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SMC Pentax 200mm F2.5 Review RSS Feed

SMC Pentax 200mm F2.5

Sharpness 
 9.2
Aberrations 
 7.4
Bokeh 
 9.6
Handling 
 8.2
Value 
 8.9
Reviews Views Date of last review
30 140,494 Sun May 28, 2023
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Recommended By Average Price Average User Rating
90% of reviewers $332.28 8.86
SMC Pentax 200mm F2.5

SMC Pentax 200mm F2.5
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SMC Pentax 200mm F2.5
supersize

Description:
This is the fastest Pentax 200mm lens ever produced. It has a longer minimum focusing distance and is slightly heavier than the A * 200mm lens that it resembles. Thanks to its fast opening (F2.5) and eight diaphragm bales, this lens produces not only a shallow depth of field wide open, but also a smooth bokeh.



SMC Pentax 200mm F2.5
© www.pentaxforums.com, sharable with attribution
Image Format
Full-frame / 35mm film
Lens Mount
Pentax K
Aperture Ring
Yes (no A setting)
Diaphragm
Automatic, 8 blades
Optics
6 elements, 6 groups
Mount Variant
K
Check camera compatibility
Max. Aperture
F2.5
Min. Aperture
F32
Focusing
Manual
Min. Focus
200 cm
Max. Magnification
0.13x
Filter Size
77 mm
Internal Focus
No
Field of View (Diag. / Horiz.)

APS-C: 8.1 ° / 6.9 °
Full frame: 12 ° / 10 °
Hood
Built-in, slide out
Case
Dedicated hard case
Lens Cap
Plastic clip-on
Coating
SMC
Weather Sealing
No
Other Features
Diam x Length
89 x 145 mm
Weight
950 g
Production Years
1977 to 1986
Engraved Name
smc PENTAX 1:2.5 200mm
Product Code
24240
Reviews
User reviews
Features:
Manual FocusBuilt-in HoodAperture RingFull-Frame SupportDiscontinued
Price History:



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Loyal Site Supporter

Registered: July, 2010
Location: NW Ohio
Posts: 2,094

2 users found this helpful
Review Date: August 1, 2019 Recommended | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: sharp, fast, great bokeh, color and contrast
Cons: little to none
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 9    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 7    Value: 10    Camera Used: KX film, K-5iis, K-3   

This is a great lens if you understand its characteristics and you know how to use it properly. It is not a lens for beginners, point and shoot photographers or impatient individuals. It takes time to learn how to extract the best from this lens but once you've mastered it, it will reward you with great photos. Some folks complain about aberrations but that's not a problem if one understands the strengths and weaknesses of a lens and how to use it properly. My copy is sharp at 2.5 and only gets better as you stop down. Bokeh is smooth and pleasant, color is outstanding. DOF is shallow wide open and focus can be a challenge. It probably helps that I have a Katz-Eye split prism screen in my K-5iis.

The following picture was taken mid-day. Can you explain the the aberrations issue?

   
New Member

Registered: January, 2019
Posts: 18

1 user found this helpful
Review Date: March 5, 2019 Recommended | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Very sharp, fast, great color, nice bokeh
Cons: Heavy
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 9    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 10    Value: 10    Camera Used: Pentax LX, MX   

Pentax 200mm f2.5 is a telephoto lens I used most in the 1980s, and I would definitely write my first review of this lens. I can see from previous reviews that some people like and others do not; but I like it.

I had a lot of luck to get it. I saw it only once in a camera store in my hometown. I was buying a used Zenca Bronica medium format camera when I noticed a telephoto lens in the shop window that I had never seen before, but I immediately knew what it was like. I asked from the shopkeeper, if that lens was Pentax 200mm f2.5? He replied that yes it is and a very rare lens. In addition to Zenca Bronica, I also bought it immediately. When a couple of minutes later I was paying for the goods, a young man came to the store. When he saw my shopping, he asked if this Pentax lens had already been sold. We both assured him that the lens has just been sold. He told us he had admired the lens a couple of days in the shop window and finally decided to buy it and get his money from home. Fortunately, he was too slow and lost it. First come, first served.

The lens is actually the fastest 200mm telephoto lens Pentax have ever made. I can only say good things about it. At that time I was very keen on travel photography, and this lens was always with me when I hiked in the Himalayas. I used it when photographing mountains, landscapes and suspicious people, birds and mammals. Though it is a heavy and big lens to carry up the mountains, it was worth doing.

