Pentacon 3.5/30, an underrated lens.

[tunalegs]

I've had a Pentacon 3.5/30 in M42 for a few years now, it is not in the best shape, having some slight haze, but it has always been remarkably sharp even wide open. I had only ever used in on digital though, so I never really knew if it was any good for a larger image area. I recently acquired another copy in exakta mount, and again I find myself impressed. Given these were cheap wide angle lenses destined for Prakticas and Exas, I had not expected much, but the results are always nice. I'm not sure why this lens doesn't have the reputation of say, the 3.5/35 Takumar which is also quite good, but also widely praised.

Here are a couple of recent shots on film with this lens + Exa:


Peugeot by Berang Berang, on Flickr
Wide open ^


Peugeot by Berang Berang, on Flickr

In addition to being plenty sharp even wide open, the OOF rendering is soft and smooth (unlike that provided by its contemporary the CZJ Flektogon 2.8/35). There's little to dislike about this lens, except perhaps that it was only ever made in pre-set form. Which matters little when shooting with a DSLR, but slows things down on film.

Anybody else use this lens?

 

[Mark Wood]

Yes, I think it's a lovely lens. Having the preset diaphragm, it's a bit fiddly to use but Ivor Matanle rates it highly in his Collecting SLRs book and I think, for good reason. It's actually just the old Meyer Optik Görlitz Lydith lens dressed up in more modern Pentacon clothing of course.

As well as using it on a Praktica VLC, I've used it with the bayonet adapter on a Praktica B200. With stopped down aperture priority metering, that makes a really nice, compact set-up that's very easy to use.

 

[petronius]

On the Praktica MTL 5B:

I like to use it on the Lumix G1 too. The Pentacon 29mm/2,8 is also nice, but much softer.

 

[David Hughes]

I guess because people, these days, think in terms of 28, 35, 50 and forget the "off-scale" 29, 30 and even 40 for Leicas.

Regards, David