Asahi Pentax-M 200mm f4 - vintage lens review

-
Back in 2019 I bought an Asahi Pentax-M 50mm f1.7 and right away I was surprised by how good it was and by the pleasant warm tones it produced.
Since then I’ve been slowly putting together a kit, even branching out in the A series and the reissued Takumars, but I always find myself coming back to the M series.
The lens is made out of metal, it weights 400g, it is 111 to 136mm long and it has an external diameter of 63mm, with a 52mm front thread. It also has a built in sunhood.
The iris has 8 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f4 to f32 with half steps.
The focusing ring is rubberized, it turns 230 degrees and minimum focusing distance is 2 meters.
Flange distance for the PK mount is 45,46mm.
The wide focusing ring is very smooth, comfortable to grip and the long throw makes fine adjustments easier.
While the lens is fairly light in weight, it is also a bit on the longer side, meaning that on lighter camera bodies, can lead to a front heavy system.
Sharpness is good yet not amazing wide open but it doesn’t lose much in the corners.
By f8 it gets very sharp all over the frame.
Chromatic aberration is very much present wide open, along with some blooming, and can appear up to f8 in high contrast areas.
Colors, contrast and saturation are what we have come to expect from Asahi Pentax lenses, with their characteristic warm tones.
Specular highlights are quite soft and, even with the maximum aperture of f4, background can be rendered into a blur of colors.
Flares and ghosting have not showed up in my time testing the lens.
Let’s be honest, this 200mm is the weakest link in the chain. The build quality is amazing, but images leave a bit to be desired, especially compared to the other lenses in the series.
This focal length might be more… specialized, but I love using long lenses and 200mm is my limit to shoot handheld, so it is a bit of a bummer that the image quality is not on par with the other lenses in the set.
I feel like I am being overly critical about this lens because of how much I like the other Asahi Pentax lenses that I own, so let me know what you think, if you have any experience with it and don't forget to check the video for all the samples.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Yashica 135mm f2.8 ML - Lens review

-
Image
  Last winter I bought three Yashica lenses and a camera body fo quite cheap, because they were not in the best conditions, especially the 135mm.  The optical elements were dirty, the aperture had been poorly de-clicked and, worst of all, the focusing helicoid was completely off and needed to be recalibrated and lubricated, so I gave it to a lab to be fixed and cleaned and now it works perfectly.  Yashica is one of those well know names in the industry, with a history dating back to the late '40s and in 1975 they introduced the Contax Yashica bayonet mount in collaboration with Carl Zeiss. They had three ranges of lenses: the basic one was the DSB, which had single coatings, above that was the ML, with multi coatings, and the top of the line was the Zeiss AE series.  Now, back to this lens.  The body is made of metal and weights 410 grams; it is 76mm long when focused to infinity and 90mm when fully extended, with a 52mm front thread and, my favorite feature, a built in sun hood.  
Read more

Soligor 28mm f2.8 C/D - vintage lens review

-
Image
Soligor was a supplier of photographic equipment based in the United States and Germany, active mostly between the ‘60s and the early ‘90s. They had a very comprehensive catalog of lenses, made in Japan by manufacturers like Tokina and Tamron, covering a wide array of focal lengths and they were available for all major camera brands. Soligor lenses were also sold under alternative brand names like Hanimar, Porst or Super Carener, in different geographical areas. From my research, the 28mm 2.8 alone has at least 21 different versions, so chances are that yours looks different than mine. Specifically, the one I own is part of the C/D line released in the mid-1970s as a premium line of lenses. The Soligor 28mm is made out of metal, it weights 200g, it is 33mm long when focused to infinity and 37mm when extended, with a 49mm front thread. The iris has six blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f2.8 to f22 The focusing ring is rubberized and it turns 180 degrees and mi
Read more

Canon FD 100mm f2.8 - Lens review

-
Image
 Canon FD lenses have grown in popularity in the last few years because they're cheap, easy to find, reliable and with cheap adapters you can mount them to modern digital cameras. Mirrorless like Sony's or Canon's EOS R and RF will work best and will be easier to adapt, but you can use Canon FD lenses on your DSLRs too, although you might need a different adapter with a focal reducer, due to the incompatible flange distance. Personally, I'm not a fan of focal reducers, as they cad degrade or alter the quality of the image produced by the lens.  Anyway, these Canon FD lenses are completely manual and have no electronic, and this one specifically is part of the so-called nFD, or new FD, series, introduced in 1979.  Everyone seems to love them so, back in 2017 when I was getting into vintage lenses, I was eager to try them. Luckily, a friend of mine owned two of them and he was kind enough to let me borrow them for a few weeks.  Right off the bat this lens sounds promising
Read more