Category: Pentax 105mm f2.4

Pentax 67 105mm f/2.4 Takumar — Review and Sample Images

The 105mm f/2.4 is the lens that defines the Pentax 67 system. Ask anyone why they bought a Pentax 67 — a camera that weighs over four pounds, fires with enough mirror slap to blur shots below 1/125, and gives you only ten frames per roll — and the answer is almost always this lens.

On paper it’s a standard prime. The 105mm focal length on the 6×7 format gives a field of view close to 50mm on 35mm, making it a normal lens by any technical definition. But nothing about what it produces feels ordinary. Wide open at f/2.4 on a 6×7 negative, the depth of field is razor thin, the bokeh rolls off in a way that looks organic rather than engineered, and the transition between sharp and soft has a quality that photographers have been trying to describe for decades without settling on the right words.

Stopped down it’s clinical. Sharp corner to corner with contrast that holds up through any film stock or scanning workflow. It’s the kind of lens that makes the photographer irrelevant to the technical quality of the image — if the focus is right and the exposure is close, the lens does the rest.

This page collects sample images, shooting notes, and observations from working with the 105mm f/2.4 over time. If you’re deciding whether this lens justifies buying into the Pentax 67 system, the short answer is yes. The images below are the long answer.