Pentacon Auto 135mm f2.8 vintage lens review

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In my opinion, the Pentacon 50mm 1.8 is one of the most versatile vintage lenses and one of my favorites. I’ve shot multiple rolls of film on it and used it countless times on digital and because of it I’ve been curious to try more lenses from the brand.

Unfortunately, the 29mm didn't hold up to 50 and the 135 kept eluding me; until now.

There are three versions of this lens that I know of: the first and most sought after has fifteen blades in the iris and it is a copy of the Meyer-Optik Görlitz Orestor.

The second version is the one we're testing today and the third is the Praktica version with a Praktica mount.

So let's take a closer look.


The lens is made of metal, it weighs around 460g, it is 89 to 101mm long and it has an external diameter of 65mm, with a 55mm front thread. It has a built-in sunhood.

The iris has 6 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f2.8 to f22 with half steps. It has an auto/manual switch near the bottom.

The focusing ring is textured, it turns 330 degrees and the minimum focusing distance is 1.7cm.

It has an m42 mount.

The lens itself is a bit front heavy. The sun hood extends past the filter thread even when collapsed, and that's a problem.

The aperture turns smoothly with soft clicks but the focus ring on my copy is a bit stiff.


Wide open it is kind of soft in the center but with good detail and it gets softer in the corners.

By f8 it doesn’t really improve in the center, but it does everywhere else.

Chromatic aberration is present in high contrast areas and can be spotted even up to f8, but it is organic and only occasionally distracting. At wider apertures it is softened by a little bit of blooming.

Colors are a touch on the warm side, with good contrast and lacking only a little bit of saturation.

Specular highlights have soap bubble edges and are textured and backgrounds tend to be nervous.

Flares are well controlled but it does lose some contrast when shooting towards a strong source of light.


In my opinion, the 135mm is better than the 29, but not as good as the 50; it doesn’t have the same character and it lacks sharpness and detail at smaller apertures.

It would be perfectly sufficient on film, but on digital it leaves something to be desired.

This is one of those lenses you either like or not, but I still haven’t figured out how I feel about it. 

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