Asahi Pentax-M 40mm f2.8 vintage pancake lens review

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The Asahi Pentax M are probably my favorite vintage lenses, but one kept eluding me: the 40mm, today’s subject.

I had never seen one in the flesh and the couple I saw online were three or four times more expensive than other M lenses, so I basically gave up.

Until around a year ago when I stumbled upon two of them; one was in bad shape and overpriced while the other was cheaper, pretty clean and the seller was willing to trade with another lens I had, so we sealed the deal.


The lens is made of metal, it weighs around 80g, it is 18 to 22mm long and it has an external diameter of 63mm, with a 49mm front thread. The iris has 5 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f2.8 to f22 with half steps. The focusing ring is rubberized, it turns 90 degrees and the minimum focusing distance is 60cm. The Pentax K mount has a flange distance of 45,46mm.


The one complaint I have about this lens is the stupidly narrow focus ring. I mean, it works, but it is pretty silly.

As you would expect, it feels right at home on a Pentax film camera like this P30.

On the other hand, it kinda gets lost on a dslr body like this kr.

It works nicely with small mirrorless cameras, with the adapter giving it some space.


Sharpness wide open is decent in the center but it falls off towards the corners. By f8 it gets sharp all over the frame but still lacking detail.

And here’s a sample of how much it distorts. Chromatic aberration is almost absent and very hard to notice even wide open. Colors match the rest of the M series with warm tones and good contrast and saturation. Specular highlights have hard edges with no artifacts and backgrounds are fairly smooth. Flares and ghosting are very well controlled.


Overall this lens is good enough but far from exciting. Plus, I don’t see why you would get the 40 when the 50 1.7 is easier to find, cheaper, has better image quality and it is still very compact. I don’t have the Konica 40mm 1.8 anymore, so I can’t compare them directly, but in my opinion the Konica is better.

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