I can recommend the SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm F3.5-4.5: Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $30.00
| Rating: 8
Pros:
excellent colour, sharp throught the range, relatively cheap
Cons:
rotating front barrel
My favourite walk around lens. Was once the standard "kit" lens on the SFX. On the k10 this covers the traditional standard and portrait lengths (50'ish - 105). Surprisingly sharp from center to corner throughout the range. Great lens for street or people photography.
I can recommend the SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm F3.5-4.5: Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $42.00
| Rating: 9
Pros:
Sharp, excellent color
Cons:
This is a fairly small zoom lens with excellent sharpness. Images are very good and the zoom range is perfect for street scenes and portraits. I also chose this lens for the macro setting and have found the lens is quite useful for close focus florals. It's not a 1:1 macro, but I enjoy using it for shooting flowers.
When using this lens on the K100D, I was actually surprised with the the excellent image quality. So far I have never been disappointed with it's performance.
I can recommend the SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm F3.5-4.5: Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $50.00
| Rating: 8
Pros:
Small, inexpensive, relatively sharp.
Cons:
Rotating front barrel. Little light on contrast.
A lot of people have commented on this lens being quite sharp, so I had high expectations when I got it. I think it should be qualified as "this lens is quite sharp for a low priced zoom". It is definitely not "prime" lens sharp, however it is decently sharp. Contrast could be a bit better.
I think the greatest strengths of this lens is its compact size and light weight. It is just a tad larger than a standard 50mm, but it encompasses a focal range of 35mm (which is normal on DSLR) to 70mm (which is a good length for portraits on DSLR). For casual daytime outings, this is much handier than a 50mm lens. Plus it has limited macro capabilities to boot. With portraits, it doesn't isolate the subject as well as a faster lens, but it'll do in a pinch.
The focusing is fast, the build is plasticky, but still solid.
I really enjoy finding and using inexpensive and relatively "good" lenses. This lens would qualify as such. Obtainable at around $60 or less, this lens provides reasonable quality at a very reasonable price. It is a handy lens to have and a must for anyone looking to put together a low priced kit.
I can recommend the SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm F3.5-4.5: Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $60.00
| Rating: 9
Pros:
light, cheap and sharp
Cons:
not currently made
I am constantly surprised as to how sharp this lens is. I put it on a K100 body when I'm hunting, fishing, canoeing or in other situations where I have need for a high quality optic that won't cost an arm an a leg to replace.
The zoom range is limited, it's not really fast, and like using a prime, you often have to move your derriere a step or two to get a better picture rather than zooming in and out to frame. But these reasons are probably why the pictures I take with it are usually excellent.
These 2:1 ratio zooms seem a bit old fashioned these days, but they are sharper, smaller and lighter than their modern compatriots. I hope we see a return to this more modest mentality.
Lens Review Date: August 5, 2008
I can recommend the SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm F3.5-4.5: Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $40.00
| Rating: 9
Pros:
Sharp,Compact, Renders beautifully, Cheap as dirt
Cons:
Lens barrel rotates and extends to 35mm, Slow
This quirky little jewel focuses extremely accurately and with an aggressiveness that is a trademark of the Pentax F series. You can hear it, and feel it, make the most tiny corrections. While some may find that loudly annoying, I find it useful to actually hear what the lens is doing. The rendering is sharp and pleasingly colorful.
It is interesting to note that this lens was the kit lens for the SFX (SF1) film camera which was a pricey item when it first came out. This lens can produce results that can equal, or even surpass, much more expensive Pentax lenses.
The one thing the reviews here don't seem to discuss, besides the wacky extension at 35mm, is that it only focuses at certain distances in it's range, and shifting into macro (which should, more accurately be termed "close-up"), can be a little sticky and cumbersome. Try this lens and you'll see what I mean. That said, the close-up abilities of this lens are one of it's best attributes.
If you are one of those modernist gearheads into sleek, silent, and smooth, who want their lenses to be as easy to use as possible, then I would avoid it. If you are the adaptable and intuitive type, who desires truly superior quality at a bargain basement price then you just can't beat this one.
I can recommend the SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm F3.5-4.5: Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $34.00
| Rating: 9
Pros:
Size and relative speed
Cons:
Not quite wide enough on dSLR
This is a good general purpose lens. It is compact and focuses well. It is actually a bit faster than the DA 18-55mm AL II kit lens and also a bit longer. On the flip side, it isn't as wide.
I can recommend the SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm F3.5-4.5: Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $45.00
| Rating: 10
Pros:
Portable, inexpensive, sharp, macro, convenient
Cons:
Funny looking
In the month I've had this lens it hasn't come off my camera. Great for family snapshots, casual/candid portraits, the occasional flower or other odd (not quite 1:1) macro shot. For me the 52-105mm range on a DSLR is very handy, I never need longer and rarely miss the wider end. AF is nice, and usually fast although occasionally it hunts a bit. I really like the "A" version of this lens too, but on a K100 it is especially nice not to input the focal length with zooming for SR purposes. The "macro" mode shots seem particularly sharp. Plus my wife can use the "scene" modes with this lens - it's a winner. A 10 rating might seem high, I certainly can imagine a better lens, but with value figured in it just can't be beat.
