Pentax A 135/2.8

[c2500]

<p>In one of my flea bay purchases a few years ago, I obtained a Pentax "A" 135/2.8 with a P5. It is in excellent shape minus a noticable fleck between the elements. What kind of results have people gotten with this lense on digital? I have a K100, and am hopefully going out of town in a few weeks to Charleston, SC for the weekend, and am trying to decide if I should carry this one with me. What say ye all?</p>

<p>Oscar</p>

[stemked]

<p>I have the lens, although I can't say I've used it very much since I've owned my K10D. On film it generally seemed it was a more useful focal length, and I certainly liked it. That is probably partly a reflection of my need to have an autofocus lens when I'm trying to keep up with my daughter.<br>

The lens never had much of a following, even with film. The F lens certainly impressed people more. I personally like the results on film better than my 135mm f3.5 M lens, which I got rid of.<br>

About the only time I have used it recently on digital bodies is when I'm photographing my daughter's stage performances. I can only say the lens works well and under those conditions.</p>

 

[frank_b._baiamonte]

<p>When I was shooting film I really wanted a 200 f/2.8, because I read somewhere that was what a lot of swimsuit photographers used, and I figured if I had the lens too, well, maybe I could get to take photos of swimsuit models. I never could afford that lens, so I never got to find out if it would have gotten me any swimsuit models. Probably would not have anyway.</p>

<p>Enough rambling, but this does have a point. That 135 on your APS-C sized sensor now has the field of view of the 200, and has a nice, fast f/2.8 max aperture. I really like mine on the K10D. Here's a shot (sorry, no swimsuits), followed by a crop from the same shot. This was done on a K10D, ISO 200 at f/3.5, 1/3000 sec, handheld. Shot as jpg, no processing other than the crop.</p>

<p><img src="http://frankbaiamonte.smugmug.com/photos/525387439_i3Mj7-L.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><img src="http://frankbaiamonte.smugmug.com/photos/525387376_wNBfP-L.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>Did I mention I really like this lens?</p>

<p> </p>

[zane1664879013]

<p>I use an F version to shoot kids soccer right from the sidelines. The field of view is just right on a crop body, image quality is superb (usually shooting at f/4), and the viewfinder image is nice and bright at 2.8. Not a cheap lens, but well worth it IMO.</p>

[dogbert]

<p>I had this lens but sold it. It is a cheap four element design which was probably the low point of Pentax lenses. It suffers from poor contrast and sharpness at pretty much any aperture. The M135 f3.5 and the M 150 f3.5 are much better.</p>