| Author: | | Veteran Member Registered: November, 2008 Location: The Untied States Posts: 1,881
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 8, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $75.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Excellent design; sharpness, color, zoom and focus range; small; lightweight | | Cons: | Kind of a small aperture; coma at MFD; zoom inwards to increase telephto | |
I originally got a copy of this lens from a "fellow" forum member, who sold me a junk copy that had marks all over the glass and poor image quality, perhaps from a decentered internal element, and then tried to lie about it to the moderators and say I caused the damage to the lens that I had been so excited to get for months  Thankfully I don't see him sell here any longer, but always be careful fellow Pentaxians!
I just picked up another copy of this lens, one that is in perfect condition, and I am floored by the image quality! I finally know what all these reviews were talking about. The sharpness really is prime quality -- it's slightly sharper than my Pentax M 135/3.5 at f/4 at 135/4 on this lens! The colour is just as good, perhaps with even better gradation on the 75-150/4, if it wasn't just the sunlight of a different day playing tricks on my eyes. From about 2m focusing out to infinity, there is only the slightest, almost unnoticeable amount of coma at f/4, and it goes away completely when you stop down one stop. This is true at all focal lengths for this lens. It really is the "bag of primes" lens.
However, this lens is not without its faults. Foremost, there is considerable coma between 2m and 1.2m (the minimum focusing distance), causing your subject to 'glow'. It's not even close to the worst case I've seen, and I'd much rather have a lens that focuses closer with some coma than one that has a gigantic MFD. The coma goes away at about f/5.6 or a little higher, but this lens is meant to be used wide-open.
Second, you have to pull the zoom ring in towards you in order to 'zoom out' -- to go from 75mm to 150mm. This is counter-intuitive and has actually interfered in getting one or two critical shots, but I'm sure that will all go away once I get more used to it.
The last "problem" is that the aperture is a little slow. But, it's a constant aperture which is great, and probably if you were to design a 75-150/3.5 it would not only be much bigger, but you'd also be stopping down to f/4 most often due to softness anyway. So it's a good compromise. And again, this lens is extremely sharp, even wide open. Probably the sharpest MF-era zoom I've ever used (yes, newer optics are generally better in this regard).
Overall this is a lens that truly exemplifies the spirit behind what Pentax has always strived for in their best zoom lenses -- a unique lens focal range, with a somewhat modest aperture, and impeccable image quality in all fields even wide-open, all in a very compact and sturdy body. This is the kind of lens that companies like Canon, Nikon, and Minolta are embarrassed they didn't think of first. But who could pull it off other than Pentax?  | | | | | | | Site Supporter Registered: January, 2008 Location: Michigan Posts: 478 | | Review Date: October 6, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $47.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Very sharp. Very light & compact. Excellent build: metal barrel, great manual focus feel, & built-in hood. Decent close focus ability. Takes 49mm filters. | | Cons: | No "A" setting | |
This is a lens with prime lens quality, very sharp even wide open. IMO, on my K10D, it is sharper than SMC-A 35-105mm F3.5 in comparable apertures & focal lengths. It is even sharper (or easier to get sharp pics) than my DA* 50-135mm F2.8 (manual focus, of course). I have tried these 3 lenses many times. The 75-150mm is the one that most consistently gave me sharp pics.
The manual focus feel is also the excellent, light and smooth. This lens is compact & light. I just wish it had the "A" setting.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: March, 2008 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 142
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 30, 2009 | Recommended
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | build quality, constant f/4, sharp wide-open, pleasing bokeh, smooth focusing and zooming, | | Cons: | it's not an A lens (stop down metering only) | |
This is one of the hidden jewels in the Pentax lineup IMHO. Wonderful build quality like all M lenses with smooth, well dampened one-touch zooming and focusing. The built-in hood is a nice touch.
Overall IQ is great with very-good sharpness wide open and pleasing bokeh although purple-fringing can be a problem on very-high contrast edges.
Samples with this lens and the Pentax K20D
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With the K100D
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| | | | | Senior Member Registered: July, 2008 Location: France Posts: 128 | | Review Date: May 11, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $30.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | One touch zoom, IQ | | Cons: | Not auto :( | |
Nice zoom, very well built, as most of the P-K and P-M lenses. Only issue: it is not an P-KA lens, so you cannot switch the f/stop value using the camera handle ...
| | | | | | | New Member Registered: February, 2009 Location: London Posts: 2 | | Review Date: February 6, 2009 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Compact, Lightweight, image quality | | Cons: | Not autofocus | |
This is an excellent lens, rendering superb images. Its compactness makes it ideal for street photograpy or those situation when you don't want to be seen. The build quality is good and the focus is silky smooth. A constant aperture of f/4 makes it that much more special.
| | | | | New Member Registered: November, 2008 Location: Bursa / Türkiye Posts: 6 | | | | | Senior Member Registered: July, 2008 Location: montreal Posts: 136 | | Review Date: July 26, 2008 | Recommended
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | light,sharp | | Cons: | push pull zoom | |
At first i didn't like it because i didn't find it sharp enough.But after some testing i found that i was wrong,it's very sharp at any F-Stop and focal length.I'm now using it with Ext. tubes and Pentax TC 1.4X-S with very good results on my DS2.
