| Latest Review Posted | SMC Pentax-M 40mm F2.8
I bought mine from Ffordes in 2007 for £90 in excellent condition as I wanted a small versatile lens for my ME Super for a holiday I was going on. I was only taking 1 camera and lens. Previous experience has taught me that the ideal focal length for a single lens/camera combination on 35mm is the range 40-45 for general scenic shots in the UK. On the continent I prefer a longer FL, say 55mm. This is because of the scale of the land/cityscape here is smaller than continental Europe or northern America. For outdoor photography the max aperture is plenty adequate.
I have not done any tests on this lens' optical quality. In my experience this lens produces perfectly acceptable images on 35mm film at all apertures in general walk around photography. In part, a reason I wanted one is that several years ago I remember an "opening shot " double spread image taken with one in Photography Monthly which was stunning. It was a picture of somewhere in the Lake District with sun breaking through clouds.
In terms of handling, it is not so easy to focus as a more normal sized lens but its not a significant problem. You can either use zone focusing as the DOF is quite deep or just take a fraction of a second longer to focus.
The build quality is as good as all other M series lenses I have used, certainly a lot better than the newer FA or DA series,excluding the special edition models. Its a lot better built than my Zeiss 45mm f2.8.
I've played around with it on my KM and KX bod... |
