Pentax M42 screwmount lens for sale

Letting go of some Pentax manual focus, screwmount(m42) lens. Some are super takumar, some are SMC takumar. Those who have used them would know there are gems amongst this range. In particular, the most famous is 135F3.5, small little lens but pin sharp wide open. Fantastic resolution. Even the 1Ds mark2 16MP sensor cant out resolve it.

Who should use them? All film bodies that take m42 lens would be able to use this. With the right adaptor, all canon, nikon, olympus, sony bodies are able to use this lens, manual focus of course. (keen on adaptors can PM me to find out more. Note that normal adaptors sold outside for m42 to nikon are basically useless ad they dont allow you to focus to infinity, i have the proper kind of adaptors)

These M42 lens can be used directly on old film bodies or via adaptor on all modern nikon, canon, olypmus, sony KM, pentax DSLR.

For those buying the lens before, i can sell you brand new adaptors cheaply as well.

M42 to EOS - $25

M42 to Nikon with good japan glass(has coating) for focus to infinity - $40

M42 to KM/Sony bodies - $30


2. Auto Focal 35mm F2.8 Made in Japan

Cheap, third party, Made in Japan lens. This lens probably came from a generation of many 3rd party lens makers in japan. Exterior looks pretty nice, like a cross between the contax designs and the newer pentax SMC designs.. Decent image quality at f2.8 but stopped down, its does gives some very sharp images.

Image taken with this lens:

Selling cheap at just $80.


3. Super Takumar 55mm F2


Small and budget lens, yet with good performance. Compare to the canon 50f1.8 mark2, it definitely gives a better bokeh as that uses a 5 blade aperture only. in terms of image and built, this is sure more value for money provided AF is not crucial.

Image taken with this lens:


Lens in very good condition. Selling cheaply at only $120.


3. SMC Takumar 55mm F2


Small and budget lens, yet with good performance. Compare to the canon 50f1.8 mark2, it definitely gives a better bokeh as that uses a 5 blade aperture only. in terms of image and built, this is sure more value for money provided AF is not crucial.

Image taken with this lens:


Lens has slight marks on exterior, overall good working condition. Selling cheaply at only $160.



5. Super Takumar 135mm F3.5 SMC (SUPER Multi COATed)


One of the best known pentax lens. all who used pentax system before will know. This is one super sharp lens. Dont take my word for it, google online to find out more and come try it yourself as well.

"To combat the undesirable consequences of partial reflection, scientists developed chemical coatings to be applied to glass surfaces. These coatings increase r, and in the case of Pentax's famous Super Multi-Coating (SMC), r = 0.998! Performing the above calculation for a lens with 10 groups, we get L = 0.96, or only 4% light loss.

SMC was patented and first applied in 1971, when Pentax was still making screw mount equipment. To highlight the fact that the lens elements were super multi-coated, Pentax renamed their lens lines from Takumar and Super-Takumar to Super-Multi-Coated Takumar and later on to SMC Takumar."

"In reference 06671, Pentax claims that SMC is "a remarkable seven-layer lens coating process that cuts the reflection ratio down to just 0.2% per lens surface. The result is a dramatic improvement in both color fidelity and brightness and the elimination of flare and ghost images."

In the meantime, all optics manufacturers have developed some form of surface coating, and each claims "superior performance." In practice, most tests point that Pentax's SMC is still the best of all mainstream solutions."

Quote from material online to show how fantastic this is, together with the superior lens design giving the extremely sharp wide open performance.

Image taken with this lens:


Letting go cheaply at only $280. non SMC version available for $230.


6. Super Takumar 150mm F4
Looks almost identical to the 135f3.5 in terms of built and optics design, this lens is equally sharp as the former. Most of the time with me, its used on a 5D body. The lens is so sharp you can zoom in fully on the 5D images and its still pin sharp. No kidding..

Image taken with this lens:


Letting go at $250. Mint condition.



6. Vivitar Auto Telephoto 200mm F3.5











A nice large 200mm tele lens in M42 mount. the advantage of being in an M42 mount, means it can be adapted to a large variety of different bodies, nikon, canon, sony, 4/3, micro 4/3, pentax etc etc.. The F3.5 aperture is only 2/3 stops away from an F2.8, but weight and price of this lens is way less than buying a nikon or canon 70-200F2.8.. At wide open it gives decent image quality but improvements can be seen when stopped down to F5.6.. This lens is definitely good value for money if one doesnt mind manual focusing.

Image taken with this lens:

Slight used marks, overall good working condition. Letting go only $220.