I am very happy with it. I photographed a lot of early morning and before sunset. The results are stunning. It is very sharp even at 2.5 and don't need to be stopped down to 4 or onward to achieve sharp images. I am also very satisfied with the colors and contrast that are amazing. Bokeh is great, too. In the middle of the day, the sunshine is too bright in the mountains, and I usually avoided taking photos in vain. But when I shot this lens, I was usually happy with the pictures even in bright light.

It was one of my favorite lenses pre-digital era and even one of my all-time favorite telephoto lenses. I bought this manual lens back after many years, but I have not had time yet to try it with a digital camera like K1 and K3. In this regard, I can later complete my review.
   
Senior Member

Registered: December, 2012
Location: Vancouver Island, BC
Posts: 238
Review Date: January 6, 2014 Recommended | Price: $160.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: sharp, fast, inexpensive telephoto
Cons: havent found any yet
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 7    Bokeh: 9    Handling: 10    Value: 10    Camera Used: k5   

I picked my copy up pretty inexpensively on Ebay. The lens has seen a lot of use - but the optics are still great.
For the price I paid it was a steal. Great fast little telephoto lens. Obviously it's fully manual, but having started out life with manual photography that's not a biggie for me.

The overall score is heavily weighted by value - for the price it is an amazing piece of hardware.

I've updated my review to add some photos taken on a recent holiday - this lens was a lot of fun, lugged it everywhere with me as a staple in my camera bag...
I love the narrow DOF which allows the subject to be in focus and the background/foreground to be blurred... was a fun (but challenging) lens.

   
New Member

Registered: January, 2012
Posts: 6

2 users found this helpful
Review Date: January 26, 2012 Recommended | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Super Sharp
Cons:
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 9    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 10    Value: 10   

This is a perfect lens. i love the bokeh and handling on this lens. the bokeh actually is crazy. I am using it with my canon 50D with an adapter to EOS mount.
overall a perfect lens.
Here is a photo made with this lens on flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ermali/6752564429/in/photostream/lightbox/
   
Inactive Account

Registered: October, 2010
Location: Richmond, Virginia
Posts: 36
Review Date: December 17, 2011 Recommended | Price: $280.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Sharpness, Bokeh, Contrast, Color rendition
Cons: None
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 9    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 10    Value: 10   

Personally... I hadn't put much thought into buying this lens until I saw the auction and did a bit of research on it. An online google search found some intriguing photos and I figured I'd bid on it. I got it for a steal and have noticed the price continues to go up. I figured if the lens was average... I'd make my money back selling it considering it is the fastest 200mm lens Pentax has made thus far... I won't have to worry about ever selling it. This lens is a keeper for sure.

Compared to my now gone Pentax-M 200mm F4, this lens is sharper at 2.5 in my opinion. In harsh sunlight at 2.5 some very mild glow is noticeable... which in my opinion makes its pictures very pleasing... in normal and other lighting conditions the lens is very sharp and contrasty. One click past 2.5 and it becomes extremely sharp and looses all glow... at F4, compared to the M200 f4... it just whips it in every direction possible. The richness of the way it renders colors is outstanding as well. It's simply a very special lens which handles wonderfully. I can hand hold it easily and I like the fact that it allows for me to take candid's without intruding very much and end up with quality photos that just knock my socks off.

I'm never letting this thing go!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivanbelmonte/6494804717/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivanbelmonte/6494804265/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivanbelmonte/6494803723/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivanbelmonte/6494803125/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivanbelmonte/6494802843/
   
New Member

Registered: October, 2008
Location: Paris
Posts: 1

4 users found this helpful
Review Date: December 4, 2010 Recommended | Price: $350.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: speed, sharp , very good bokeh and very well built
Cons: habit is needed to focus accuratly

The K 200mm 2,5 is the 200m pentax lens with the biggest aperture ever made by Pentax. It is a pleasure to use such a very well built piece of glass and metal which seems indestructible (its design is terrific as it seems built like a tank)
Before it, I use the k 135 2,5, but now for the same aperture, I have more magnification

I can use it outdoor (sport event, life details) or indoor (portraiture, sport or artistical events too). No fear when the sun decreases in the afternoon. It is always able to give great shots even in low light ,which is a great pleasure. I have never been really embarrassed by its weight as it remains speed.

