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Sears Macro 80-200mm F4 Review RSS Feed

Sears Macro 80-200mm F4

Sharpness 
 7.2
Aberrations 
 7.4
Bokeh 
 8.2
Handling 
 7.8
Value 
 8.0
Reviews Views Date of last review
12 38,652 Tue April 25, 2023
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Recommended By Average Price Average User Rating
83% of reviewers $24.17 7.75
Sears Macro 80-200mm F4

Sears Macro 80-200mm F4
supersize
Sears Macro 80-200mm F4
supersize

Description:
Sears Multicoated No.831207633
Model No. 202. 737020
Made in Korea
1:4.0 (constant aperture throughout focal range)
Macro feature (focus ring that clicks into place for telephoto)
Mount Type: Pentax K
Price History:



Add Review of Sears Macro 80-200mm F4
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Sort Reviews by: Date | Author | Rating | Recommendation | Likes (Descending) Showing Reviews 1-12 of 12
New Member

Registered: April, 2023
Location: Sunny Wisconsin
Posts: 2
Review Date: April 25, 2023 Not Recommended | Price: None indicated | Rating: 4 

 
Pros: Inexpensive easy to use zoom
Cons: Soft everywhere
Sharpness: 4    Aberrations: 5    Bokeh: 5    Handling: 4    Value: 5    Camera Used: K1000, Zxm, Zx5, pz1, sf1n   

This lens was given to me in 1996 from someone who had purchased from sears circa 1985. This lens just would not get sharp no matter what. A constant f4 is helpful but isn't useful. F8 is probably the best aperture but not practical unless it is a bright day. Contrast isn't much to write home about either. Might be useful, but I never found a good task for this lens.
   
Veteran Member

Registered: September, 2010
Location: Somewhere in the Southern US
Posts: 12,285
Review Date: November 17, 2018 Recommended | Price: $8.50 | Rating: 8 

 
Pros: Well built, constant f, Macro,
Cons: flare, soft wide open
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 7    Bokeh: 7    Handling: 8    Value: 8    Camera Used: K-5IIs & K-3   

Very nice and versatile lens. Apparently a Samyang product (marked Made in Korea) but marketed by Sears back in the days when everyone went to Sears to get just about anything. Solid at 584g with a minimum focus distance in "normal" mode of 180cm but by twisting the base it becomes a 1:4 Macro lens and sharpens up even when wide open. 6 blades. Previous reviewers commented on how it handles light - basic fundamental for this lens GET A HOOD. The sharpness, contrast, and color pop increased significantly even in indirect light with the addition of a simple 3-stage rubber hood.
   
Senior Member

Registered: October, 2014
Posts: 119

1 user found this helpful
Review Date: February 6, 2016 Recommended | Price: $25.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Out Resolves my eyes in Macro-inexpensive Built like a tank
Cons: none really
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 9    Bokeh: 9    Handling: 10    Value: 10    Camera Used: K-3   

Sears Multicoated Auto Zoom 80-200mm F4

I must have a great copy because i just whipped it out to see what it would do in low light (indoors midnight backlit pointed at table lamp) so i mounted it upon my K-3
camera asked for lens length- i put in 85mm
adjust camera settings
ISO 800
100second
F8
no tripod- handheld-elbows in -sitting in a chair- table lamp 4 feet in front of me-breathe out- wait for no movement depress shutter and Bam!
razor sharp! can see grains of dust on the lamp chain pull that my naked eyes cannot see @ 200% magnification! that beats my sigma 17-50F2.8 (which is super sharp) i am very impressed with this manual lens built like a tank, no lens hood, threads are internal.
colors seem accurate no CA in high contrast areas!
i am excited to play with this lens some more-A total sleeper-be great when Pentax FF is released aloha Timothy
   
Junior Member

Registered: March, 2014
Posts: 29

1 user found this helpful
Review Date: April 15, 2014 Not Recommended | Price: $30.00 | Rating: 7 

 
Pros: Bokeh is creamy, nice zoom range, macro is strong point
Cons: So very soft
Sharpness: 5    Aberrations: 7    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 9    Value: 8    Camera Used: K500   

This lens is an interesting one, as it has a nice zoom range and is relatively cheap for a solidly constructed lens. The bokeh is beautiful--very soft and creamy. At the same time, the lens is absurdly soft. At nearly all apertures, the lens just gives a soft image. It gets a bit better on the macro level, but it still isn't particularly great. For a similar price, you can get a cheap plastic autofocus lens from Sigma or Tamron that will likely have better optical qualities and autofocus. This Sears lens does have a great feel and if it worked better, then I could recommend it, but the softness is a major drawback.

