| Author: | | Veteran Member Registered: January, 2010 Posts: 1,665
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 13, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $125.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Size, build construction | | Cons: | minimum FL | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 9
Camera Used: K-3
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One of many oddball FL in the Pentax back catalogue, but what a joy it is. Only marginally larger than the 135/3.5, but with 10% more reach. And it's appreciably smaller than the 200/4. I call it the stealth portrait lens. Good for open air events with many people in a large but confined space, like a BBQ or company party. Can easily grab an intimate portrait from 20' away.
Sharpness is very good, though this is not a macro lens. Honestly, I haven't pushed my copy through exhaustive sharpness or aberration tests, because that's not what this lens is about. It's plenty damned sharp to my eye for its purpose.
Bokeh is pleasant and transition is smooth. Wide open at this FL it is a nice lens to separate subject from background. However, it's only 6 bladed, so will produce noticeable hexagons from point sources.
If it has any drawback, it's the minimum focal length of 180cm. There are times when I want to get closer with this lens and it's just not happening, but that can be said for just about any telephoto lens.
In all honesty, the 150/3.5 is perhaps a bit redundant if you have a 135/3.5. Nonetheless, I have both and tend to grab the 150mm first.
| | | | | | | Senior Member Registered: September, 2009 Location: Beautiful Bavaria :-) Posts: 123
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 27, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $65.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | sharpness, compactness, build quality | | Cons: | rare, overpriced, competition from 4/75-150 & 3.5/135 | |
This lens has a fundamental problem (which would make my rating 7.5 instead of 8):
the less expensive and easier to find SMC-M 4/75-150 zoom is as sharp and contrasty, just a tad heavier and longer, has the same 49mm filter and is more versatile. Both have six aperture blades, similar bokeh qualities and a built-in light hood.
Most of this is also true for the ubiquitous SMC-M 3.5/135.
So, why having this lens?
1. the "unusual" focal length allows different views
2. the fine build quality and superb optics deliver good picture quality and make it a joy to use
3. out of the SMC-M line this is one of the more collectibles, because it seems to be rare
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: January, 2013 Location: Texas Posts: 32
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 6, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $85.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Light, Well Build, Telescopic Hood, excellent at f/5.6 | | Cons: | So-so sharpness at full aperture | | Sharpness: 7
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 9
Camera Used: Olympus E-M10-II
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Interesting focal length, I always felt that the 135mm was too short or too long.
Becomes a 300 mm on a Micro Four Third camera, sometimes enough for wildlife.
Excellent mechanically, like all M serie pentax lenses.
The sharpness, though, is not good enough (I am very demanding) to use at full aperture, but is already very good at f/4.5, and excellent at f/5.6. Very little difference between corners and center. Note that I tested it (very carefully, brick wall, magnifier for manual focus) with a Micro Four Third camera, the angle of field is therefore reduced, and I don't know what the corner would be on a full frame camera. Also, a MFT camera is more demanding at the center of the field (higher pixel density).
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: December, 2010 Location: Northern Germany Posts: 73
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 10, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | sharpness, compact, quiet fast, filter size | | Cons: | MFD, P/- and Blue Fringing | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
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On of the sharpest of my Lenses. Think of a good Fifity Lens sharpness. I do not pixel peep the corners but on Crop Sensor there is no Problem anyways. You need to add very little shaprness in Post Processing and it's possible to crop a lot. Nice colors and bokeh too.
Under the right Conditions, mostly wide open, a very, very good Lens. I bet it's even better on K-1.
It is so compact and light, it is a perfect Tele on Crop for the Bag. Must be a nice Portrait Tele on FF.
| | | | | | | Junior Member Registered: March, 2010 Location: East Yorkshire Posts: 47
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 30, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Size, sharp | | Cons: | relatively slow (3.5) | |
Surprisingly very nice results. Quite unusual focal length but in APS-C it is close to 200 mm (actually it is 225 mm). Small and light, there is always a place in the bag, just in case. I prefer a DA70 and this than the heavy 50-135 for trips.
Some Purple fringing in 3.5, easily corrected in Photoshop.
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: March, 2008 Location: Quebec city, Canada Posts: 9,356
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 1, 2009 | Recommended
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Small! sharp, well built | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 8
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This lens is a cutie! Much smaller than I would have expected, smaller than my 135 mm f2,8... It's extremely well built, like every M lens. The focusing ring is butter-smooth, and has an enormous throw. It has a built-in hood which is very useful in many situations (go figure why the previous owner used a rubber hood with it...)
The aperture ring is, again, as nice as other M lenses, positive locks and smooth operation.
The lens is sharp wide open, with only minimal improvements visible as you close down the aperture. Contrast is also surprisingly nice. Bokeh more than ok but this is not a macro lens.
Some people complain about the focal length, but I personally find it very confortable. There's almost no difference between 135 and 150 mm, really.
