Pentax F 80-200mm vintage lens review

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 A few years ago I showed you the Pentax F 70-200 released in 1987 and today we’re checking out its successor: the 80-200 released in 1993.

The lens is made mostly of plastic, it weighs around 300g, it is 100 to 108mm long and it has an external diameter of 65mm, with a 49mm front thread.

The iris has 8 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f4.7 at 80mm or f5.6 at 200 to f32 with half steps, plus auto.

The focusing ring has no texture, it turns 120 degrees and the minimum focusing distance is 1.1m.

The front turns when focusing and zooming happens internally.

It uses the screw drive autofocus and the Pentax K mount.


It feels very light and plasticy, somewhat cheap, but still well put together.

While it was clearly designed to be used with autofocus, the focusing ring is still easy to use.

The zoom ring feels light and cheap.


Sharpness wide open at 80mm is good in the center but it falls off towards the edges, with only minor vignetting. At 200mm it is soft all over the frame.

Stopping down to f8 at 80mm it improves a little but the corners are still soft, although with no vignetting. At 200mm it is sharper than wide open, but still lacking detail.

Chromatic aberration is present at wider apertures, but rarely distracting.

colors

Specular highlights have hard edges but no artifacts and backgrounds are fairly smooth.

Flares are very well controlled and I haven’t had issues with loss of contrast.


Overall I would say this lens is just a little bit disappointing.

Unfortunately, zooms like this tend to lose sharpness around 200mm, especially when adapting to digital, it is a common issue.

Other than that, it is a bit dark, starting at f4.7, but at least it is very light and portable.

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