Star-D Star-D 135mm f2.8 Heritage

Overview

The Star-D 135mm f2.8 is a budget third-party telephoto lens that was sold under the 'Star-D Gold Line' branding, a value-oriented label commonly found on inexpensive manual-focus optics of the late film era. The single documented review comes from a Pentax-mount 'Gold Line' variant made in Korea with a KR (Ricoh Pin) mount, but the lens was also offered in other mounts, including Minolta MD as noted here. It was never a prestige optic; it was a cheap, well-built alternative to first-party 135mm lenses. The reviewer paid just $27 for their copy, and the lens's appeal rests almost entirely on its extremely low cost combined with surprisingly pleasant out-of-focus rendering. No established community nickname is evidenced in the reviews. Its modest cult status, such as it is, comes from bargain hunters who discovered that a sub-$30 lens could deliver 'creamy bokeh' worth adapting to modern digital bodies.

Verdict: The Star-D 135mm f2.8 is a bargain-bin portrait and background-separation lens for photographers who value creamy bokeh over crisp contrast. It is not sharp or contrasty out of the box, and its long focal length is awkward on crop sensors, but for the price it delivers surprisingly attractive out-of-focus rendering that shines with a little post-processing. Best for adventurous adapters and budget shooters, not for those seeking clinical performance.

Optical Character

Bokeh

Creamy and smooth, rated a perfect 10 by the reviewer and cited as its main appeal.

Sharpness wide open

Decent but not outstanding, rated 7/10; focus accuracy uncertain on samples.

Contrast

Very low contrast wide open, described as an easy fix in Lightroom.

Community Insights

What people love

Extremely cheap; the reviewer paid only $27 and rated Value a perfect 10
Well-built despite the low price
Creamy, smooth bokeh that earned a perfect 10 rating
Very shallow depth of field at its minimum focus distance for strong subject separation

What people dislike

Very low contrast that requires post-processing correction
135mm is a difficult focal length to work with on crop-sensor bodies
Handling on the reviewer's sample was described as not very good
Minimum focus distance of 4-5 feet limits close-up work

Pro Tips

Shoot with the intent to raise contrast in post; the low contrast is easily corrected in Lightroom
Lean into the creamy bokeh by shooting near minimum focus distance for maximum background separation
On crop sensors the effective field of view is long and challenging, so it is easier to use on full-frame or adapted to mirrorless
The reviewer successfully adapted it to a Nikon D600, so it works well on modern bodies via adapter

Sources (1)

Web-grounded synthesissecondary

The Star-D 135mm f2.8 is a budget third-party telephoto lens that was sold under the 'Star-D Gold Line' branding, a value-oriented label commonly found on inexpensive manual-focus optics of the late film era. The single documented review comes from a Pentax-mount 'Gold Line' variant made in Korea with a KR (Ricoh Pin) mount, but the lens was also offered in other mounts, including Minolta MD as noted here. It was never a prestige optic; it was a cheap, well-built alternative to first-party 135mm lenses. The reviewer paid just $27 for their copy, and the lens's appeal rests almost entirely on its extremely low cost combined with surprisingly pleasant out-of-focus rendering. No established community nickname is evidenced in the reviews. Its modest cult status, such as it is, comes from bargain hunters who discovered that a sub-$30 lens could deliver 'creamy bokeh' worth adapting to modern digital bodies.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/star-d-135mm-f2-8-gold-line.htmlhttps://www.pentaxforums.com/reviews/pentax-da-star-50-135mm-f28-lens/bokeh.html