| Author: | | New Member Registered: November, 2018 Posts: 2 | | Lens Review Date: May 6, 2019 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $39.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Cheap n' sharp | | Cons: | Long minimum focusing distance | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax K-1
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Cheap, sharp lens.
Usually I use this lens for filming. I think it's great for this. The zoom and focus rings are very convenient to use. Especially this second feature is helpful during filming.
Unfortunately, the distance of the minimum sharpening is quite large.
But the quality in relation to the price is great.
I recommend and regards,
IICzesiekII
| | | | | | | New Member Registered: February, 2019 Posts: 13 | | Lens Review Date: February 5, 2019 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $35.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Small and compact | | Cons: | Blurry "macro" | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 9
Camera Used: ME Super K2
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Mechanically, this feels superb in my hands. It's so good to use until you switch to "macro" and you are trying to compose a picture at the same time. It's slightly heavy, but that makes it perfectly balanced on a light camera for stable shooting. A perfect lens for urban walkabout if you want to stay minimalist, and it's also superb for any kind of photography for people who don't want to carry around half a camera-shop of gear; fumbling from one lens to another. It could be sharper across the f-stop range, but in this digital age, people always want more sharpness; even if it makes photos look unreal and a bit weird. Best sharpness at f11, f8 and f5.6 as with most zooms, but that's not a problem as I seem to take most photos in that kind of range. At those ranges sharpness if good in the centre and only slightly less sharp at the edges. A nice little piece of kit that has no major problems except:
1. Rather too much flare and aberration fringing in brightly lit/shadow contrast situations.
2. Things seem slightly over-exposed at times and a lens hood does not help much.
3. The "macro" function is not easy to use and it always seems blurry. It leaves me underwhelmed. But I don't use that much.
Get a good one reasonably priced at about $45 and it's a great everyday lens, but go over that and you may as well save a bit more and spend your cash on two primes to cover most of the focal range of this zoom. 45mm to about 70mm seems the best with this nice little zoom.
| | | | | New Member Registered: March, 2013 Location: NE England Posts: 13 | | Lens Review Date: September 30, 2018 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $20.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Quirky focal length, cheap, Pentax. | | Cons: | Very ugly compared to most M series lenses! Lacks built in hood. | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: KP
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An interesting but very ugly lens! Probably doesn't get the praise it deserves. Well made, but can be prone to the zoom ring becoming sloppy. I have found colour and sharpness up there with many of its fellow M series lenses. Worth having if you find a good example, if only because of the odd zoom range (I think that's the collector in me!). Pity it doesn't have the built in hood of other M zooms/teles.
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: July, 2014 Location: SF BAY AREA Posts: 63 | | Lens Review Date: March 21, 2016 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $30.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | solid, IQ, portrait, product photography, f2.8 | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-50
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40mm to 80mm - pretty good range on a DSLR for head/body shots or small/medium product photography. You can be as close as 16-18 inches by my estimation and have the optical physics benefits of a long lens. Plus you have the flexibility of a ZOOM when the model moves around or the items change size when doing a set of products in a shoot.
Other than that, the open aperature, solid M-quality build, and Pentax IQ are always a plus. recommended.
at 60mm
at 80mm
 | | | | | | | New Member Registered: March, 2015 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 16 | | Lens Review Date: August 3, 2015 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $60.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Image quality, contrast, sharpness, solid build | | Cons: | distortion and CA change with focal lenth and aperture | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 7
Value: 8
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I have used this lens since 1985, primarily with Kodachrome 64 and ME Super. It works well with my K-500 digital.
Hand held, 80mm, f5.6, 1/25 sec, ISO 500, late afternoon shade, back-lit by open blue sky.
