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Soft focus courtesy of a Sears lens
Lens: Sears 135mm Macro Zone Camera: K2000 Photo Location: Idaho ISO: 400 Shutter Speed: 1/4000s Aperture: F6.3 
Posted By: Dewman, 03-12-2018, 02:45 PM

The soft focus produced by this vintage Sears 135mm Macro Zone lens is quite special. I don't own another lens that will do this. I've never used it for a portrait, but it might be worth a try.

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03-12-2018, 03:39 PM - 1 Like   #2
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Focus may be soft but it kept true colours.
03-12-2018, 04:15 PM   #3
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I had one, twice. The first one I got while still in college and my photography professor told me it was a good portrait lens. I never used it for that but it was good for macro.

Those are some nice color combinations you got there. TFS
03-12-2018, 07:22 PM   #4
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Very nice and perfect for portraits. Back in my film days I used to use soft-focus filters to to achieve that effect and Nikon even made a very expensive 135mm portrait lens that enables you to dial in the amount of soft focus you wanted but your Sears lens seems to do that all by it self.


Last edited by Theov39; 03-12-2018 at 09:45 PM.
03-12-2018, 08:34 PM - 1 Like   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by Theov39 Quote
Very nice and perfect for portraits. Back in my film days I used to use soft-focus filters to to achieve that effect and Nikon even made a very expensive 135mm portrait lens that enables yo to dial in the amount of soft focus you anted but your Sears lens seems to do that all by it self.

Thanks for the kind words. Yep, the old Sears lens is still available on eBay once in a while. Not as common as they used to be. I've owned several of the Sears lenses and almost all of them were good. Their 50mm f:1.4 lens is every bit as sharp as the Pentax-M 50mm f:1.4. True story.
03-12-2018, 11:27 PM   #6
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Dewman, you have made me interested in getting one now. I just did a search on Ebay and noticed a few different models of the lens. Out of the attached two which lens model do you have? The one with MACRO marked on the barrel?

Does the camera recognize the aperture you set on the lens or do yo have to be in full manual mode on the camera?
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03-13-2018, 09:04 AM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by Theov39 Quote
Dewman, you have made me interested in getting one now. I just did a search on Ebay and noticed a few different models of the lens. Out of the attached two which lens model do you have? The one with MACRO marked on the barrel?

Does the camera recognize the aperture you set on the lens or do yo have to be in full manual mode on the camera?

Theo, yes.... I have the lens you have pictured.... the one with the marking on the end of the barrel that says "Macro Zone." And yes, you have to have the camera set for "manual" mode. Here's the review of the lens: Sears 135mm F/2.8 With Macro Zone Lens Reviews - Miscellaneous Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database


For what it's worth, Sears also made a great 60-300mm zoom. Mine will produce some very sharp images at 300mm (450mm). I paid $10.00 for mine.... and it looked brand new, still in the factory box!


Here's a couple more photos taken with the Sears 135mm Macro Zone lens.

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PENTAX K2000  Photo 

Last edited by Dewman; 03-13-2018 at 09:17 AM.
03-13-2018, 07:09 PM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by Dewman Quote
Theo, yes.... I have the lens you have pictured.... the one with the marking on the end of the barrel that says "Macro Zone." And yes, you have to have the camera set for "manual" mode. Here's the review of the lens: Sears 135mm F/2.8 With Macro Zone Lens Reviews - Miscellaneous Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database


For what it's worth, Sears also made a great 60-300mm zoom. Mine will produce some very sharp images at 300mm (450mm). I paid $10.00 for mine.... and it looked brand new, still in the factory box!


Here's a couple more photos taken with the Sears 135mm Macro Zone lens.
Thanks Dewman. That is very helpful and those photos are great. You have a good eye. Will try to track down a copy. They can be hard to find in Australia but you do see them now and then.

Sounds like you got an amazing deal on the 300 zoom too. Seems like those old lenses still have a lot of life left in them and luckily still usable on Pentax but unfortunately the prices in Australia seem to be quite a bit higher than the US.
03-14-2018, 02:19 PM   #9
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Psychedelic! Cool stuff.

Jer
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