Certainly a very good zoom to add to a collection!
| | | | | Inactive Account Registered: October, 2007 Location: Toowoomba - Australia Posts: 110
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 16, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $110.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Superb build, smooth focus/zoom. | | Cons: | Minor CA | |
This zoom is 'prime' quality, from 75 to 150. Sharp with great contrast even wide open. Classic Pentax SMC M rendering of images. It's great to be confident with a lens, no matter where it's zoomed and what's its f stop is. At f5.6 + , this is as sharp as any Pentax 50 I've had - including the best one I've ever had, my current M 50 1.7. | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: February, 2008 Location: Waterloo, Ontario Posts: 4,461
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 22, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Fairly light, sharp and contrasty | | Cons: | Fully manual | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 9
Value: 10
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I’ll preface my comments by saying I’m not a big fan of zoom lenses. I prefer primes for almost every application. Prime lenses are almost always faster, lighter and optically superior at their designed focal length. Zooms of this vintage, while arguably more versatile, tend to be big, heavy and slow unless they are very expensive. It is a personal preference and I don’t want to dredge up the old prime/zoom debate.
Bearing this prime prejudice in mind I found the Pentax M 75~150mm provided a range of very useful focal lengths for my film cameras. It balances beautifully on my Pentax MX as well as the K10 digital. I don’t find the lens to be heavy at all. It isn't overly fast at f 4 but it still produced some very good images for me. I found it to be sharp and contrasty even wide open. The lens exhibits typical Pentax build quality which is to say it is very good indeed. The built in lens hood is a nice touch. Boz Dimitrov provides further technical details:
http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/lenses/zooms/long/M75-150f4.html
On a digital camera the M 75~150mm's fully manual nature presents some limitations. On my K10 one is required to manually indentify the focal length for the camera to function properly. To simplify things I usually just compromise and set it in the middle of the range and hope for the best. To tell the truth it is a pain in the ass. It is yet one more reason I prefer prime lenses to zooms especially vintage ones. I am rating this lens as 7 out 10 for use on a film camera. This is, after all, the format the lens was designed to be used in and it is in this format it should be evaluated. It would be unfair to compare it to a modern digital zoom. It will serve you well in this format and a decent copy may usually be found on EBAY for well under $100. On digital I find that while you can make it work and get good results it is just too much trouble to be bothered.
| | | | | New Member Registered: February, 2008 Location: Baltimore, MD Posts: 12 | | Review Date: February 19, 2008 | Recommended
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharp, solid, and well built | | Cons: | Heavy compared to modern lenses, limited range | |
This was my first all manual lens and what a treat. Great sharpness and overall rendition of the scene. Surprising how easy it is to use. Usable at f4 no problem and works nicely for tight portrait shots. Consistent quality at 75mm and 150mm and everywhere in between. Sure, it's heavy but the feel is very reassuring and it doesn't take long to get used to.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: January, 2007 Location: St-Albert, Alberta, Canada Posts: 330 | | Review Date: March 27, 2007 | Recommended | Price: $60.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharp with constant F4 | | Cons: | none | |
Purchased this clean lens on eBay. First test showed good optics with good color rendition. It is well build, fairly lightweight. I tested it on a K10D and compared results with a 50-200mm. Sharpness was just as good.
| | | | | | | | Review Date: February 12, 2007 | Recommended | Price: $80.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Constant aperature (f/4), sharp. In my opinion better than 70-210 A | | Cons: | Minimal focus a quite long | |
Nothing to complain  | | | | | New Member Registered: October, 2006 Location: Minnesota Posts: 9 | | Review Date: January 11, 2007 | Recommended | Price: $79.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Lightweight, Constant aperature, sharp | | Cons: | a tad soft beyond 135mm | |
To be fair, I have to give this lens a 7, although my copy came to me off ebay with a fair amount of dust on the internal elements. Still, this is an excellent and lightweight travelling companion for a Std-Tele zoom. OK, maybe it is 2x as heavy as the DA 55-200, but in it's defense, it is a constant aperature design, and manual focusing is a delight with this baby, and, at f4, it gains a stop at 135-150mm on the DA 55-200 , which comes in handy indoors. My only gripe, and it is a minor one, is the minimum focusing distance of 1.2m, but it only gives up 0.1m to the DA 55-200 here. If you can find one, snap it up & save a few bucks, enjoy the smooth MF action. | | |
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