Route 66, Round Barn - a Mother Road icon
 | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: November, 2013 Posts: 1,740
1 user found this helpful
| | Lens Review Date: April 16, 2015 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: N/A
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | cheap, light | | Cons: | not sharp | | Sharpness: 6
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 9
Value: 9
Camera Used: MX
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The Pentax M40-80 f2.8-4 is one of the many so called "standard zooms" that were sold in the 80s as replacement for prime 50-55 mm lenses and sold as kits for amateurs. This one came with a beaten MX and is beaten up accordingly,
As all the other siblings it was supposed to do too many things (50 mm replacement, wide angle, short tele, macro) and to be as cheap as possible, so in reality it doesn't do anything quite right, but like many M lenses is very small (unlike other standard zooms of the era) and light, so it can be see limited use for street photography.
 | | | | | Pentaxian Registered: April, 2011 Location: Lost in translation ... Posts: 18,044 | | Lens Review Date: October 2, 2014 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: N/A
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Good IQ & color possible, range, solid build for my copy ... | | Cons: | Not a "macro" @ 1:4, MFD, needs stopping down ... | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 8
Value: 7
Camera Used: K-5, K-r
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Bonjour,
This is a lens that may deserve more credit than it gets. Just look at the images by unartist; not bad at alI.
I gave an "7" overall rating which is may be unkind, but it's not an"8" ... wish that there were half points possible.
For a lower tier zoom (IMHO), this M lens does quite well. It can produce nice images stopped down. I am a bit irked that this lens would labeled as a "macro" with only a "1:4" ratio ... come on, get real Pentax.
My copy is solid and well built, but I find it odd that there are two different ring grip patterns used ... small rectangles for the focus ring and long linear line for the zoom ring ... how odd and never noticed this upon another Pentax lens; maybe it's just me.
Some sample images maybe later on ... Salut, J
| | | | | New Member Registered: May, 2013 Location: Jakarta Posts: 2 | | Lens Review Date: May 2, 2014 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $80.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | color contrast, IQ, built quality | | Cons: | push pull zoom, heavy, relatively rare | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 7
Value: 7
Camera Used: K5
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I had this lens twice, i'm not sure for the first lens, it's sold 
latest i have the second one, it is surely I have the good copy, with perfect coating, how lucky I am!
really like this lens, although a little awkward when shooting macro, here are the sample shot in wide open (F2.8), ISO100, no post processing, RAW to JPEG convert:
 | | | | | Senior Member Registered: January, 2013 Location: San Luis Obispo Posts: 146 | | Lens Review Date: March 21, 2013 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $60.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharp, Cheap, Good Color | | Cons: | Heavy. | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 6
Value: 9
Camera Used: K-5, K10D
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Nice lens for Macro job and Portrait. Doesn't seem to be possible to put on other uses.
Good sharpness and color.
| | | | | New Member Registered: September, 2008 Location: Australia Posts: 13
1 user found this helpful
| | Lens Review Date: September 8, 2012 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $60.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Cheap | | Cons: | Heavy | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: K200D, ME Super
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Nice walk around lens on a film camera. Great portrait lens on a digital. Seems to take great pictures for me.
| | | | | Inactive Account Registered: October, 2010 Location: Baltimore Posts: 2,542
4 users found this helpful
| | Lens Review Date: April 19, 2012 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $50.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Compact Focal Range | | Cons: | Soft at the Wide End, Minimum Focus Distance | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 7
Value: 8
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I find the Zoom Range of this little lens quite attractive but it's physical build, though typical M construction, is a bit ugly. With that said, I would probably never give up or sell this lens.
I have found the strength of this lens is from @ 50mm - 80mm one stop down. Macro is a bonus surprise, better than OK if you treat it like a macro, i.e. use a tripod. Wide open on the 40mm end, is soft, kind of like a soft focus portrait lens, one needs to stop down at least 2 stops before images become workably sharp. But wide open, on the 60-80mm or Macro end it's quite usable and simply stopped down one or two stops and accurately focused, this lens will deliver. My biggest problem is minimum focusing distance is 4 feet, which takes away a lot of photo options but the macro mode almost makes up for it...
If you know how to work and enjoy an M lens, you might like this lens, but be warned, it's not for the faint at heart
I think it's a 71/2 lens, I'll give it an 8 to bring it up a little...
