Veteran Member Registered: February, 2008 Location: Waterloo, Ontario Posts: 4,461
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 18, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $150.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Light weight, sharp, contrasty | | Cons: | Fully manual, odd focal length but this could be a plus | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 9
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I have had the Pentax M 150mm f 3.5 lens for about 20 years now. As I recall the store had one in stock when I was looking for a 135mm. That lens was unavailable at the time so I went into my typical LBA coma and bought it new for use with my Pentax MX. As I think back I already had the M 100mm and M 200mm so this one filled the gap in the middle. On the MX it made for a nicely balanced package. It feels good and looks good on my both my MX and K10. This is all subjective stuff and has little to do with image making but for some reason it is important to me.
If I didn’t have so many other lenses I would probably take it out for a spin more often but it is kind of a strange focal length. It is a bit long for portraits and not really long enough for most telephoto work. The extreme light weight partially compensates for this lack of length. On the other hand it is not really all that fast at f 3.5. I just don't seem to be able to make up my mind on this lens. For all the reasons noted above it sits in its case for long periods of time. Just to be fair as I was evaluating this lens I did take it out with my K10 the other day and came back thinking - hey, I should use this puppy more often. If it weren't for the wierd focal length I might give it a 9 on my scorecard. It takes 49mm filters and features a built in hood which is nice. Like all M-series lenses it is well built, compact and light weight. Its focusing ring is decked out in square rubber checks providing a sure grip. There is the typical M series wealth of engraved data to found around the front retaining ring including: lens name, focal length, maximum aperture and serial number. Boz Dimitrov supplies technical details:
http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/lenses/primes/tele/M150f3.5.html
The lens performs well in digital with sharp, contrasty images and displays good colour rendition. Metering in digital will be stop down only with no f stop information in the viewfiinder and no AF. This being said I keep coming back to that unusual focal length. Did I mention the odd focal length? The M 150mm f 3.5 is a fairly "rare" lens. "Rare" is an often overused term but seems to apply here. To my knowledge only Pentax seems to have made an optic of this length. Maybe that is why I like this firm - they are a little different. If you are looking for a lens with a "different" sort of look to it and don't already have or want a 135mm it is well worth considering.
Here is a recent shot
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Veteran Member Registered: September, 2006 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 423 | | Review Date: September 10, 2007 | Recommended | Price: $130.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Not too big, built-in hood, nice bokeh | | Cons: | funny focal length | |
M150/3.5 is a very compact and nice lens. It is just a little bigger than the M100/2.8 and it has a built-in metal hood. Construction-wise it is just like all other M series lenses I have, very solid but not as heavy as the K series lenses.
The lens is quite sharp wide open and very sharp at f4. On top of that, you get very nice bokeh.
The only "negative" thing I can think of is its focal length. It is too close to 135mm for my liking. I find myself grabbing either my K135/2.5 or FA135/2.8 more often (faster). And if I need something longer, I seem to reach for my M200/4 (even though I think M150/3.5 might be a little sharper than M200/4).
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Veteran Member Registered: October, 2006 Location: 44266 Posts: 568 | | Review Date: January 8, 2007 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Great for outdoor portraits, indoor close-ups | | Cons: | Weight? | |
I think I like this lens as much as any I have used. Fairly sharp and not too large with the 49mm screw. The sliding, built-in metal shade is a nice feature.
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