It is very sharp when focus is accurate even wide open. I use it mainly at 2,5 and sometimes until 5,6 but not beyond. I admit that it takes me some time to use it efficently and to determine its optimal sharpness at 2,5 at the beginning of the focus zone (little front focus) with my k10. I have already notice that for others great aperture lenses, but I personally find that it is not a big problem, because when the good focus zone is found, you take it into account in all your shots . The bokeh is great and I use it for natural portraiture too, where I can shoot from 5 meters without disturbing the person, which stays perfectly natural

I also use it with a teleconverter A 2xL (not originally made for it) that I carefully filled for that: see review https://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/Pentax-Rear-Teleconverter-A-2x-L.html . It gives me a 400mm 5,6 , not very heavy (around 1,2 kg) and with less than 3 meters of minimal focus distance and very few quality loss. Again the accurate focus of the lens is very important and with the teleconverter it back focuses a little this time (it is like that !). So, another advantage of this lens is that you can reasonably use it with a good teleconverter due to its great aperture.

You can compare the 2 photos taken with 200mm at 2,5 1/45s and with 200mm and A 2XL converter at 2,5 1/10s a rainy day at 5 pm in December






If you find it, I really think you can buy it. I think I was lucky to find it in perfect condition for less than 400$
   


1 user found this helpful
Review Date: January 10, 2010 Recommended | Price: $550.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Great build quality, very sharp, amazing speed (a half stop 1/2EV better than 2.8)
Cons: Weight, expensive.

The fastest and probably sharpest 200mm lens Pentax has ever made
   
Site Supporter

Registered: October, 2008
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Posts: 8,093

4 users found this helpful
Review Date: November 22, 2009 Recommended | Price: $685.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Speed, build and optics.
Cons: Some may find this lens heavy.
Camera Used: K Series film bodies (K1000, KM, KX, K2, K2DMD)   

The K200/2.5 is still the fastest 200mm lens that Pentax has made and is also the fastest Pentax lens over 135mm. Not bad for a lens released in 1977, as a late addition to the K series lineup. Pentax already had the K200/4 as a budget 200mm and the K200/2.5 was added as a fast high end alternate. The K200/2.5 replacement, the A*200/2.8ED, is very similar in looks and has the same 6 elements in 6 groups optic design. The A*200 is also 100grams lighter, which I suspect is less metal and more plastic parts.

The K200/2.5 has a built in lens hood and a 77mm filter thread. This makes filters rather expensive, especially multi-coated ones. A good UV filter is still a must, especially when shooting film. The K200/2.5 is very well built and is a thing of beauty to hold. It is on the heavy side, but I still find it easy to hand hold down to shutter speeds of 1/125 second.

The K200/2.5 is very fast for a lens of this focal length and this makes for a nice bright camera view finder. The K200/2.5 is also quite sharp and good wide open. The K200/2.5 is definitely the best K series lens over 135mm and a must purchase if you are after a solid manual focus medium telephoto lens. You’re not going to find a faster, better built one.

Update April, 2019:
I recently purchased a FA*200/2.8 to see how it would compare against my older K200/2.5. The K200/2.5 is sharper wide open as well as in the corners, better built and also faster. While I really like the FA*200/2.8 lens, it’s just another example how a classic K Series prime can still compete/surpass a newer lens with all the “bells & whistles”. Newer does not always mean better…


Sample shots taken with the K200/2.5. Photos are medium resolution scans from original negatives.

Camera: K2 Film: Kodak Portra 400VC ISO: 400



Camera: KX Film: Kodak T-Max 400 ISO: 400



Camera: KM Film: Lomo Earl Grey 100 ISO: 100
   
Veteran Member

Registered: February, 2008
Location: Waterloo, Ontario
Posts: 4,461

4 users found this helpful
Review Date: February 18, 2008 Recommended | Price: $525.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Fast, razor sharp, contrasty, great bokeh, world class build, very bright in viewfinder
Cons: Fully manual, hefty, expensive, fairly rare
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 8    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 10    Value: 9   

