| Author: | | Forum Member Registered: August, 2008 Location: Bettendorf, IA / wherever the truck is parked Posts: 99
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 13, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $10.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharpness when stopped down even a little, lack of aberrations, colors and contrast, explosive AF speed (and it's accurate!) | | Cons: | Uhm...no quick-shift (but with the older lenses this is a given) and it's a little plasticky? | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-5
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This lens and the FA 35-80 appear to be optically identical, yet this lens gets a mid-6 average and the FA version gets a mid-8 average. I can't understand why.
It is a little soft wide open, but this quickly diminishes - stopping down to just 6.3-7.1 from 4-5.6 makes a noticeable difference. Between 8.0 and 13, it's extremely sharp. Contrast is excellent, aberrations are virtually non-existent in my copy.
And did I mention I got it for basically free + shipping? ($10)
For $10, given the performance of this lens, you absolutely cannot do better. Period, end of discussion. It's probably not going to leave my K-5 very often.
| | | | | | | New Member Registered: June, 2012 Posts: 12
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 30, 2014 | Recommended
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Compact size, fast and quiet AF, sharp. | | Cons: | Zoom ring a little stiff on my copy. | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 7
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax K-m
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Odd that this handy little lens scores so low, yet gets mostly positive comments from its reviewers - I've upped my overall rating to a 10 to offset the two rather harsh ratings at the bottom which are pulling the average down. You can pick these lenses up for peanuts, and they do a great job.
I picked mine up along with an FA28-90, both lenses for less than £20 including shipping. That's less than a tenner for each lens!
IQ is pretty much on a par with my DA18-55MkII kit lens at comparable focal lengths and apertures, and I actually like the bokeh better on this lens. The extra range at the long end makes it a really useful walkabout lens, and good for portraits/candid people shots too.
The autofocus is quicker and quieter than the 18-55, on the downside you have no 'quick-shift', in fact the lens isn't really designed for manual focus, having no real grip on the focus ring at the front.
Rotating front element is always considered a downer, but with a Polarizer installed and a lens hood screwed onto the front of the polarizer, it's easy to focus, then quickly tweak the polarization by turning the lens hood, (keeping the shutter half-way) then press fully to shoot.
Here are a couple of shots, at 60mm, f5.6 and f11 (see album for similar shots with the 18-55 and the FA28-90)
  | | | | | New Member Registered: January, 2014 Posts: 14
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 10, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $30.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp! Easy, Good | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: K 30
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Tested that lens on same settings as with my prime and other tele.
Best so far.
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: November, 2010 Location: California Posts: 2,223
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 31, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $35.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Quick focus, light, in the 35-80 mm range, sharp and neat colors, easy to carry around, price, good for portraits, and lanscapes | | Cons: | None so far (I am not sure if the previous reviewers were talking about this lens) | |
    
I bought this lens and ebay and did not use for six months because the price was so low that I thought was a piece of crap. Plus the reviews of certain members did not help. However, during a rainy day, when I did not want to take my nice lenses out, I took this one, and voila!! eureka. I found out that this is a wonderful lens, easy to carry around, light, quick focus, sharp, etc. I am using it on a Kx dslr. Judge for yourself, see the photos, those were taken in a rainy day without sun, or minimum sun through the clouds. One image is worth 1,000 words, here are few thousand words. I would like everyone to back their comments with images.    
You should be able to see larger versions of these photos in my albums
Here are some more photos taken with this wonderful lens:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54927073@N04/5305408686/lightbox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54927073@N04/5305408786/lightbox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54927073@N04/5304803919/in/photostream/ | | | | | | | Senior Member Registered: April, 2012 Location: Endeavour Hills, Victoria, Australia Posts: 210
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 17, 2019 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp, great contrast, great colour | | Cons: | Not quite wide enough for full frame | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-1
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The lens that nobody loves! Try it on a K-1 and I think you may be very pleased. This was shot in Hosier's Lane, Melbourne Australia. K-1 coupled with the 35-80. I have nick-named this the "Canon lens" as the images remind me of what I perceive a Canon DSLR can produce. Hmm, maybe that will not endear me to this group!
