Asahi Pentax-M SMC 135mm f3.5 - the best compact telephoto? - vintage lens review and test 

I normally watch tanganyika channels, but when RU-vid gave me this video, it was a great pleasure to watch it all ...

I've had this lens for several years. What I love about it is its compactness and low weight. It balances nicely on my Fuji X cameras and has decent image quality. And I've never been that fussed about the f3.5 aperture since it's a moderate telephoto (about 200mm equiv. on APS-C), which I never associate with high speed anyway. I'll definitely take a slower aperture if it means more compact and lighter. Gear gets heavy on a long hike! Thanks for the great review Marco!

I have this lens and I love it. Thanks for the review!

Another excellent review. I love your fresh down to earth approach to reviewing and presenting vintage lenses. I must say that when I choose to take my vintage lenses out I tend to prefer smaller, easy to use, tactile lenses. My stash is largely comprised of Olympus OM and SMC Takumar lenses which are wonderfully sharp, small, fun to use and render very nicely. My Olympus 135mm f2.8 and 3.5 versions are really good, but the 3.5 is smallest and lightest with no obvious quality trade off......so it comes with me (for digital) more often. Great work. I look forward to more! (if you can find one, the SMC Takumar 24mm f3.5 or the Olympus 24mm f2.8 are great wide angle lenses you might want to review).

Kudos on an excellent review. I own this lens and agree with your assessment. Perhaps Olympus made a smaller 135 for their OM system, but I'll bet the Pentax can be found for a fraction of the price of the Zuiko.

Great video Marco! Building a set of Pentax myself so I'll keep an eye out for this one!

Great review. Thanks very much.....

It's a real neat inexpensive lens and works really well on my K-70. I bought recently from second hand at a local camera shop excellent condition. Buying from eBay is always tricky as the quality can't be guaranteed for marks, fungus and dust.

snapped this up for €30 in Barcelona and having a great time with it, so crazy light

Great video. I've been thinking a out getting the 35mm 3.5. The 135 looks like a stunning lens!

It was one of the lenses on the Pentax KX that my dad used. I still use it with the adapter on my Nikon Z9. Fantastic lens

The video quality looks great

Just bought one based upon your review.

Nice video! I don't have any 135's in my collection so I bought this Pentax M today on Ebay. Also bought Vivitar 135mm f2.8 so I can compare them on my Pentax K-3

Great video! What Pentax camera did you use ,Marco?

Great video as always. I have question off-topic. Did you try maybe speed booster m42 for your camera?

Very nice colours I’ve got the 2.5 version of that lens.

I found one this weekend.

J'aime beaucoup cet objectif, je plus compact que je possède, on l'oublie dans le sac! son traitement MC, son piqué,, je le trouve très mignon et pratique! (pourtant j'ai du CZJ, du Schneider, du 37A) j'ai fait de jolies photos de chevaux avec,, j'aimerais bien faire de la photo de concert, de musiciens avec.

I have the 135mm 2.5

A dude talking about lenses with bass guitars behind? Subscribed

This can be used with a K1000, right? I’m looking for lenses to use with my film camera

f3.5 could be a no-no, but due to it's physical qualities, I find this to be a nice combo for mi t3i; a light weight prime team: 24mm stm, 50mm 1.8 and this 135mm f3.5 Nice image quality, about near f numbers and 3 quite different focal ranges.

Hey Marco! What mount would you use for this lens with on a fuji xt2? I tried an m42 mount but it doesn't fit

Hi Marco. Great images.......... and yes the little Pentax 135 f3.5 is wonderful. I would suggest you also try the Asahi Pentax SMC 135 f3.5 the one from the 60s. it is compact, built better or as good as any other top lens and the images are incredible.

Is this compatible with pentax K-1 fullframe camera?

It's a smol boi compared to the others! XD

Suxh an under rated lens. You can still grab these lenses on e bay all day long for 30 bucks!

Is there another smaller lighter option

Is there a lot of image clarity?

Damn! I need to find this lens. (using Sony A7 III + adapter). Fortunately, on the local Internet market I have quite a lot of offers for a wide variety of used lenses at fairly low prices. I especially liked the compactness and this retractable lens hood - very convenient. And yes, the video itself quite beautiful and cinematic (these atmospheric narrow streets of Italy!) I have always been impressed by Pentax, but have never had a single lens. I heard that this brand is also chosen by photographers from the high professional segment who work in the wild nature - National Geographic, for example. They prefer Pentax cameras, though. But mostly I came across lenses with their signature green ring (like Canon with their red ring). It's probably autofocus ones. The only thing that worries me is the size of the lens - it's too compact. No, of course this is an advantage, but usually nothing is free - perhaps the quality has suffered in favor of maintaining compactness. Otherwise all manufacturers would make such lenses compact. Wondering now how it performs in comparison with your other 2 favourites :)

Is this a radioactive lens?

If Jesus likes it it must be nice.