Like all its K-series brethren the Pentax K 200mm f 2.5 is beautifully built, optically great and feels just wonderful in the hand. As in sports so it is in photography, there is just no substitute for speed. Fast glass is like fast cars and fast women - it's always more fun, more exciting and a lot more expensive. I do a fair bit of image making in school gyms, auditoriums and murky light and this lens delivers. Boz Dimitrov provides additional technical details for the curious:

http://kmp.bdimitrov.de/lenses/primes/tele/K200f2.5.html

Weighing in at 950 grams (just under 2 1/2 lbs.) the lens is heavy but is so fast it can still be hand held in many situations. I don't find the lack of a tripod collar a problem at all. It is unusually bright in the viewfinder and tight tolerances make manual focusing smooth with the large checked rubber focusing ring providing a sure grip. In a bit of a departure from other K series lenses information such as: focal length, lens speed, serial number etc. is engraved on the barrel just above the focusing ring. There is a double knurled ring around the short but handy built-in lens hood. This is a small thing but illustrative of the attention to detail found in this series of lenses. The K series as group appear to have been built for a lifetime and to break a salesman's heart. No coming back in 3 years for a new one. How times have changed. The lens takes 77mm filters which add to the front end weight and such filters can be on the expensive side. The lens is tack sharp, contrasty and provides those alcoholic out of focus highlights one wants in a telephoto lens.




The “digital dividend” on the Pentax K10 turns this brute into a 300mm f 2.5 telephoto. At f 2.5 this is the fastest 200mm lens Pentax ever produced. The K10’s shake reduction is an added bonus which makes it even more versatile in low light situations. Shake reduction really does work! It is good at sports venues but bear in mind this is not an auto focus lens and has its limits on a digital camera. Metering will be stop-down only with no AF and there will be no aperture reading in the viewfinder. Great shots are possible but you will have to practice and refine your manual focusing technique. On the plus side this sort of practice is pretty cheap on a digital camera. As I experiment with the SMC K 200mm/2.5 I keep finding more uses. Currently I am alienating most of my family with "ambush portraits." I like the look of the people picutres I am getting. This lens is a joy to use in the field and ranks as my all time favourite manual focus optic. It is the only one of the 12 or so manual focus lenses I have reviewed in this forum to get a ten rating. Highly recommended if you can find one.
   
Junior Member

Registered: January, 2018
Location: Tokyo
Posts: 44

3 users found this helpful
Review Date: May 28, 2023 Recommended | Price: $80.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Sharpness, blur, general depiction
Cons: A bit long focus throw, its weight
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 8    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 9    Value: 9    Camera Used: Pentax K1 Mark II   

This is not a lens: it is a plasma gun that liquefies everything around your subject! A fantastic tool! I can't possibly conceive how somebody posted negative reviews here not recommending it - some of the comments denote complete photographic infancy... the use of a faulty lens... or the need of a psychological-mental examination (at least an optometric eye test)!

The smc Pentax 200mm f2.5 has virtually the same lens design of the 135mm f 2.5, with which it evidently shares the same great sharpness wide open, the solid contrast/color rendering, and the essential, but effective mechanical quality (and also some negative points). It is an incredible photographic tool of a gone age, which pairs perfectly with Pentax K-1, offering yes a heavy combo, but very well balanced when hand-held. Not really saying that it is perfect or easy to hand-hold (despite you do it most of the time); but it is a lens that does not like strong light (not incidentally it closes down until f32), therefore in low light it demands great care in nailing perfectly your subject in focus, due to the extremely thin DOF it achieves. And the weight becomes a challenge.

I do not have a completely mint copy, despite functionally it has no problem. It is a foundling: I rescued it on the junk market in a very poor state. It took quite a while to restoring it, since some internal rings where oxidized and hard to remove. It is a lens that was manufactured in a industrial age (despite not in large numbers), with good quality standards, but without an eye to its maintenance in time and the manual built of the Takumars. Internal components often used to be fixed with bonds or solutions that are not impossible to overcome for a clad, but that were not originally intended for that. Solvents and a-like don't go well hand in hand with coatings and glass. Lenses are large and it is pretty challenging avoiding touching them or handling them without damaging them. Users were probably expected to buy a newer one, when something got compromised inside (during bubble economy time it might not have been an issue). My lens withstood my siege on my work bench for some weeks, before I was finally able to access the internal lenses, to remove the mold they had. And I had to use pretty unorthodox systems to complete the work. So, despite I originally acquired it to fix it end reselling it for good bucks, due to some faint marks that remained in a couple of spots and an internal ring that I had to force and recycle in a different way, I decided to keep it. But I am so glad for that, because I got to discover a marvelous photographic tool.