   
Junior Member

Registered: October, 2011
Location: Belton, SC
Posts: 33
Review Date: October 31, 2011 Recommended | Price: $5.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: macro, build quality, cheap
Cons: none so far
Sharpness: 8    Aberrations: 9    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 8    Value: 9   

This is a really nice lens, in my opinion. Whether mated with my K20D or my Super Program I just love the results. Cant go wrong with this one for the price.
   
Site Supporter

Registered: November, 2010
Location: California
Posts: 2,223
Review Date: January 17, 2011 Recommended | Price: None indicated | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Price, sturdy construction, no creep, softness and bokeh, excellent for portrait, it feels like a good lens, macro (closeup)
Cons: Really sharp on in macro (close up) and sometimes when stopped down

This lens is not a Bigma, however for the price is one of the best. I was really dissapointed when I purchased it but I have learned to like with the use. For example, it can be sharp sometimes (I blame it on me, since it is MF on a digital SLR), but most of the time is soft. Not a bad softness, this softness can be used to create really nice photographs and portraits in the outdoors. I am exploring that and love it. I found that on my Kx, I do not have to stop it down like I have to do with the Pentax primes. It is tricky to change to macro, you have to grab with the tip of the fingers the fstop ring and then the other part and force them in different directions, following the arrow. I found this lens to be a jewel in macro. It is really a close up. It produces a beautiful bokeh while a really sharp focussed object. I have some photos of this closeup with flowers, but I will be using it for people. I am sure it will be really nice. I recommend you get one. For the low price it commands, there is little to lose and lots to gain.




   
New Member

Registered: November, 2008
Location: Albuquerque
Posts: 12
Review Date: October 23, 2010 Recommended | Price: None indicated | Rating: 7 

 
Pros: Build, sharpe at f/8
Cons: soft wide open and lighting issues. Some fringe

The guy above must have used my lens because everything he says is spot on. I will give it an 7. However, I really think of it as a 7.5 rated lens.
   
New Member

Registered: November, 2007
Location: New Braunfels, Texas
Posts: 7
Review Date: July 1, 2009 Recommended | Price: $35.00 | Rating: 7 

 
Pros: Solid build and barrel adjust, dirt cheap, no zoom creep, natural colors, barrel length roughly doesn't change regardless of focal length
Cons: Macro ring difficult to click in place, low contrast, soft wide open, hard to see focus plane

Using this lens outdoors quickly told me the reason for others' claims of it not having the sharpness of a Pentax lens.

1. It needs lots of light at your back or within 45 degrees to the lens to reduce haze.

2. It renders at a lower contrast and produces slight but very thin color fringing (blue/orange, red/yellow) along the majority of edges regardless of high or low contrast.

3. Best sharpness is attained at f/8. If you judge IQ viewing at 100% forget shooting above f/8.

4. Another slight annoyance that can add to less sharpness is nailing focus relying on the camera's viewfinder due to this lens' low contrast and somewhat narrow DOF showing up in the viewfinder shooting at 200mm.

From shooting outdoors at my local park I had to take my time nailing focus and exposure shooting hand held. The samples below were shot just that way which is why they look acceptable.

But when I needed to take quick shots of skittish squirrels, birds or amusement park rides I ended up tossing half of what I shot because the angle of light on certain particular shots produced slight haze and/or the low contrast and narrow DOF characteristics of the lens prevented me from SEEING the focus plane (seeing the "crispy's") at 200mm. IOW this lens is capable of taking very sharp images even hand held, it just takes some work.

ADDED NOTE: I can not emphasis enough the importance of setting the viewfinder dioptor on this lens to establish correct focus plane. I can't believe I overlooked this. It's a major cause of the trouble I've been having getting sharp images. It is very difficult to set also due to the narrow DOF at 200mm requiring a lot of trial and error adjustments.

Profiling this lens shooting Raw or finding optimum incamera contrast, sharpness and saturation settings shooting jpeg will give the best results. The lower contrast of the Sears lens has an advantage over Pentax lenses in that you have more headroom to work with in the shadow regions shooting Raw or jpeg and post processing.

