[JinDesu]

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Oh that was a quick reply. I'm a meany, I have said item but no desire to sell at this time. Your interest is duly noted just in case.

Aha, I will go cry now

Originally I thought that only the many bladed presets were the good ones, I didn't even know that the aperture blades were differently located and made such a huge difference in the bokeh. Not to mention most of the preset lenses used in the preset club perform quite well in detail and color.

[RioRico]

fixing post, wait a minute...

rofl!

Larf larf larf. In fact, I have a keyboard+software problem here. For technical reasons (the super-laptop's keyboard is funky) I'm very likely to hit the TAB key when entering text. That jumps the cursor down to the SUBMIT REPLY button, and my next keystroke posts the test whether I'm done or not. I asked Adam to swap the SUBMIT REPLY and PREVIEW POST buttons to fix this, but no-go. So every now and then you'll see that disclaimer message whilst I'm frantically fixing a post. Ratz.

Don't listen to RioRico. He's got too many lenses.

Cowpucky. I have just a few presets:

* Mir-1 37/2.8, M42 mount, 2 rings, 8 iris blades (R)
* CZJ Tessar 50/2.8, Exakta mount, 1 ring, 12 blades (G)
* Macro-Takumar 50/4 (1x), M42, 2 rings, 8 blades (J)
* Jupiter-9 85/2, M39 mount, 2 rings, 15 blades (R)
* Meyer Trioplan 100/2.8, M42, 1 ring, 15 blades (G)
* Opticam 135/2.8, T2 mount, 2 rings, 10 blades (J)
* Hanimar Preset 135/3.5, M42, 2 rings, 13 blades (J) (CHEAP!!)
* Jupiter-11 135/4, M39 mount, 2 rings, 11 blades (R)
* Meyer Telemegor 180/5.5, M42, 1 ring, 15 blades (G)
* Tele-Takumar 200/5.6, M42, 2 rings, 10 blades (J)
* Spiratone Telephoto 400/6.3, T2, 2 rings, 13 blades (J)

See, only two Taks. I NEED MOAR! MOAR!

BTW that cheap Hanimar Preset (49mm front thread) is pretty amazing, just a long tube with no telephoto elements -- nice bokeh and treatment of specular highlights, but a bit of CA. I occasionally see it NIB for US$25 or less. I think these were made post-2005. And they're probably in various brands too. The lens is inscribed HANIMAR but the box is generic, with HANIMAR just a sticker on one side.

Want to know what 135mm presets are selling for? CLICK HERE!

[JinDesu]

Want to know what 135mm presets are selling for? CLICK HERE!

Yes, I was actually going to get that 135 F3.5 that was recently sold, but I was out of the office at that time and missed it

Is there any place that has a bit more information on what preset lenses are available to Pentax users? Personally I would want a 200mm over a 135, since bokeh is involved!

[riff]

Aha, I will go cry now

/me is bad!

I think the boken is very nice on presets and I find them to be more 3D then most lens, subject to background separation is outstanding. There was a wack of 135 presets on ebay recently. I expect you will find a 135 very soon. Good Luck!

[RioRico]

Is there any place that has a bit more information on what preset lenses are available to Pentax users? Personally I would want a 200mm over a 135, since bokeh is involved!

IMHO the perfect 200 is the Tele-Takumar 200/5. but that may be too slow for some tastes.

Coming up with a canonical list of Pentaxable presets sounds like a good research project for you! Be sure to post it here.

If I were to force myself to it, I'd approach it like this: Gargle for M42 PRESET and M39 PRESET and EXAKTA PRESET (Exakta-mount lenses, without the stop-down button, are very simple to adapt to PK mount) and T2 PRESET. The M39s will all be Russian|FSU (former SovUnion). Most of the M42s and Exaktas will be German. The T2s will likely be Japanese. Exceptions may abound but I dunno, I haven't checked. And of course search the lens database here for PRESET. OK, get going on it!

[stevebrot]

Yikes. They're a lot more convenient than fully manual lenses without that second ring.

What he said...though it should be mentioned that the A/M switch on most M42 lenses is the functional equivalent of a preset ring.


Steve

[altopiet]

In a nutshell, it means the lens is sort of inconvenient to use.

Now you've put your foot in it!

[JinDesu]

IMHO the perfect 200 is the Tele-Takumar 200/5. but that may be too slow for some tastes.

Coming up with a canonical list of Pentaxable presets sounds like a good research project for you! Be sure to post it here.

If I were to force myself to it, I'd approach it like this: Gargle for M42 PRESET and M39 PRESET and EXAKTA PRESET (Exakta-mount lenses, without the stop-down button, are very simple to adapt to PK mount) and T2 PRESET. The M39s will all be Russian|FSU (former SovUnion). Most of the M42s and Exaktas will be German. The T2s will liekly be Japanese. Exceptions may abound but I dunno, I haven't checked. And of course search the lens database here for PRESET. OK, get going on it!

I'll start by buying a couple and then doing reviews on them!

[Mike Cash]

Now you've put your foot in it!

I have always been of the impression that Adam doesn't actually own or use any M42 lenses. Is that incorrect?

[Glenn72]

I´m actually pretty happy with my Takumar 135 f/3.5 preset that I bought on accident before I even knew what preset meant.
Its actually really easy to use and lets you adjust the proper amount of light while viewing the subject without having to leave the viewfinder.
I wouldn´t mind trying to find a Takumar 50 f/4 macro preset

[Lowell Goudge]

What he said...though it should be mentioned that the A/M switch on most M42 lenses is the functional equivalent of a preset ring.


Steve

But many times too close to the aperture ring that it gets moved by accident. A well designed preset has the stop down ring just beyond the focusing collar, so once you are focused it is almost automatic to stop down and shoot. The only risk is if the ring is too stiff you tend to shift the focus too

[Mike Cash]

The A/M switch is awkwardly located and in my opinion as worthless as tits on a boar hog. Far easier to just count clicks.

[mikeSF]

The A/M switch is awkwardly located and in my opinion as worthless as tits on a boar hog. Far easier to just count clicks.

i agree with this. the A/M switches seem more trouble than just quickly opening up the ring and counting the clicks. I only have one preset lens at the moment and i have come to love the operation of it; it is even easier than counting clicks.

[stevebrot]

I have always been of the impression that Adam doesn't actually own or use any M42 lenses. Is that incorrect?

Sorry to say, Mike, but based on his comments over the time that I have been active here, I would tend to agree with you. Either that or his work-flow is significantly different than what you or I would use.

Either way, many of the older lenses were fairly inconvenient, by today's standards at least, on the day they were made and remain so, even on our modern bodies. That being said, a pre-set or "auto" aperture was a huge selling point "back-in-the-day" and made all the difference in the world when shooting with an SLR.


Steve

(...hopefully will not be banned )

[stevebrot]

The A/M switch is awkwardly located and in my opinion as worthless as tits on a boar hog. Far easier to just count clicks.

In general, I would agree, with the exception of my Helios-44M. The A/M switch on that lens is a prominent knurled roller affair and is super easy to move from A to M on the fly.


Steve