I can recommend the SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm F3.5-4.5: Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $35.00
| Rating: 9
Pros:
Compact, excellent IQ for the price, closeup ability
Cons:
none, really
I got this to be the walkaround lens on my K200 and it does the job nicely. The pics are sharp and the closeup feature is very handy. Sizewise, it's in the same range as the DA35 macro. The normal to short-tele length on the cropped sensor is enough range to cover most everyday situations you might run into.
I can recommend the SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm F3.5-4.5: Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): N/A
| Rating: 9
Pros:
Very sharp, good color, price
Cons:
Limited zoom range?
A very good lens with macro focusing ability at 70mm. I had this lens once before. I was lucky enough to find another one recently. It works very well at all focal lengths and produces sharp images with very nice "pentax" colors. I think this lens is one of the best bargains in the used pentax market, if for nothing more than it's macro focusing ability. These are 2 crops of same image. First one cropped a little, second one at close to 100%, taken hand held in Jpg, adjusted in gimp.
I can recommend the SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm F3.5-4.5: Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $40.00
| Rating: 9
Pros:
IQ, "3D" pictures
Cons:
nothing really...
got this lens used but in good condition
really cheap compared to the IQ...
I love the 3D feel to the pics taken with this lens
if you can find it at a bargain price, don't hesitate to get one.
I can recommend the SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm F3.5-4.5: Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $46.00
| Rating: 9
Pros:
Great Color rendition, very decent DOF
Cons:
Tricky Maco but good results
Excellent overall zoom with a handy macro feature that can be a bit tricky to initiate since you are doing it from a ring. Results are very good-excellent with the quality of the glass/SMC Coating more than making up for overall speed. Speed of auto focus varies but is usually pretty quick on my GX-10. This lens has yielded excellent images in portraits, still life and macro. Agree that there is somewhat of a 3D feel to macro still life images...just a combo of the sensor crop and Bokeh when shooting digital. Have also shot this lens on the SF1 (recently) with some Ilford B&W Pro film nad gotten great results.
I can recommend the SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm F3.5-4.5: Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $50.00
| Rating: 9
Pros:
Awesome macro, sharp at almost all settings, great price, small size.
Cons:
35mm is not exactly wide on an APS-C sensor DSLR
A wonderful little gem of a lens, I paid £32 on Ebay for this, and since then I've seen a few sell for less, and one go for £4.50!
Here are some sample shots:
I've been blown away by how sharp and detailed this lens is, and I've loved the macro end of the scale.
The downside is a fairly long minimum distance at 35mm, and the fact that 35mm is really not at all wide, and I do need to swap back to the kit lens for some shots. The 2x zoom means that the price seems to be very low with a lot of people just ignoring it. Why, if a prime is okay, why is a 2x zoom with near prime quality a problem? I'm giving it a 9, as for the money it is really great.
I can recommend the SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm F3.5-4.5: Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $23.00
| Rating: 9
Pros:
cheap, sharp, small...
Cons:
rotating front lens
Got this lens as "not tested". When I plugged it into my *ist I knew that it was this lens which I was looking for.
For now I'm not releasing them from body and it's my favourite lens on film camera. Appart of that I have F28 / 2,8 and F50 / 1,7 - this set of lenses is absolutely enough for me.
I can recommend the SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm F3.5-4.5: Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $60.00
| Rating: 5
Pros:
Nice color rendition, sharp within limitations
Cons:
limited macro capability, slightly noisy
I purchased this lens-along with it's SF1 Camera Body, Cables and a Pristine 500FTZ Flash on eBay. It was like taking a trip back in time when I put it on my GX-10 and later when using it on the SF1 (I rember when he SF1 was high tech, lol).
This lens produces some great color and is relatively sharp when stepped down 1-2.
I can recommend the SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm F3.5-4.5: Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $10.00
| Rating: 9
Pros:
Great sharpness, great colour rendition, amazing value, very fast focus, useful macro feature, small size and weight
Cons:
Cheap build quality, focusing rotates front element, terrible focus ring, cheap zoom ring, crappy aperture ring
This is quite the find, I can't believe I got it so cheap. I found it on eBay listed under the name "Pentak 35mm to 70mm lenes", and unsurprisingly, no-one else bid on it.
My first impression upon receiving it was underwhelming. It's quite small compared to my K-7's kit lens, and it weighs very little. There's a strange rubber inlay along the bottom periphery where the serial number is mounted, and this inlay is starting to peel off. The whole construction is cheap plastic, much cheaper-feeling than my kit lens.I think it's supposed to be black, but it's more like a dull dark gray, perhaps from age. The focus ring is the plastic joke of the century. Clearly this lens was never meant for manual focus. It has a 90 degree sweep, it's really loose, and good luck getting a grip on it; it's ridiculously thin. The extending barrel wobbles almost 1mm in every direction when I hold it in my hands. The aperture ring is yet more cheap plastic, and only has full stops, nothing in-between. All in all, a very typical cheap Pentax early-90's effort. I understand this was a kit lens on some high-end cameras. I guess a kit lens will always be a kit lens no matter which camera it comes on. Maybe I'm just spoiled by my M42 Super Takumar 50mm f1.4 (a true gem), or my DA* 50-135mm. But even my own kit lens seems like a cut above compared to this ugly thing.
