R.I.P.

So I was meandering through Astoria Park this morning, armed with my Pentax K2 on which my beloved Sears 135mm f/2.8 was sitting. I had some problems with the depth-of-field preview - I had to push the button on the camera body several times before the viewfinder would finally dim down. It didn't take long that not even the most obstinate and furious button mashing would have any effect. I took off the lens and fiddled with the stop-down lever only to realize that the lens would no longer stop down. Sticky aperture blades, certainly.

What sounds harmless and petty is sadly the death of this wonderful lens. It's a curious dilemma: It can probably be repaired, although finding someone who can fix a 20 year old lens might not be easy. And while I am in love with this lens more than with any other of my lenses, it also happens to be one of my cheapest. You can get decent specimens for around $20. So instead I decided to quickly take it apart to see if there's anything I can do. But as always, the aperture blades are hidden underneath the rear element of the lens which is glued to the outer shell. No go, therefore.

So I didn't hesitate and arranged instantly for a replacement. There's a decent number of those available on eBay at any given time, fortunately. Mine will be shipped from California so I have to wait a few days. I just hope it will perform equally well - one never knows with these off-brand lenses which are often rebadged.

As a final tribute to this great little performer, here's a few photos I've taken with it:

It's an almost ideal portrait lens. The focal lens is just about perfect and f/2.8 is plenty for blurring out any distracting elements in the background. The above was shot with the Pentax ME Super on Ilford HP5+ pulled one stop (Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 for 8 minutes at 20/68 degrees)

And it's sharp. In the above, I used around 28mm of extension tubes to focus that closely (mine is the non-macro version of this lens). Shot on Ilford Delta 100 and developed in Ilfotec DD-X, 1+4 for 12 minutes at 20/68 degrees.

This Sears often gets an honorable mentioning when 135mm lenses in the Pentax K-mount are discussed but more often than not, it gets good marks for its low price but is forced to stand behind the smc PENTAX 1:2.5 135mm or its slower and cheaper sister, the smc PENTAX-M 1:3.5 135mm.

I will miss her. That is, until the replacement has arrived!