Pentax 165mm f4 LS lens

[John Wiegerink]

I just received a 165mm f4 Pentax leaf shutter lens from a dealer on the big auction and have a few questions. Does it make a better portrait lens than the 150mm and how is it for contrast/sharpness compaired to other Pentax 67 lenses? I have the 45mm, 75mm, 90mm LS, 105mm, 135mm, and 200mm so I'd like to know how it lines up with those. I really didn't need it, but snagged it for $58.89 +10.95 for shipping from Canuck Land to the U.S.. The dealer listed it as not working so I took a chance on what I thought might be wrong. Took about 1 hour to fix and now it's up and running just find. Best of all it looks almost like new so I guess I got lucky for a change. I won't be able to test it out until after the New Year and that's why I ask for any advice on it now. JohnW

 

[snederhiser]

Hello John;
The big advantage here is that the lens can be used outdoors with fill-in flash. So you are not limited by the sync speed of the focal plane shutter. Have fun, Steven.

 

[John Wiegerink]

That's why I like my 90mm f2.8 LS lens, but it just didn't seem very good for portraits focal length wise. The 165mm f4 LS ought to be the cats meow for portraits. I do wish the 165mm had a cable release like the 90mm does. I wonder why Pentax didn't make the 165mm LS the same as the 90mm LS? JohnW