I got it because it was so cheap, and might not end up using it a lot. Then again, using MF lenses from time to time is a good thing...
| | | | | 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
 | | | | | New Member Registered: April, 2011 Location: Dorset , UK Posts: 6 | | Review Date: August 7, 2018 | Recommended | Price: $65.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | size, sharpness, build quality and price | | Cons: | minimum focus distance | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-70
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This M 150mm lens is very nice to use and sharpness is excellent (I always use f5.6 or f8). Contrast is very low which can easily be adjusted in post processing and is generally of advantage rather than disadvantage !
Minimum focus distance is unfortunately not so good and my only small issue with this lens.
Also I`m required to use manual mode and the green button which slows things down but that is how all M lenses operate and I won`t count this against this little beauty  | | | | | New Member Registered: November, 2014 Posts: 3 | | Review Date: August 8, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $50.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | compact and sharp | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: pentax K-30
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A real pleasure to own and use. (perhaps I just love all Pentax SMC lenses).
A fine-weather sunny day medium telephoto. perhaps not quite long enough for wild-life close ups, but excellent for pulling out the part of the landscape that makes a nice photo.
For example, here with K-30 using the green button, ISO 200, F/8, 1/320s.
An interesting hillside in afternoon sunshine between 4 & 5 km away, cropped to about 1/2 of the frame
Resolution here suffers from slight heat-haze (zoom in on upper Pylon and notice the wavy lines).
 | | | | | New Member Registered: April, 2015 Posts: 3 | | Review Date: April 24, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $50.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp, bokeh, color | | Cons: | minimum focusing distance | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax k5 II
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Bought this lens off ebay two weeks ago and all I can say is wow. Wide open this lens is amazing, the bokeh is just super smooth. Took it on its first job two days ago and no problems whatsoever. Focusing was silky smooth, aperture ring snappy and the elements were clean but the results were just superb. It made me contemplate, why would I spend hundreds to buy an automatic lens with more glass elements and more CA coating etc when I can spend 50 bucks and get old school lenses which can be used professionally once they are in great condition.
The Pentax M 135mm f3.5 is a must get and if you don't have one, you really don't know what you're missing out on. Manual lenses are a joy, and manual focus is something that shouldn't be seen as burden, besides focus confirmation is available (on my Pentax K5 ii) and once it confirms that it's in focus. trust me, it is.
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: January, 2014 Location: Bydgoszcz Posts: 98 | | Review Date: April 6, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Excellent sharpness, nice bokeh and colors. | | Cons: | Would be perfect with auto focus | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 9
Camera Used: Pentax k-3
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Amazing lens, very recommended for every portrait photographers.  | | | | | Site Supporter Registered: January, 2009 Location: Champagne Ardennes, France Posts: 19 | | Review Date: April 25, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $80.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Compact, well built, IQ | | Cons: | manual settings | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 9
Camera Used: K100D
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This nice compact lens (like most M lenses) is relatively rare. Focal length seems strange, but is very close to 135mm in terms of fieldwiew.
A classical M lense with good handling, smooth focusing. IQ and sharpness fit Pentax Standards : you'll never be disapointed with pictures produced by this M150.
 | | | | | Senior Member Registered: February, 2011 Posts: 118 | | Review Date: October 17, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $180.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | sharpness, bokeh, contrasty | | Cons: | rare focal length | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
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This is a sleeper lens.
I found a pretty good copy a year ago, very few marks on the barrel, excellent optics, built-in metal hood has minimal use marks.
Very nice sharpness for this focal length, even wide open.
It reminded me of M100 2.8, very similar portrait lenses.
Both are very compact for their respective focal lengths.
f2.8 and f3.5 aren't that far apart if taken into consideration of the added focal length.
Since I acquired it, I've replaced my entry level long zooms with this lens. Its build quality, excellent IQ, and relative small size makes that decision so much easier.
| | | | | New Member Registered: September, 2010 Location: TAIWAN Posts: 11 | | Review Date: February 18, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | It's a superise!!make a astonishment | | Cons: | | |
I can't remenber how to get it, But, When I saw the Photo.....
http://imageshack.us/f/703/k20d8973.jpg/
It was a Pleasantly surprised
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: August, 2009 Location: Wandering the Streets Posts: 1,411 | | Review Date: November 25, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $150.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Very nice color, lightweight, great focal length on digital | | Cons: | Haven't found a negative yet | |
Since I picked this up a few months ago it has become the 3rd lens in my travel trio. I like it because it is very light and yet gives me a 225mm viewpoint on my little DL2. Although it is a manual focus lens this hasn'[t been a big deal because I typically use it for landscapes or scenery so I have time to meter and focus.
Image quality is quite good on digital and the bokeh is pretty decent as well. Because the lens hood is built in I do not have to worry about losing it. Finally, since I use the 77 Limited, the M 40 and this one on trips I can get away with only one polarizer, a 49mm.
Let's see. Light weight, good image, nice bokeh, built in lens shade, and 49mm filter thread. Yep, that's why I like it.
Oh, I did think the focal length was a bit odd when I originally picked it up but I don't even notice it any more | | |
;)
;)
