| Author: | Sort Reviews by: Date | Author | Rating | Recommendation | Likes (Descending) Showing Reviews 1-14 of 14 | New Member Registered:March,2021 Posts:2 | | Review Date: March 23, 2021 | Recommended |Price:None indicated |Rating:9 |
| Pros: | Fast, cheap prime lens, sharp, very well built, compact | | Cons: | Noticeable CA wide open | | Sharpness: 9 Aberrations: 7 Bokeh: 9 Handling: 10 Value: 9 | |
My father bought this lens new in the '80s and then he gave it to me along with other Adaptall lenses and a Canon AV-1.
I actually really like this lens, it's built like a tank (all metal construction), the handling and feel is excellent (as good as SMC-M lenses!). It's a bit heavy, but i don't think that's a real problem.
It has an integrated hood that does something... but it's really too short to be actually useful. Performance is good. It's rather sharp even wide open and stopped down to f/4 it improves considerably.
While spherical aberration is very well controlled, cromatic aberration (in my copy at least) is quite noticeable both wide open and even stopped down a bit. Only at f/8 it gets better.
Bokeh is very pleasing and overall IQ is very good.
I would rate this lens a good 8.5 but with the lack of half points, I give this lens a 9. I think that for the current price of this lens it's a bargain fast prime that is compatible with all camera manufacturers and offers above average (and sometimes really good) performance. At f/2.5 close focus. I believe the next one was taken at f/11 | | | | | | New Member Registered:August,2020 Posts:1 | | Review Date: August 25, 2020 | Recommended |Price:$30.00 |Rating:8 |
| Pros: | Extremely smooth focusing cost effective | | Cons: | Good light is needed for best focusing | | Sharpness: 8 Aberrations: 8 Bokeh: 7 Handling: 7 Value: 10 | |
This lens has an exceptional quality feel to it and I don't feel that it is and lesser quality mechanically than my SP90 macro.
In terms of usability it has around twice as much focus throw around infinity as the SP90 and so is much easier to use for landscape images.The small amount of aberration is workable. The image below was taken at f4.5. https://www.pentaxforums.com/gallery/photo-toadstool-59196/ | | | | New Member Registered:June,2018 Posts:6 | | Review Date: August 28, 2018 | Recommended |Price:None indicated |Rating:9 |
| Pros: | Affordable, close focus, sharp, good bokeh, not so big for such brightness | | Cons: | None for the price | | Sharpness: 9 Aberrations: 8 Bokeh: 9 Handling: 9 Value: 10 Camera Used: A7, Fuji | |
This lens can be bought for less than 80$ and it is f/2,5 ! Tamron adaptall's build quality is excellent, everything is metal except the rubber focusing ring.
It focuses down to 1,2m, better than most of 135mm vintage lenses (usually abour 1,5m). It's a sharp lens with good contrast, full usable wide open with only little chromatic aberration (easy to fix). Bokeh is nice and smooth. The lens is easy to use, not a small one but less big and heavy than Tamron's 90mm f/2,5 adaptall macro. Most 135mm are good... This one is in my opinion very good, and a perfect choice for a budget bright 135mm lens. | | | | New Member Registered:December,2016 Posts:22 1 user found this helpful | | | | | | New Member Registered:May,2015 Location:Setúbal (near Lisbon) Posts:5 1 user found this helpful | | Review Date: October 31, 2016 | Recommended |Price:$44.00 |Rating:10 |
| Pros: | sharp @ f/4 and up | | Cons: | soft @ f/2.5 | | Sharpness: 10 Aberrations: 9 Bokeh: 10 Handling: 9 Value: 10 Camera Used: Pentax K-1 | |
I have several lenses for portrait, this one is my favorite.
I have a PK adapter. I'm thinking to buy a PKA adapter. 
@ f/8 with polarizing filter - Pentax-K1 profile portrait/skin 2 | | | | Junior Member Registered:August,2016 Location:Cherkasy Posts:41 | | Review Date: August 30, 2016 | Recommended |Price:None indicated |Rating:9 |
| Pros: | Well built, sharp, useful mount | | Cons: | none | | Sharpness: 9 Aberrations: 8 Bokeh: 8 Handling: 9 Value: 8 Camera Used: K-7 | |
Nice lens. Sharp wide open, nice colors, well built and can be easily used on many systems.
