Tele Takumar 1000 F8 Test Photos

[jocko_nc]

Guys:

It took me a while to get to play with the new Beast, I have been busy and did not have a suitably safe mount for it. I finally got it out today and got to play some. These are initial obervations. I'll post a review soon, I really want to take some moon shots first.

I am fairly news to this, Please take with a grain of salt. K20D. ISO 400. Manual operation.

1) Can a lens be too large? I would say yes. Not to large for bragging rights, a collection, or simple cool factor. Too large to be practical? Very possiblly. This thing is like setting up a telescope. You better have a very specific need and requirement, like setting up three days in a duck blind to spot a rare critter. Don't take it to the zoo or to walk around the neighborhood.

2) I shot all the photos you'll see wide-open at F8. I figured that is the worst case. Over-blown white highlights will purple fringe like the dickens. High contrast like that can be a problem. See the overexposure on the crop of the white railing photo. That was as bad as I could get. (Operator error, it was way overexposed). I suppose such is to be expected with this glass. ???. My other long telephoto is a more modern (A Series) Sigma APO 500. So far, I never have been able to create such an event with that lens. The other shots are fine. I have no A - B tests at a lower aperture settings to compare. I will do that next time. Softer scenes look nice, like a Takumar.

3) I suspect the M42 adapter issue(s) are not a problem with this style lens. From what I can see, the rack and pinion focuser allows a wide range of adjustment: By design. There is split coupling in the back of the lens to allow for generic filters. Your length will vary? ???. I seem to have the ability to focus past infinity, an external adapter should work fine. ???. I was using the OEM.

4) Mounting the camera can be easier than you think: You can pop apart at the filter coupling to make the M42 mount more manageable. Unscrew from the camera what is left, then remove the adapter.

5) The weight and inertia makes tripod bounce a real issue. I was shooting on 12 second delay to make shre the mount was stable. Again, I need to shoot the moon and stars. That won't happen around here until late September.

6) This thing is a real eye-turner. It screams Look at Me!

I have much more testing to do and will advise.

[jocko_nc]

Here are some more stopped down to F16.

The crop shows overexposed white spots against a green backdrop, no sign of purple fringe. Red seems real easy to overexpose and fringe, I guess that makes sense for the wavelength. ???.

These look better. Better light.

[jocko_nc]

Piling on my own post, here is the setup. For those who want to see one.

[seescape]

that thing is a beast! looking forward to seeing more photos from it,good luck!