| Author: | | Veteran Member Registered: September, 2006 Location: North Idaho Posts: 696
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 8, 2007 | Recommended | Price: $65.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | very small for a 200mm lens, outstanding optical quality, built-in sun hood | | Cons: | none | |
I purchased this EX rated lens from KEH in January 2005. It is one of my favorites but only see limited use because I either need a longer focal length, or use a Sigma 70-200/2.8 for 200mm work. When I want to go 'small and compact' the M200/4 gets the call. It is so compact, that it makes you wonder why the 300mm is so much larger.
This lens is very usable wide open and can be used in Av mode wide open to acquire very acceptable images. At different apertures, you will need to shoot in manual exposure M mode. Focus is tight and positive. All lenses should be made like the M200/4. It is a work of art! Well, almost. I should reserve 'works of art' for FA Limited lenses. But, you know what I mean. This thing is very well built, and if you ever got robbed, this is one thing, readily at hand, that you could throw at your assailant to do some serious damage. But, it isn't all that heavy and easily usable handheld.
Did I mention how small this thing is for a 200mm lens? It sure is!
Highly Recommended. Only given an 8 rating because I reserve my 9 and 10 ratings for Limited, '*', and other exceptionally outstanding Pentax lenses.
| | | | | | | Senior Member Registered: October, 2006 Location: Masachusetts Posts: 243
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 1, 2007 | Recommended | Price: $65.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Light for a 200mm, pretty sharp, built-in hood | | Cons: | It's pretty old, but if you find one make sure it's in decent shape. | |
This is a light, very capable lens. Not bad wide open, but stop down a bit and you get performance of a much more expensive lens.
It saw a lot of use on my MX cameras, and now it works as an even longer telephoto on the *st D and with some attention, shooting RAW, on the K10D.
I have the SMC A 70-200mm, which is very good for a zoom and with the A setting is more convenient, but the M 200mm prime is lighter, easier to carry, and a very high quality lens. The prime has no appreciable distortion, zooms are notorious for distortion. So the 200M is is!
If you can find one, you'd be pleased with it.
As the previous poster said, it's good enough wide open for a lot of uses on the digitals in Av mode.
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: November, 2007 Location: Rockaway Beach NYC Posts: 7,692 | | Review Date: December 5, 2007 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Compact and lightweight | | Cons: | Not my favorite focal length | |
Terrific bokeh!
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: December, 2007 Posts: 8,237
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 26, 2007 | Recommended | Price: $99.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp, good color, minimal CA | | Cons: | almost none | |
I'm not sure that this lens gets the accolades it deserves - stopped down one or two stops, this lens is capable of incredibly sharp photos - some of the sharpest shots I've taken have come from this lens.
Good color, very '3d' feel to the output, crisp, beautiful. I recently went walking after a snowstorm with my DA 50-200mm and this lens, and when I got the shot right, the 200mm f4 was sharper, "poppier". Even more fun to use - autofocus starts to lack some charm when you have the pleasure of using a lens like this.
For what I paid ($100,) this may be my best bang-for-buck lens purchase to date, maybe second only to my $190 FA 50mm 1.4.
From a practical standpoint, it's hard to beat a new AF zoom like the 50-200 for convenience - but in situations where you have the time to focus and get the shot right, a manual prime like this is a blast to own.
| | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: February, 2008 Location: Waterloo, Ontario Posts: 4,461 | | Review Date: February 18, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $150.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharp, good contrast, light weight, built in hood | | Cons: | Fully manual, a bit slow at f4 | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 10
Value: 10
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I recently replaced my Pentax M 200mm f4 with the much faster K 200 f 2.5. I really wanted and needed the extra speed of the 2.5 for indoor work. Needed? Well, I wanted the extra speed in any case. Prior to the arrival of this much more expensive lens I found the M 200 f4 to be a very good performer. I'm sad to say it now rests unused in its case for long stretches of time. I picked it up new for $150 as the M-series were being phased out for the A-series in the mid 1980s. It was great mated to my Pentax MX and K2 film cameras. As others have stated above I don’t think this lens gets its due. Like all M-series lenses it is well built, compact and light weight. There is a large square checked rubber focusing ring with a wealth of engraved data around the top including: the name, focal length, maximum aperture and serial number. Boz Dimitrov provides further technical details:
http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/lenses/primes/tele/M200f4.html
It is sharp, contrasty and provides good colour rendition. On a digital it works equally well in the manual mode. Metering will be stop down in digital with no f stop information appearing in the viewfinder. If you are on a budget it makes a for a very light weight 300mm f4 on your digital Pentax. The shake reduction on the K10, combined with the M 200's light weight, makes it a nice easily hand held package. Nice that is if you can live with limited auto exposure options and no auto focus.
| | | | | Loyal Site Supporter Registered: March, 2007 Location: Toowoomba, Queensland Posts: 23,920 | | Review Date: April 28, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $65.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharp, well contrasted, strong colours | | Cons: | Soft wide open | |
Fantastic value for a good 200mm prime.
Good build and yet very compact and lightweight!
Can't fault the colour rendition or contrast of this lens. I've been very pleased with its performance.
Stopped down one stop it renders very sharp images beyond that of all the consumer telezooms (still pending comparison with the 55-300).
Focusing is smooth and comfortable - a joy to use.
Metering is good also with the K10D using the green button in M mode.