A lot of my shots' incamera histogram with this lens had the black point positioned more to the right as opposed to it being often very close if not clipped to the left using my Pentax K100D kit lens shooting high contrast/wide dynamic range scenes. The Sears images sharpen up nicely as well in post.

I measured the minimum focus distance for regular zoom to be 5' 8" and macro to be 4' 3". DOF is wider at 80mm making it easier to see the focus plane in the camera's viewfinder. The macro ring on my copy took a lot of effort to click into place. It helps to use your thumbnail to grip the groves on the very thin ring.

Below are image samples all shot at ISO 200, K100D's Auto white balance in Raw using ACR 4.6 defaults except the macro. All include 100% crop sections.

Macro-note the color fringing which is in all images regardless of contrast.
Camera was secured to the same table as the subject-Not hand held:
[IMGWIDELEFT]https://www.pentaxforums.com/gallery/images/4159/1_Sears80-200f4-Macro.jpg[/IMGWIDELEFT]


Shot hand held at 1/400, f/8, 80mm-focused on pink nose but dioptor is still a bit off with this lens
[IMGWIDELEFT]https://www.pentaxforums.com/gallery/images/4159/1_Sears80-200f_4-80mm-PntxLensRevu.jpg[/IMGWIDELEFT]

Shot hand held at 1/320, f/8, 200mm-Building is approx. 335 ft. as measured by Google Maps
[IMGWIDELEFT]https://www.pentaxforums.com/gallery/images/4159/1_Sears80-200f4-LandaLodgePntxLensRevu.jpg[/IMGWIDELEFT]

To show this lens can take a sharp image without processing-1/200, f/8, 200mm
[IMGWIDELEFT]https://www.pentaxforums.com/gallery/images/4159/1_Sears80-200f4GrassDetailPntxLensRevu.jpg[/IMGWIDELEFT]

Here's the reason to shoot at f/8...
[IMGWIDELEFT]https://www.pentaxforums.com/gallery/images/4159/1_Sears80-200f4-FstopTestPntxLensRevu2.jpg[/IMGWIDELEFT]
   
Inactive Account

Registered: October, 2008
Location: ,Indiana
Posts: 4
Review Date: December 28, 2008 Recommended | Price: $20.00 | Rating: 8 

 
Pros: Well made
Cons: none

Love this lens,I have had it 4 months and it was cheap
   
Inactive Account

Registered: July, 2008
Location: Durham, North Carolina
Posts: 30
Review Date: October 5, 2008 Recommended | Price: $20.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Surprisingly well built, buttery manual focus, useable close focus
Cons: None, considering the low cost

I bought this lens simply to see if I would enjoy getting back to manual focus--and, no surprise, because it was cheap. Was I surprised at the build quality and the IQ! The macro ability is a serendipity--didn't think it would perform well at all, but was very pleased at several shots. True keepers. This lens is downright fun to use. Big-time bang for the buck.
   
Moderator
Site Supporter

Registered: June, 2008
Location: Florida Hill Country
Posts: 17,377
Review Date: June 22, 2008 Recommended | Price: $45.00 | Rating: 7 

 
Pros: Well made, constant aperture
Cons: It can't compete with my primes.

This is a well made lens. Its a good zoom lens with no creep. I purchased this lens new in '88 from sears. However, I'm used to using prime lens and I guess I notice the sharpness drop off from the telephotos. I've considered selling mine since I don't seem to used it but never do for some reason. Its a good lens to use at pic-nics and out door events due to the zoom feature. Edit: the price was new in 1988.
   
New Member

Registered: March, 2008
Posts: 12
Review Date: May 2, 2008 Recommended | Price: $29.00 | Rating: 8 

 
Pros: just has a nice look to it with portraits
Cons: Creep, not razor sharp like M-Series



This lens is a cheap 1980's K-mount zoom that some frugal soul bought at Sears, probably for their K1000. It does not have the clinical sharpness or strangely "accurate" bokeh of the SMCP-M series of similar vintage, but it does have its own mojoh.

I'd have a hard time narrowing down its character to hard criteria. I can say that flesh tones look a little healthier with this lens, ceteris paribus, and it smears the background real nice.

I like it indoors with strobes - it's pretty lackluster for e.g. wildlife or street.
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