouldn't want to own the film camera that it would match. As a reformed record collector, I can draw an analogy with vinyl. Old vinyl is lovely and new vinyl is pretty decent too. But 80s / 90s vinyl? Horrid!
This is a rare piece of glass and high demand makes it quite expensive too. So why would you choose it over, say, the DA* 50-135? I'm a former owner of that lens myself. The main problem with it was that it was simply enormous. I felt very self-conscious using it (particularly with its horrible hood attached) and it was too big to take anywhere. You can only use what you have with you and the portability of the FA 135 means that, for me, the small prime trumps the big zoom. Minimum focusing distance (70cm vs, 1m) actually makes a big difference too.
Would I recommend this lens? Yes, but only because it's the only show in town. Actually, I'd prefer the F 135 because of the nicer aesthetics but that's even harder to track down. I guess that Pentax got the fundamentals right because the optics are great. Everything else, though, is lousy. The 135mm is crying out for a DA* / DA limited treatment. You listening, Pentax?
OK, here's a sample image. This was what I was looking for: the ability to stop motion with a fast shutter speed at reasonable ISO. Shot wide open so not quite razor sharp. FYI, she's my daughter and no, I did not altogether approve of the costume!
 | | | | | Inactive Account Registered: April, 2011 Location: near Berlin Posts: 9
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 30, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $300.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | solid as a rock, very fast AF, very sharp from f/3.5, weight, size | | Cons: | some CAs wide opened | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
New or Used: Used
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This is the most compact pentax lens with such a focal length. Wide open there are some CAs but stopping down a bit solves the problem. It is very sharp until f/3.5 and razor sharp from f/5. What I love most is the 3D-Effect I add in some pictures. Also the close-focusing distance is terrific. The only lens with a fast AF on my K-5 is the older FA 28-80/3.5-5.6, so no SDM-/HSM- oder whatever-AF is faster than this screw-driven one!
Well done, Pentax!
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: February, 2011 Posts: 118 | | Review Date: November 23, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $375.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | sharp, color rendering, handling, built quality | | Cons: | none | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 9
New or Used: Used
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I recently purchased this lens out of curiosity. It's a good focal length to have, just about what I personally can handheld at moderately low shutter speeds with SR.
While it's a good lens, it definitely isn't as good as FA 100 2.8 Macro, in just about everything from sharpness, color rendition, bokeh. I believe genenrally 100mm-ish lenses are the best optically in short/medium telephoto range.
AF is not bad after some focus adjustments. It's good to have at events where I can only shoot from a distance.
I also have a K 135 2.5 early version. I think the K135/2.5 produces more contrasty pictures and is sharper wide open than the FA135.
Recommended lens if you need the AF.
(To the guy above: where did you get a 6 blade version? lol)
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