I love working with old and unique lenses so on a snowy day a few weeks ago I went to Garfield Lake Park, in Denver, Co to test my Tele-Vivitar 135mm f3.5 preset telephoto lens in M42 mount adapted to EF with and Urth adapter for my BMPCC 6k camera. This lens is identical to the Dollonds-S 135mm. This 60’s era lens was made in Japan by Tokina and was also sold under the Sears label. It boasts 15 aperture blades for a soft bokeh.
It is definitely not the sharpest lens, but does have a nice quality to it that I would almost describe as gentle. I think looking at the images it produces pairs nicely with a little classical piano listening.
Because it is a preset, this lens has a clickless aperture which is great for video. However, that is also where the main image issue arises. When closing down the aperture on some shots, a lighter circle appears in the center of the image, shrinking with the aperture and growing in ring shape as the aperture opens back up. This is not seen at lower f-stops and will require more tests as it did not appear on all shots.
If you do not need maximum sharpness and will not be shooting closed down then this is a fun lens. It’s very small for a 135 and has a unique build quality. It has the ability to create dreamy landscapes and I look forward to testing it more.
