Pentax telephoto lens

[James-EG]

Hi, I am currently trying to buy a Pentax-M SMC 135mm f/3.5 lens on eBay for £25, is this a good price? It is in good condition so I think it is. But there is also a 75-150mm f/4 pentax telephoto for £38, in very good condition, which one should I buy? Or should I try and get both?

Thanks, James

 

[PentaxBronica]

Yep, that's a very good price for the 135mm.

The 75-150mm is longer and obviously a little heavier, but still takes 49mm filters. Image quality is probably about even. London Camera Exchange have one on offer for £19.99 in their Worcester branch - if you want one I'd call them and ask if they'll post it. At that price you could almost buy both lenses for the price of the ebay 75-150mm!

Personally I'd say to go for both. Try them, if you don't like one then you should be able to sell it for what you paid for it.

If you want a bit more range at the expense of bulk and weight then the SMC Pentax-M 80-200mm f4.5 or SMC Pentax-A 70-210mm f4 would be perfect, they're both very sharp lenses with sweet handling. The 135mm still makes sense as it's much smaller and lighter - I use mine for urban photography as they'll tuck into a small Lowepro lens case which can hide on your belt under a jumper or coat. Stick a 35mm or 40mm prime on the camera and you're set, you can grab street scenes or isolate details to taste.

 

[James-EG]

Thanks, I'll have a look at the one on the London camera exchange, and I'll also try and find some reviews to compare the zoom lenses, as I am not sure if would need the 200mm range or not.

Thanks again, James

 

[polyglot]

That's a decent price. You can also get the SMC 135/2.5 for about $80 (5-element) to $140 (6-element) in M42. A more-basic Super Takumar 135/2.5 seems to be about $50.

As it happens I have one of the 6-element ones available...

 

[PentaxBronica]

If you type "Pentax Lens Reviews" into a search engine you should come across a site with "Pentax" in the address which has a huge database of lenses and reviews of same. Don't just go by the number score as this can be skewed by people who had a bad example or (in one egregious example I found) stated that they only give top marks to lenses with "Ltd" on and therefore wouldn't give the one being reviewed a high score!

There's also the Bojidar Dimitrov K mount site - he has built a listing of pretty much everything related to K mount Pentax cameras including flashes, winders, etc. Useful for seeing what was made and therefore what to look for.

 

[James-EG]

Thanks for the replies, I will take all your advice and look at those websites