SMC PENTAX L 43mm Special

Review and photo examples of the SMC PENTAX L 43mm F1.9.

Gallery

The example photos were taken with a Panasonic LUMIX GF1.

The sample photos were taken using HEXAR RF + KODAK EPR 64 reversal film.

Review

The SMC Pentax L 43mm F1.9 is a semi-standard lens released by Pentax for the Leica L mount in September 2000. It is available in two colors, black and silver, and a total of 2000 units were made.

The lens design is similar to the Summicron 50mm, which has been on sale since 1979, with a built-in hood, and a finger grip on the focus ring, which the Summicron does not have, to cut out harmful light and ensure ease of use.

When using the lens, it shows a calm image with both fine detail and moderate bokeh. Since Micro Four Thirds uses only the center of the lens, the image is uniform across the entire screen, and there is no complaint about the image quality. When used with 35mm film, there is some distortion in the corners, but it is not noticeable. When using it with the Leica M8 and M9, the M8 generally shows good image quality without any problems, and there is no periphery that is a bit difficult with 35mm full frame. The M9 shows the same periphery distortion as film, and there were also some shots where purple false colors appeared in the highlights. As for the 35mm full frame, the peripheral areas cannot be hidden, but false colors can be reduced by processing on the sensor side and processing during development.

The design is cylindrical with few bumps, so users who like simple designs will be satisfied with it. Those who are excited about the curves of the lens barrel will find it a little disappointing.

An external viewfinder is available with a very subtle focal length of 43mm. This is probably to improve versatility, but the viewfinder has both 43mm and 50mm frames drawn on it, giving it a subtle, half-baked impression despite being a dedicated viewfinder. If you don’t want to bother using an external viewfinder, the lens mount is an L39 screw mount, so if you use a 50mm/75mm adapter, the 45mm frame of the LEICA CL and MINOLTA CLE will probably fit. Also, for general M-type Leica cameras, if you imagine using the inside of the 35mm frame or the outside of the 50mm frame, it may not be too far off. When using it with a Hexar RF, I was conscious of using the outside of 50mm.

As mentioned above, this lens has a focal length of 43mm and a special viewfinder frame that is not equipped on normal rangefinder cameras, so it was avoided by M-type Leica users, and it was released in a not very good year. At the time, new L39/M-type Leica lenses were not of much interest to general users, so combined with the somewhat aggressive supply of 2000 units, new boxes could be seen on the market until around 2010.

After that, with the resurgence of the Leica M mount and the popularity of mirrorless cameras, this lens disappeared from the market, and the price has stabilized accordingly.

In terms of the era, in 2000 when this lens was released, sales of small sensor digital cameras were just starting to pick up, and large sensor SLRs were still expensive for professional use, and for general users, film was in the heyday of both SLR and rangefinder cameras.
Four years later, in 2004, the Epson R-D1 was released, paving the way for the use of L39/M mount lenses in digital cameras. It was not until 2008 that the monumental Panasonic G1 was released, which is the mirrorless camera that currently uses the L39/M type lens the most.

In this era, SLR cameras held most of the market share, and rangefinder cameras were only for a small number of enthusiasts. This was the time when Leica L39/M mount lenses were most abundant on the market and cheap.
In particular, it was an unfortunate time when large aperture lenses, when used with film cameras, would be out of focus due to the shallow depth of field when used wide open, and it was said that huge lenses were unnecessary if used narrowed down, and it was a dream time when the Noctilux 50mm could be purchased for around 100,000 yen.

As for the lens housing photos, I do not have any photos of the lens I owned in my database, so I have quoted the exterior photos from a PDF distributed by Pentax.

Lens appearance is quoted from PENTAX PDF

The lens configuration diagram is taken from the PDF distributed by PENTAX.

Specification

Items	Value	備考
Focal length(mm)	43
Max aperture	1.9
Min aperture	16	half stop
Leaf blade	9
Lens Construction	7elements in 6groups
Min distance(m)	0.7	Full-range camera rangefinder linkage
Lens length(mm)	47	Distance from the mount frange
Max diameter(mm)	55
Filter Size(mm)	40.5
Weight(g)	230(Black / Silver)
Production numbers	2000
Release date	September 23, 2000