Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

SMC Pentax 67 165mm f/2.8

Pentax · Pentax 67 · 1989

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Pentax 67 165mm f/2.8 · Pentax 6x7 165mm f2.8 · SMC Pentax 67 165mm f/2.8 · SMC PENTAX 67 165mm F2.8 · smc PENTAX 67 165mmF2.8 · SMC Pentax 6x7 165mm f/2.8 · SMC PENTAX-6x7 1:2.8 165mm · SMC Pentax 67 165/2.8 · ペンタックス 67 165mm f2.8 · SMCペンタックス67 165mmF2.8 · SMCペンタックス6×7 165mm F2.8

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
SMC Pentax-6×7 165mm f/2.8 (1980s) Pentax 67 — — —
SMC Pentax 67 165mm f/2.8 (1989 on) Pentax 67 1989 — —
  1. Construction, closest focus, angle, filter, dimensions and weight are from Ricoh Imaging's 67II lens page and catalogue and from the Japanese Wikipedia lens list, which cites the Pentax 67/645 catalogue of August 1990; the English Wikipedia table agrees.
  2. The ten-blade diaphragm is from Sasha Krasnov's reviews of the 165 and the 150 only; no maker document consulted gives a blade count. Single source.
  3. The family year is a ceiling, not a launch date: camera-wiki lists an SMC Pentax-6×7 165mm f/2.8 in its 1980s group, the August 1990 catalogue lists the SMC Pentax 67 version, and 1989 here is the body's renaming. No source consulted gives the year the 165 first appeared.
  4. The 165mm f/4 LS is a different lens (4 groups / 5 elements, leaf shutter, 77 mm filter, 780 g, f/32, 1.6 m, ¥170,000) and has no page of its own in this wave; its figures are from Ricoh's 67II catalogue table and the Japanese lens list. The year 1987 given for it by dealers was not confirmed by any source read here.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Two engravings of the fast 165: SMC PENTAX-6x7 (1980s) and SMC PENTAX 67 (1989 on). Both 1:2.8 165mm, 67 mm filter, built-in sliding hood, 835 g
  • Not to be confused with the SMC Pentax 67 LS 165mm f/4: that lens has a leaf shutter with its own speed dial and cocking, a U/S lever, a 77 mm filter and f/4 on the ring
  • Nor with the Takumar 6×7 150mm f/2.8 of 1969, its predecessor: 5 elements in 5 groups, 9 blades, 770 g, 1.5 m, and vignetting wide open that the 165 lacks (Krasnov)
  • Inner-bayonet lens; the outer bayonet of the double mount is for the 400 mm and longer lenses (ja Wikipedia)

SMC Pentax-6×7 165mm f/2.8 (1980s):

  • Engraved SMC PENTAX-6x7 1:2.8 165mm; 67 mm filter; built-in sliding hood
  • Camera-wiki files it in the SMC Pentax 6×7 group of the 1980s, between the Takumar generations and the SMC Pentax 67 of 1989

SMC Pentax 67 165mm f/2.8 (1989 on):

  • Engraved SMC PENTAX 67 1:2.8 165mm (67 without the ×); same 67 mm filter and built-in hood
  • Ricoh Imaging's 67II lens page: 5 groups / 6 elements, 30°, f/22, 1.6 m, 67 mm, 91.5 × 98.5 mm, 835 g, hood built in, rear converters 1.4× and 2× usable
  • Listed in the Pentax 67/645 catalogue of August 1990 as 5群6枚, 1.6 m, φ67 (ja Wikipedia)

Specifications

Construction
6 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Diaphragm blades
10
Min. focus
1.6 m
Dimensions
91.5 × 98.5 mm
Weight
835 g
Filter
67 mm
Years manufactured
1989
Country
Japan
Coating
Super-Multi-Coating (SMC) on both engravings
Original price
¥120,000 before tax with case S90-140, on Ricoh Imaging's undated 67II-era Japanese list. No launch price found.

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

Aggregated from the reviews above — follow the links for the full picture.

Vignetting
negligible wide open
Optical formula

No maker cross-section found: Ricoh Imaging's 67II pages and catalogue give 5 groups / 6 elements without a drawing.