 | | | | | Junior Member Registered: May, 2016 Location: South Florida Posts: 36
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 23, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $20.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Great value, decently sharp stopped down, good color rendition, light weight. | | Cons: | Front element rotates with focus, soft in corners, build quality plasticky. | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-1
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For $20 this is a fantastic bargain. When I ordered my first digital Pentax, the K-1, I was not sure if it would be a keeper and I wanted an inexpensive lens to learn on. The K-1 proved to be much to my liking and the 35-80 a pleasant surprise! I've subsequently bought several other lenses but still find my $20 lens on the camera more often than not. Sure I'd probably prefer a 24-90, but until I can find a decent one, I'm happy to use the F 35-80
   | | | | | Senior Member Registered: May, 2009 Location: Delaware Posts: 177
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 20, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $15.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharpness throughout range, great color rendition | | Cons: | Plastic build, although does have a metal lens mount. | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: K200D, K50
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I picked this lens up from a $15 flea market SF1 and initially tried it out on a K200D with good but not spectacular results. More recently, I have used it on a K50 with really good results and conclude that the autofocus on the K50 is more accurate.
This lens delivers surprisingly sharp, contrasty images on the K50 with excellent color rendition and smooth, pleasing bokeh. Autofocus is fast and accurate, although it does hunt in very dim light. On a crop sensor it is the equivalent to a 50-120 lens. It has a plastic build and is not the best lens for manual focus. On the other hand, it is quite light. It's a good lens for people and portraits, one of the hidden gems in the Pentax legacy lens lineup.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: April, 2014 Posts: 224 | | Review Date: December 14, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $20.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 9
Camera Used: MZ-30
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I did not expect from this lens anything. Not paid practically nothing, and did not expect anything. I bought this lens together with a MZ-50 camera. But the first results were surprising. Now I use this lens on MZ-30 and it consistently gives me good quality pictures. Nice colours, surprisingly sharp.
The only thing that it could be a bit brighter...
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: September, 2013 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 1,070
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 27, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $25.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Reasaonably sharp wide open, lightweight, price | | Cons: | Lower contrast in bright light, plasticky build | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: K30
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My ratings are based upon the price I paid. I already owned the Pentax f 80-200 so I had the urge to get its shorter buddy. I feel the f 80-200 may be slightly better optically, but they are really close. The f 35-80 is really handy at 35mm and still 1/3 stop faster than the 18-55 dal kit lens at this focal length. When comparing it to the 18-55 dal kit lens, the 35-80 can be hair popping sharp when the aperture is stopped down a little. I do not see much improvement when the 18-55 gets stopped down. I think I prefer the rendering of the 35-80 so far despite that it can't give an 18mm field of view like the 18-55 dal can. I can always stitch multiple landscape photos together with the f 35-80 and still get an 18mm field of view if needed, though. Overall I would say this lens can be sharp at wide open apertures at both ends of the focal range, but sometimes appears less sharp in bright light because there is a lack of contrast. This is because this lens coatings really weren't designed for modern digital SLRs, but the raw images can still be tweaked nicely in photoshop for superb results. The sharpness and control of aberrations improve as you stop down the lens' aperture too. I felt that in sunny light a hood helped a little, but still can use a contrast boost in photoshop afterwards. The lens focuses incredibly quick and accurately on my K30, so I feel no need to ever use manual focus, but the autofocus is a little clunky sounding. Since it has already lasted more than 2 decades I will not fault its lightweight, plasticky build quality. Don't forget it does have a metal bayonet, distance scale, aperture ring, and 35mm coverage (few new lenses these days actually have these things anymore). Aberrations can be present at times but are not atrocious and can be easily fixed in Photoshop or Lightroom. At night, out of focus light sources in the background are suprisingly round at most apertures which surprised me since I wasn't expecting much from its bokeh, but it's not bad at all! I like buying super low cost equipment that can be capable in the right hands, and in this regard this lens doesn't disappoint despite the negative reviews on the internet. I bought it based on viewing some nice sample images from other users.
