Veteran Member Registered: January, 2008 Location: GTA, ON, Canada Posts: 1,673 | Review Date: February 3, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $40.00
| Rating: 8 |
Pros: | Well built, easy to use, 10 aperture blades makes for very smooth bokeh | Cons: | Fully manual | | I bought this lens because it looked interesting and some test shots in store looked promising. With the wide variety of manual 135mm lenses available I wouldn't suggest going out of your way to find one or paying any more than I did (there are lots of other equally good/ weird lenses out there) but it's a fun lens to use and the performance is quite respectable. Preset lenses are extremely easy to use in AV mode on Pentax digital bodies and 10 aperture blades on a medium telephoto lens makes for very smooth out of focus areas.
The front lens element is barely recessed and the coatings aren't up to SMC standards, so use a nice long lens hood. I started out with a piece of heavy black cardboard held in place with an elastic before deciding to keep the lens and find a proper 55mm metal hood for it.
The T2 to M42 mount adaptor that came with my copy of this lens is narrower than a genuine Pentax M42 to K adaptor so the lens wobbles a small amount on my digital body. This isn't unusual with older M42 lenses and could be solved by using a T2 to K adaptor on the lens or with a cheap flanged adaptor at the cost of losing infinity focus - it wouldn't be an issue at all on an M42 camera body.
Check here for a selection of photos on film and digital: http://www.flickr.com/photos/steinback/sets/72157622575018166/ | |