Ideal for environmental portrait (in a studio a 200mm is probably too long), astrophotography, travel photo, it has an amazing dreamy blur (the background one, but particularly the foreground). I can compare it to H.I.H. smc Pentax* 135mm f1.8 for general rendering. But being a tool of its age, it comes with the usual 'disclaimer' of most legacy lenses: some CA and fall of contrast in frontal illumination. And some color issues to be fixed. Particularly with this lens design, on digital the CA (which was less if not a t all an issue on film) tend to remain visible in several situation and if you are that sort of puritan, you will find yourself treating it. Anyway nothing that tragic: if you purchase one of these lenses these days and then complain, you are a fool. Better go fishing. ;-) That is part of its charm. Beside, if I recall well, this was the first 200mm lens with an f2.5 aperture. On digital, it still kicks in my opinion!















   
Site Supporter

Registered: July, 2020
Posts: 131

5 users found this helpful
Review Date: September 5, 2020 Recommended | Price: $390.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: produces sharp images with patience; great build and looks; easy focusing; f/2.5; built-in lens hood
Cons: chromatic aberration
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 7    Bokeh: 9    Handling: 9    Value: 9    Camera Used: K10D, K-3 II   

I feel it was well worth the money that I paid for this "K" lens in mint condition off Ebay (my posted price includes shipping and tax, as always in my reviews -- the total cost to me). My lens came with the nicely fitting dedicated hard case for safe stand-alone storage. I bought the lens mainly for astrophotography, and it is very sharp for that purpose (not perfect, but really good). Chromatic aberration is obvious on fringe coloring at the limbs of the moon and sun (the latter with a neutral-density solar filter). Putting my Pentax Rear Converter-A 2X-S onto this lens produces very good results. The lens is small enough and light enough to use hand-held for daylight photography (I have photographed flowers in our garden to get really nice background bokeh, hand-held). I have tested it on distant landscape objects with and without the converter, and with and without the tripod. Results of shooting the moon have been pretty good -- not quite at the level of my A* 200-mm f/2.8 lens, but pretty decent at f/5.6 and f/8 at bringing out crater and mountain details; I find that I have to work harder to get the right focus with this particular lens, but with patience I get good results. You can see a sample photo that I took of the moon and Mars with this lens below.

The built-in, slide-out lens hood is such a great Pentax design with these older lenses (I have it on five of my Pentax lenses from 120mm to 500mm focal length), and the hood on this 200-mm f/2.5 lens slides out quite far and easily for really good shading. The outside diameter (of the lens hood) is about 89 mm (as stated in the table above), which is the diameter you'd need to know for putting a solar filter around the end of the lens housing; the objective lens has a clear diameter of about 72 mm.

One reason that I wanted the f/2.5 (vs. f/2.8 on more-expensive Pentax lenses, ironically) was to be able to use it at 400-mm f/5 with my 2X converter, which is a way that I have used it and will use it a lot in the future for my astrophotography, including for eclipses. The wide focusing ring has a great feel to it and has a long turning action (about 270 degrees of rotation from infinity to closest focus), which is pretty good for fine focusing of stars, lunar craters, and the sun. The feel and movement and sound of the aperture ring in motion is top-rate. I would probably rate this lens overall at about 9.5, but no way that I could go as low as "9" so I rounded up to "10". If rating for design and functionality was an option, this would get a "10" in that category from me. One of my best-value purchases in a camera lens, for sure.

photos showing the camera on my lens (with hood retracted and extended, and with the 2X rear converter):





This photo shows a side-by-side size-comparison of this 200-mm f/2.5 lens (left) with the Pentax smc-A* 200-mm f/2.8 (center) and Pentax smc-A* 300-mm f/4 (right) lenses, all three with their rear lens caps on:


Photo taken about 2h30m UT on 2020 Oct. 3 with my smc [K] 200-mm f/2.5 lens on tripod of the just-past-full moon with red planet Mars to its upper left (cropped JPEG image from the original RAW image):

   
Loyal Site Supporter

Registered: February, 2014
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 2,710

5 users found this helpful
Review Date: August 7, 2019 Recommended | Price: $271.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Sharpness, Bokeh, Impeccable build quality
Cons: Aberrations, No “A” contacts
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 6    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 9    Value: 9    Camera Used: Pentax K-3   

I won’t bore you with a long review, the positive reviews of this lens are mostly dead on. The lens does have limitations, it is not the best in bright, high contrast lighting. My copy has very obvious red CA issues creating a halo in the highlights, especially wide open. However, if used in lighting appropriate to a fast, F2.5 telephoto the lens delivers truly excellent results.