Ok, enough of the bad stuff. Now for the important part: the optics of this lens are amazing. Sharpness throughout is incredible. When I use it, I tend to be outside in daylight and stay around f8 or so. Everything in the frame is perfectly sharp. In terms of image quality, this lens is a few solid steps above my K-7's kit lens. The colour rendition is gorgeous, the bokeh is excellent, everything looks outstanding. I'd even compare this favourably to my DA* 50-135mm in terms of image quality. I think I've found my new walk-around lens.
The cheap aperture ring doesn't really matter much since I just leave set to "A" anyways. The range of apertures is very wide, and one stop above the minimum seems to eliminate any initial softness in the image (as is common with most lenses)
The cheap focus ring matters even less. Probably due to the short and loose focus sweep, this lens focuses faster than any lens I currently own. It SNAPS into focus at insane speed. I'm actually concerned that it might damage something inside, it's that quick. It puts my DA* 50-135mm to shame in terms of focusing speed and accuracy. However, it's understandably a lot noisier due to the use of screw-drive instead of SDM.
This lens has the honor of being my first macro lens. While the 6" minimum focusing may not rank up there with the macro superstars, it's perfectly usable and gives me outstanding results. It's a little odd to use, not quite the method I expected from a macro lens. The zoom ring has a range beyond 70mm which is used for macro mode, and the minimum focus distance is adjustable within this range. In any case, it works as intended and I've been having a lot of fun with it.
Zoom creep hasn't been an issue so far, perhaps because everything on this lens is so light. I really appreciate the lightness. According to my scale, this lens weighs in at a paltry 225 grams (as opposed to my kit lens at 300 grams) This makes it not only the most versatile lens in my collection right now, but also the lightest. A great combination!
$10 is not typical for this lens, but even at $50 to $100, I think this lens is a steal. If the focal range is within your needs, this lens totally blows away any current kit lens in terms of image quality, and adds a decent macro mode to boot. It's light, it's small and it's fast (focusing).
One last note: if you use a circular polarizing filter, the front lens element does rotate on focusing, which can be annoying.
I can recommend the SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm F3.5-4.5: Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): N/A
| Rating: 9
Pros:
Surprisingly sharp at >f4.5, compact, works fully with all K mount cameras/DSLRs.
Cons:
Slow (but it wouldn't be so small and cheap if it wasn't). The appearance of the lens does not reflect its quality!
I wanted a zoom ens for my P30n which I could also use on my K200d. For a trifling £22 I got this little gem which I have found offers a very nice range of focal lengths, the convenience of autofocus, and very decent IQ.
My first impression of the lens was 'wow, that's small!' followed by 'wow, that looks weird'. Strange use of dark grey plastic and green and orange markings. But it looks 'right' on my K200d.
I have found the focal range of the lens less limiting than I expected. I am used to using primes, and it was nice to have a little extra leeway when composing my shots. 35mm encourages you to make more 'concise' images than the cram-it-all-in approach on a 16 or 18mm wide lens. The 70mm end is long enough to isolate details, and the 'macro' function which is engaged at this end is very useful. The range is very good for shooting candid street shots (and the unobtrusiveness of the lens helps here too).
Wide open, I have noticed a bit of ghosting and glowing highlights, and fairly noticeable CA at the edges. But at f4.5 things are much better, and at f5.6 and above the impression of sharpness this lens gives is quite striking. Unlike DA zooms I have owned, the sharpness is uniform across the image - no softness in the extreme corners. I have tested it against an A 50mm f2 at f4.5, and this lens won in terms of sharpness.
Taking into account the very low price, and the fact this lens was only ever meant as a consumer zoom, I think this lens is a little cracker, and would recommend it as a lens to share between your film and digital slr (it's not ideal for manual focus due to its thin focus ring, but it more than makes up for this by having AF and communicating focal length to your digital SLR body, which makes the SR more effective). It would make a cost effective complementary lens to the 16-45mm when you want a bit more reach - the IQ is comparable.
I can recommend the SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm F3.5-4.5: Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $35.00
| Rating: 9
Pros:
small & lightweight, inexpensive, sharp, good contrast & color
Cons:
front element turns on focus
This lens is sharper and faster than the DAL18-55 and has a greater reach, though you lose a bit on the short end. Great walk-around lens if you need zoom. It has very nice IQ and that cool retro look.
I can recommend the SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm F3.5-4.5: Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $15.00
| Rating: 9
Pros:
It's compact, sharp enough, good colours, and focus' accurately
Cons:
Nothing really.
A great lens for the price, it's a solidly built lens that's smaller that the 18-55 kit lens.
And for a walkabout lens I like the macro / close focus facility.
I reach for this every time I go out with my manual focus lenses as I like to have a auto focus in the bag as well. It's almost certainly my most used auto focus lens.