History

The 165mm f/2.8 is the fast portrait lens of the later Pentax 6×7 line, an 85 mm-equivalent on the 6×7 frame that took over from the Takumar 6×7 150mm f/2.8 of 1969. Ricoh Imaging’s 67II page gives the figures that every other source repeats: 6 elements in 5 groups, 30°, f/2.8 to f/22, 1.6 m closest focus, 67 mm filter, 91.5 × 98.5 mm, 835 g, hood built in, and compatibility with the 1.4× and 2× rear converters, at ¥120,000 before tax with the S90-140 case. The Japanese Wikipedia lens list gives the same construction from the Pentax 67/645 catalogue of August 1990. Sasha Krasnov counts ten diaphragm blades, and no maker document consulted gives a count.

Two engravings exist and the optics are not known to differ. Camera-wiki lists an SMC Pentax-6×7 165mm f/2.8 in its 1980s group, alongside the 45mm f/4, 55mm f/4, 90mm f/2.8 and the 165mm f/4 LS, and then an SMC Pentax 67 165mm f/2.8 from the body’s renaming in November 1989. No source consulted gives the year the 165 first appeared, so the 1989 on this page is the renaming and a ceiling, not a launch date. The 150 it replaced was a 5-element, 5-group design of 770 g with a 9-blade diaphragm, and Krasnov’s comparison of the two is the only one found: the 150 loses sharpness towards the corners and vignettes wide open, swirls its background at close range, and is the more interesting lens for it, while the 165 is even to the corners, free of vignetting, and a general-purpose fast lens rather than a portrait-only one.

The 165mm f/4 LS is a different lens that shares the focal length, and sellers mix them up. Ricoh’s 67II catalogue table gives it 4 groups / 5 elements, 30°, f/4 to f/32, 1.6 m, a 77 mm filter, 92.5 × 77 mm and 780 g, with the leaf shutter built in and the RH-RC77 rubber hood sold separately, at ¥170,000. Its point is flash: the 67II specification sheet says leaf-shutter lenses sync to 1/500 where the focal-plane shutter syncs at 1/30, and the English Wikipedia article names the 90mm f/4 and 165mm f/4 as the two leaf-shutter lenses of the system. The LS has a shutter-speed ring and a U/S lever on the barrel and must be cocked separately; the f/2.8 has neither. Krasnov notes the LS’s formula is different, so the two are not the same glass with a shutter added. The 1987 date dealers give for the LS was not confirmed by anything read here.

Reviewers agree on the f/2.8: sharp, even, compact for its speed, and cheap for what it is. Peter Jeffrey calls it his go-to portrait lens and a steal at around $250; Peter Stout says fantastic and about $300; Jo Geier recommends it for the compression and the price. The dissent is about weight and character. Krasnov, after ten years with it, found the rendering too perfect and too modern next to the 150 and sold it as too heavy for travel at close to a kilogram once the hood and caps are on; Chris Chinnock keeps it but rarely uses it beside the 105. Steven Rasmussen’s practical note is that with technique the 165 and 200 can be shot handheld at 1/60.

When buying, confirm which lens is on offer from the aperture on the ring, the filter size and the absence of a shutter-speed ring; an LS priced as an f/2.8, or the reverse, is a common listing error. Check the sliding hood runs freely, the diaphragm snaps closed at every setting, and the front group is clear of haze. Open questions: the year the 165 launched and the year the LS launched, whether the SMC Pentax-6×7 and SMC Pentax 67 engravings differ optically, any list price before the 67II era, and the blade count from a maker source. The PentaxForums entries for both 165s could not be read at the time of writing.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

Sample photo taken with the SMC Pentax 67 165mm f/2.8
The leaf-shutter sibling, not this lens: SMC Pentax 67 LS 165mm f/4, with its own shutter-speed ring (Hiyotada) — Hiyotada, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a SMC Pentax 67 165mm f/2.8? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $350 across 43 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-19 (middle half $300–$420). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 77 more listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-09-19. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Takumar / SMC Pentax 67 105mm f/2.4 · Takumar / SMC Pentax 67 200mm f/4 · SMC Pentax 6×7 / 67 45mm f/4 · SMC Pentax 6×7 / 67 55mm f/4 · Takumar / SMC Pentax 67 75mm f/4.5 · SMC Takumar LS / SMC Pentax 6×7 / 67 90mm f/2.8

Sources (16)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.