Macro Mode 1 Stop Down Hand Held
Macro Mode by theunartist, on Flickr
@ 50mm 2 Stops Down
Contemplating 'Dog Days' by theunartist, on Flickr
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: March, 2010 Location: Norfolk Posts: 85
1 user found this helpful
| | Lens Review Date: December 7, 2011 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: N/A
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Useful 60~120 zoom range on digital; effective 'macro'; decent build quality | | Cons: | Fairly heavy | |
I have few complaints about this lens, which I bought new 25 years ago. It is no more difficult to handle than any other two-touch zoom and the push-pull macro function is a doddle. Surprisingly, under the skin it's optically similar to the one-touch 35~70/f2.8-3.5, both are 7/7 construction. The rugged build is reassuring and it still looks and feels good after service on an MX and ME-F, and occasionally on digital.
I don't shoot wide open on principle so softness and CA are rarely a worry. For digital this 40~80 is a useful walkabout lens with a 120mm reach. As with all M-series I find it works best on my old *istDS where the 'green'/AE-L button is perfectly placed under the right thumb for rapid metering when aperture values change while zooming. It's not so quick on the K-r and K-7 because the 'green' button is awkwardly positioned and not so user-friendly.
No IQ issues when stopped down a tad. There are certain subjects for which a 60~120 lens is ideal, so I wouldn't part with mine.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: December, 2006 Location: Lincoln, UK Posts: 229 | | Lens Review Date: June 5, 2011 | I can recommend this lens: No |
Price: $75.00
| Rating: 5 |
| Pros: | Cheap | | Cons: | IQ, size, handling | |
I believe this was a "cheap" alternative to the 35-70M and it behaves like it!
IQ wide open is poor and it takes a while before it inproves. It is bulky for it's range and the 2 ring operation makes it slow to use. This is doubl so unless you are using an auto mode because it loses nearly a whole stop from one end to the other.
It does have a macro facility but with the IQ, it's not something I would use. I bought mine new in a clearance sale 25 years ago and it still looks new because it never gets used. the 35-70M on the other hand looks well worn 
Kim
| | | | | Inactive Account Registered: August, 2010 Location: Canada Posts: 161
2 users found this helpful
| | Lens Review Date: May 24, 2011 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: $40.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | old smc pentax colors | | Cons: | bokeh, minimum focus | |
Maybe I got very lucky with my copy, but I'm totally dumbfounded by the ability of this lens. For general street photography, this lens can deliver, and deliver big.
The only real minus with this lens is that under certain conditions the bokeh can be somewhat harsh.
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: October, 2010 Posts: 6,138 | | Lens Review Date: December 20, 2010 | I can recommend this lens: Yes |
Price: N/A
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | cheap, nice bokeh. | | Cons: | image quality average. bulky. | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 8
Value: 9
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Review smc 1:2.8-4 M 40-80 mm/macro.
Good oldie zoom lens. Can deliver very nice pictures. This was my first lens wich came with ME-Super. With film you could really use this lens on it's own potential. Now with 1.6 X crop it looses some versality at wide end and it is also restricting that closest focus point is 0.8 meters(as it was with film). But macro feature gives relief to this need. With macro you can get as close as 32 cm from your subject. It gives quite good effect on pictures. But you can't really call it as a true macro, IMO. But it increases versality of this lens.
Colour is quite neutral with this lens, and some how bokeh is soft and nice too. But, when it is used at 80 mm/f 4 as wide open it is not bokeh monster, but with macro feat it serves you nicelly when there in enough light. Sharpness and rendering is average as one can hope to be as consumer grade lens from -70's especially, when compared to smc M 50 1 :1.4. Wich is by the way, very nice lens.
Handling is easy and especially if you like this range it can give some suprises, image wise. It is well build no flopping or anything like that. , aperture ring snaps exactly on it's place. Easy to focus and zoom. All seems to be on it's place. But nothing really shines on exellense.
All that said, this lens still finds it self on my camera every now and then, even there is nice automatical zooms available. This is individual thing, but I just like way manual lenses feels when using them. Maybe I should use automatics more and so, to get used to it more, maybe. What would make this lens more attractive would be auto aperture, better rendering and ability to focus closer. When there is good light, you can achieve nice results. But up to it's limitations. (Non working link removed)
Edit: had to rice my rating...for it's price it is quite good...
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