Sharp. Yes starting at F2.5 IF you nail the focus! Practice and patients are needed to use this lens well when focused using the viewfinder. The bokeh is smooth, creamy and just shy of amazing. Colors are good and saturated. Contrast and sharpness respond well to post processing adjustments.

Due to the weight, rather long focus throw and need for best technique, this is not a lens for beginning photographers, it is a lens for those willing to work a bit and enjoy a true classic piece of Pentax kit!

I posted test photos in the Bokeh thread.
   
Veteran Member

Registered: February, 2009
Posts: 621

2 users found this helpful
Review Date: January 20, 2019 Recommended | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: sharpness, contrast
Cons: weight
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 9    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 9    Value: 9    Camera Used: K-7   

Its a manual lens, that given if one is used to shooting tele manual, its great.
the writing home about is the bokeh.
My comparison is with the perfect F* 300 4.5,
compact to be carried around when one sees 300 4.5. but the utility for 300 is different to 200.
tamron adaptall 107B 300/2.5 is another beast

let me share shootout, between F*300/4.5 and SMC 200/2.5
F*300/4.5 and SMC 200/2.5 shootout -shot on manual handheld without split viewer , at 2.5 and 4.5
https://flic.kr/s/aHskPimX76

https://www.flickr.com/photos/34859797@N07/albums/72157709775726842
test shots @2.5
   
New Member

Registered: March, 2009
Location: Copenhagen
Posts: 10

2 users found this helpful
Review Date: November 20, 2014 Recommended | Price: $200.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Nice bokeh, fast, quite sharp
Cons: Quite big, heavy and slow to focus
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 7    Bokeh: 9    Handling: 7    Value: 9    Camera Used: Me Super, LX, MX, K5   


Once abroad I stumbled across one of these lenses and bought it. It's an interesting lens and in some instances it creates outstanding images with good sharpness and colors. And the bokeh is what really makes this lens shine - the f/2.5 giving it an edge regarding bokeh compared to most other 200mm lenses made by Pentax or other brands. It's great for portraits from a distance because of the pleasant bokeh (on full aperture). Unfortunately its quite cumbersome to focus! The focus ring has a lot of resistance and cannot be turned with one finger and the focus throw is long. I've sometimes experienced a somewhat harsh contrast with this lens and some CA on digital cameras. I made a direct comparison with Olympus 180 mm 2.8 (which is said to be very good) but the Oly had much more CA than the Pentax. Shooting in strong light against the sun also posed some problems with the Pentax 200 2.5; ghosting (of the sun) etc. In that respect the image quality from this lens isn't so consistent. Thats why I ended up selling my lens just to later on regret it and buy another copy of this beautiful and rare lens - it's that good and special.
   
Site Supporter

Registered: January, 2008
Location: ON
Posts: 60

1 user found this helpful
Review Date: May 25, 2014 Recommended | Price: $400.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Sharp and fast
Cons: Focusing is a workout, CA
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 7    Bokeh: 8    Handling: 7    Value: 10    Camera Used: K5   

I bought this lens to replace my A 70-200mm f4 zoom, which was too slow for taking pictures of the kids running around indoors. This fits the bill nicely.

I have actually ended up using it a lot for taking handheld pictures of birds in the yard.

This lens is very sharp, and I find it easy to get an accurate focus using a Katz Eye screen. Except that I really have to wrench the focusing ring and it has a long throw. So much so that I start shooting with my elbow up so I can put the weight of my arm into it.

There is some CA with this lens, but I find it cleans up well in Photoshop. I have also seen some ugly CA in out-of-focus areas (branches behind birds), but this might be typical for telephoto lens.

The colour and contrast are very pleasing.

Overall, I really enjoy shooting with this lens and I feel it was well worth the price.

Add Review of SMC Pentax 200mm F2.5



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