Here are some samples showing what I am able to accomplish with this lens:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/adudenamedjosh/14336383858/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/adudenamedjosh/14336310200/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/adudenamedjosh/14617944821/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/adudenamedjosh/14562571302/in/pool-pentax-f_35-80mm/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/adudenamedjosh/16535561267/in/pool-pentax-f_35-80mm
https://www.flickr.com/photos/adudenamedjosh/15383961657/ | | | | | New Member Registered: January, 2014 Location: Europe Posts: 4
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 13, 2014 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Zoom,Lightweight,Autofocus,IQ | | Cons: | slowish autofocus,not that enjoyable to manually focus | | Sharpness: 10
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 7
Handling: 7
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax *ist DS
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This was the first lens i 've got with my *ist DS , and i was amazed by the nice pictures i got with it 
I much prefer manual focus primes , but still use my 35-80 when i need autofocus,zoom or more tele lens ,cause my other lenses are 28 and 55 mm primes.
What i Don't like is the really uncomfortable focus ring ,if manual focusing is needed,it can be done , but much more uncomfortable , short trough and quite shaky.
here are some pics i made with it :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/104706888@N06/10357331695/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/104706888@N06/10518770703/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/104706888@N06/10518445435/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/104706888@N06/10560992574/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/104706888@N06/10158618873/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/104706888@N06/10159565754/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/104706888@N06/10175359886/
Most of the pics are not photoshoped at all , some of them just slightly .in few there is used CPL filter.
| | | | | New Member Registered: April, 2013 Posts: 1 | | Review Date: April 7, 2013 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | better than its image, low price, nice bokeh at f/4-5,6 | | Cons: | Plastik-Design | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Autofocus: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 8
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I enjoy my new results with 200-ISO film. Colors, sharpness, contrast o.k. Aberrations unvisible resp. don't disturb. See my pictures (from photo-CD).
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: August, 2010 Location: Winnipeg MB Posts: 350 | | Review Date: January 8, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $9.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Very good IQ, no creep on zoom and focus, flare control, metal mount. | | Cons: | none | |
I use this lens on MZ-5N and it consistently gives me good quality pictures. I shoot most of the time in 50-60mm focal length; the sharpness is almost as good as FA43 with better DOF. This is an under-rated good lens. The macro works much better than F35-70mm lens.
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: February, 2020 Posts: 92
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 3, 2022 | Recommended
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | lightweight, nice colours and reasonably sharp | | Cons: | Nothing worth mentioning really | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 9
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: K30, K70
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I really like this lens. Its small, light and covers the range for most walkabout uses.
Whats more the colours are lovely (I tend to slightly underexpose anyway to sqeeze the most colour from a camera) and the autofocus is very fast and nearly always accurate.
I have its 80-200mm and 28-80mm siblings and this is the best in my humble opinion.
At the moment these can be found for less then £20 on ebay and if you got a copy that was as good as mine you should be delighted.
I can never remember which picture was taken with which lens or camera so today I popped out and took the attached pictures with this lens and a K30.
   | | | | | New Member Registered: October, 2020 Location: Regno delle Due Sicilie Posts: 4
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 15, 2021 | Recommended
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 9
Camera Used: k-70
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 | | | | | Site Supporter Registered: April, 2009 Location: Athens, Greece Posts: 187
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 25, 2019 | Recommended
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharpness | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 6
Bokeh: 7
Autofocus: 8
Handling: 1
Value: 6
Camera Used: K20D
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This is always my forgotten lens that I remember when one of my other lenses breaks. I've had it since 1995 when I got it as a kit lens with the PZ20. It's old and grumpy with a stiff zoom ring that jams but it takes some incredibly sharp photos.
I remembered it again while looking through the lens reviews and seeing all the complaints about sharpness. So I'll post a few that I took when I was using it on my K20.
Uneditied except for exposure
 [
This was shot at ISO 1250 53mm f4.5
While some people have had bad experiences with the lens, as it is dirt cheap, it may well surprise you.
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