It gets an 8 because it's not star quality, and is a little soft at f/4, but otherwise a top mid-tele prime lens. Well worth its price!
| | | | | Otis Memorial Pentaxian Registered: March, 2007 Location: Vancouver (USA) Posts: 42,007 | | Review Date: July 19, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $65.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Compact, optical performance, build quality | | Cons: | Metering issues on Pentax dSLRs | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 10
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I bought this lens used after seeing some truly impressive images referenced on this site. I am pretty impressed with this lens. Build quality is typical for the time of manufacture (all metal with the exception of the focus grip), meaning superior by today's standards. Operation of the focus and aperture controls is smooth and precise. This lens is very compact for its focal length and not overly heavy. The built-in lens hood is also a plus feature in my mind. The lens is well-balanced and handles well on the K10D.
Sharpness and contrast are very good to excellent with nice bokeh and neutral color rendition. In my opinion the optical performance make this lens a standout within its price class for used Pentax brand lenses. Some reviewers have noted softness at f/4, but my experience is that this is not a significant issue.
Note that this lens, along with all other M-series and K-series Pentax lenses suffers from exposure metering issues in stop-down manual mode on the K10D and K20D bodies.
Example photo, f/4
(some sharpening was applied in post processing)
Another example
 | | | | | Forum Member Registered: September, 2008 Location: hawaii Posts: 62 | | Review Date: December 30, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $77.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | good focus ring travel, crisp image, contrasty | | Cons: | a bit heavy, if you're not used to tele's | |
maybe 9 is a bit high, but it really beats all my other long lenses both for IQ and weight, and when it's bright enough, it can catch animals in action with surprising clarity. I can use this as a walk-around, hand held lens, and only pop it off for dealing with close-ups.
it's a fun lens, and unlike some manual ones, this is a pleasure to use.
 | | | | | | | | Review Date: February 4, 2009 | Not Recommended | Price: $80.00
| Rating: 3 |
| Pros: | Extremely compact as described, built like a tank | | Cons: | really bad optical performance in my copy with out any visible reason for that | |
While an extremely compact lens my copy has not given good results even stopped down and at medium focusing distances and low light conditions (tripod and K100D used). I compared it with a cheap Tamron 70-300 (f4.5 at 200mm so not really slower) and in all cases at medium focusing distances the already cheap tamron was substantially better.
I dont know if i have a bad copy (lens is in mint condition externally however) but I was little surprised by the performance of the lens, both due to the good reviews it had and to the excellent performance I already have from other manual pentax lenses (m 40mm f2.8 and the SMC A 50mm f1.7) I own.
| | | | | | | | Review Date: March 14, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $99.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | open sharp, metal, compact | | Cons: | manual | |
This lens is like my 100 f 2,8. If you know what do do with a manual lens it delivers perfect pictures. The first shots with this cam were great !
 | | | | | Junior Member Registered: January, 2008 Location: Missouri, USA Posts: 25 | | Review Date: April 6, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $60.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Great IQ Compact Size Smooth Focus | | Cons: | EXIF Data Missing Soft Wide Open | |
Although this lens is a little soft at f/4, it sharpens up quickly thereafter.
The focus is slow and steady. On my K10D, the focus points always end up being spot-on. The IQ from this lens is fantastic. At the middle apertures, the 100% crops are crystal clear.
It has a very noticeable depth to the shots--almost a 3d lind of look.
I bought mine on EBay for $60. It's built like a tank and isn't heavy. The built in shade is cool too.
If you don't mind MF and not being able to record the aperture, this lens--in good shape--is worth $200-$300. That you can get it for well under $100 makes this lens an absolute steal.
One of my favorite lenses.
| | | | | New Member Registered: February, 2009 Location: Bodø Posts: 5 | | Review Date: August 8, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $70.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | sharp small compact build quality metal built in hood | | Cons: | None | |
U must have this lens, buy it. Easy to use, high quality lense.
Build quality+
Sharp+
Hood+
Bokeh+
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: October, 2008 Location: Sweden Posts: 359 | | Review Date: October 22, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $150.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Compact, all metal, nice bokeh, sharp, inexpensive, | | Cons: | | |
I find this lens to be a great performer. It's very small for a 200mm lens and the build quality is excellent. The sharpness is very good and the same goes for colors and rendering.
I like the bokeh of this lens. Unlike many of my other lenses the SMC-m 200mm has nice bokeh at all apertures (that I have tried, F4-F8).
At first I thought F4 would be too slow, but so far it has been fast enough for my use.
Highly recommended!
Kind regards
.lars
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: October, 2008 Location: Albuquerque NM Posts: 9,830 | | Review Date: January 8, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Inexpensive, light, good performer | | Cons: | No automatic aperture, MF | |
I've been impressed with this compact (for 200mm) tele for years. Its performance is better than most of the ubiquitous zooms that cover this range, and it is much, much lighter than the 80-200s. The only drawback is the "green button" metering on digital bodies. Manual focus could be a drawback for some, but it works smoothly on this lens.
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: January, 2009 Location: Champagne Ardennes, France Posts: 20 | | Review Date: January 17, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $90.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Quality of built, lightweight, IQ, price | | Cons: | PF in extreme conditions | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 6
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 8
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This lens is small for a 200mm, and produces good pictures for a low price. Very pleasant to use.
The only negative aspect is some purple fringing that can appear in high contrast borders. (However, you can see it only with cropped image).
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