| | | | Pentaxian Registered:April,2011 Location:Lost in translation ... Posts:18,075 1 user found this helpful | | Review Date: December 21, 2013 | Recommended |Price:$50.00 |Rating:8 |
| Pros: | Build, size, close focus, hood ... | | Cons: | Hood won't stay in place ... | | Sharpness: 8 Aberrations: 8 Bokeh: 8 Handling: 8 Value: 8 | |
Bonjour, Just acquired this 03B and like what I have seen thus far ... only indoor test shots, since the outside weather is wet and cold ... will post samples later. Giving a straight across "8" rating until more test and use can be done ... Allez et salut, Jean le Green Frog Here's a p*rn shot to see what the 03B looks like on the K-5 ... | | | | New Member Registered:February,2012 Posts:17 | | Review Date: October 9, 2013 | Recommended |Price:$25.00 |Rating:10 |
| Pros: | Fast, sharp wide open, sharper stopped down, good bokeh | | Cons: | Close focus nothing special, care needed for portraits? | | Sharpness: 10 Aberrations: 10 Bokeh: 10 Handling: 9 Value: 10 | |
I bought one on e-Bay with a network of fine scratches on the front element. The image wasn't quite up with the CZJ Sonnar 135mm f3.5, but it is a stop faster. I have always wondered how much difference damage to the front element makes to the image, so I bought a second copy for the same price with clear glass. The difference is dramatic. The second lens with clear glass more than matches the Sonnar, and it is still a stop faster. Bokeh is lovely and smooth, I haven't noticed aberration, colours are rich. The focusing is nicely damped, but in good light, I find it is easier to nail the focus with the Sonnar, presumably because the depth of field is greater. As with the Sonnar, care is needed with portraits; pores and pimples can be rendered mercilessly. It works well for live stage performances. The Close Focus isn't that great; the 72B and the macro settings on the QZ-35M, the 52A and the CZ-38M are better. Overall, highly recommended. | | | | Veteran Member Registered:January,2011 Location:Minahasa, North Celebes (Sulawesi) Posts:586 1 user found this helpful | | Review Date: July 24, 2013 | Recommended |Price:$80.00 |Rating:9 |
| Pros: | f2.5 maximum aperture, build, smallish | | Cons: | contrast lower than SMC's | | Sharpness: 9 Aberrations: 9 Bokeh: 10 Handling: 10 Value: 10 | |
Good lens, probably the best 135 with f2.5 available at this price range, definitely better than Pentax Takumar (Bayonet) 135/2.5. When focus is right, this lens is sharp as it is, maybe a bit less contrasty, but it's sharp. | | | | Junior Member Registered:January,2013 Location:Texas Posts:32 | | Review Date: February 8, 2013 | Recommended |Price:None indicated |Rating:8 |
| Pros: | Look, build quality, price, focusing | | Cons: | Not sharp at all | | Sharpness: 7 Aberrations: 9 Bokeh: 9 Handling: 10 Value: 10 | |
Beautiful lense, but it lacks contrast and resolution at full aperture, in the coners and at the center, and it doesn't improve a lot at smaller aperture.
Build quality and focusing are great. | | | | Inactive Account Registered:November,2009 Location:Sofia Posts:3 | | Review Date: August 4, 2012 | Recommended |Price:$60.00 |Rating:10 |
| Pros: | well build,good colours,IQ,good contrast and sharpness | | Cons: | none | | Sharpness: 10 Aberrations: 9 Bokeh: 9 Handling: 10 Value: 10 | |
| | | | New Member Registered:April,2011 Location:Dorset , UK Posts:6 | | Review Date: April 11, 2011 | Recommended |Price:None indicated |Rating:7 |
| Pros: | well build,compact and good optically | | Cons: | needs stopping down | |
Done more test on this with a lens test chart.
This well build,small and bright lens needs stopping down to f5.6 and f8 for best optical quality.Doing that will give you very sharp images !
At f2.5 and f4 I found some strong green colour fringing and sharpness is not good.In outdoor shooting I found f4 ok,but its better at f5.6.Don`t use f16 or f22 though as its soft like almost all lenses.:ugh:
Sharpness/optically at f5.6/f8 = 8
build = 8
overall,considering other much less usable f-stops = 6 | | | | New Member Registered:January,2007 Location:Portland Oregon USA Posts:7 | | Review Date: April 5, 2011 | Recommended |Price:$7.00 |Rating:8 |
| Pros: | This lens has good colour, contrast and sharpness | | Cons: | Very few - works best with PKA adapter (hard to find) | |
This lens is fast (f2.5) and very well made, as are all the adaptall-2 lenses from Tamron. It is of metal construction, and works with either the PK or the harder to find (and pricey) PKA adapter that has the electrical contacts that allow open aperture metering and display the active F stop on the camera. It's very sharp at the center, and as the Pentax DSLRs use the 'sweet spot' this means sharp across the board. I've also used it on various Pentax 35mm SLR cameras where it performs admirably. The focus ring is very wide and very grippy - so many lenses designed for digital cameras have a horrible thin manual focus ring, whereas this is meaty enough to be positive, and has an excellent 'throw' I have 14 Adaptall and Adaptall-2 Tamrons, and even though this is not one of their premium 'SP' range it is as good as anything else I have tried, equal to the Vivitar 135mm from Kiron, and I prefer it to the K mount and M series from Pentax themselves... The close focus (about 3 ft or just a bit more) is very useful, and although not a true macro lens I often use it for flower pictures,. It also has a built-in lens hood.. yay! lol | | | | Forum Member Registered:September,2010 Location:PARIS Posts:67 2 users found this helpful | | |
