[jensm]

Comon... I know you want one of them. So did I, was a little bit on doubt as to the various reports of the differences. So, the logica conclusion:




I've only just managed to do a quick newspaper test so far (really, I'm supposed to be working). When I get round to it, I'll add more.

Conclusions:

• Wide open, my mf skills are the limiting factor
• Sharpness more or less identical
• Contrast maybe a little better on the Super Tak
• Perhaps there is just a little bit of visible CA/PF on the Super Tak
• They're both great!

The pics below are wide open
S-M-C Tak

Super Tak


/Jens

[Zewrak]

Now get hold of the Auto-Takumar 85/1.8 and throw it in the mix.

I have used all three of them and I rate them backwards from everyone else. I think the Auto takumar beats the others with a huge difference and S-M-C and Super Takumar could really share the second place. But if i had to rank them all, it would be Auto, Super, S-M-C in that order.

[wavecurrent]

And don't forget the K85 F1.8, have one myself. It's a very good lens, but is it the same as the S-M-C Tak 85 F1.8?

[Zewrak]

Yes, probably just the barrel and mount that is different. The optical design and coatings are probably the same.

[estudleon]

HI!!

Great theme.

Ilogical result (the newest, the less good), but if it's true....show the pics please!!

Thanks

[fwcetus]

I do have a (very) old online comparison of a number of Pentax 85's (from back when I owned ~far~ too many 85's) (now all I have are the A* 85/1.4 and the FA* 85/1.4) at The Great Pentax 85mm Lens Shoot-Out, which includes the ST 85/1.9, the SMC Tak 85/1.8, and the K 85/1.8, as discussed here.

And, speaking of 85's, there's also some info on the Russian Zenitar K-mount MC 85/1.4 there, too.

[estudleon]

Fred:

Thanks, great job. Informative and usefull.

There, both takumar (1,8 and 1,9) seem to me that are very close.

[fwcetus]

Fred: Thanks, great job. Informative and usefull. There, both takumar (1,8 and 1,9) seem to me that are very close.

Well, I think the small pix (scans from 4x6 prints from "way back in the low-bandwidth days of yore") don't really show enough of the difference I observed, I guess. The ST 85/1.9 (at least the one sample I had) definitely seemed a bit softer at wider apertures than all the other 85's I tested (except, of course, the K 85/2/2 Soft - <g>), although it still makes a really nice portrait lens - I am sure that Jens will enjoy using both of his new/old 85's...

Thanks for your comments.

[LaHo]

In your examples, the 1.9 is perhaps the sharper one, but they are very close. I haven't tested my S-M-C 85/1.8 lens thoroughly yet, but the first attempts are promising.
I didn't buy this lens for its sharpness, though, but for the special feel and colour of this legacy lens.

Regards

Lars

[jensm]

Yes, me too. But when I first got the S-M-C Tak, I was pleasantly surprised by the sharpness. What I got it for was images like the one below.

And now to end this craze... the past few weeks got me the Super Tak, a Tamron 70-210 3.5 (19AH), a Sigma 17-70 and something completely different: a Steinheil München macro-quinar 100/2.8 with matching ring flash. The Steinheil hasn't arrived yet, but I'm somewhat excited about it :-)

[Zewrak]

Super Takumar 85/1.9

[Just1MoreDave]

...And now to end this craze... the past few weeks got me the Super Tak, a Tamron 70-210 3.5 (19AH), a Sigma 17-70 and something completely different: a Steinheil München macro-quinar 100/2.8 with matching ring flash. The Steinheil hasn't arrived yet, but I'm somewhat excited about it :-)

I don't know anything about it, but you have to like trying to drop the name into conversation. "Oh, that one shows the unmistakeable bokeh of my Steinheil München Macro-Quinar."

[estudleon]

I don't know anything about it, but you have to like trying to drop the name into conversation. "Oh, that one shows the unmistakeable bokeh of my Steinheil München Macro-Quinar."

Excelent lens, the best 100 mm that I saw in my life.

A friend of me let me use the lens a few weeks. Great, great lens, sharp as a knife!! Good colors, contrast.

Please, show us the pics!!!!!!!

[Mechan1k]

Super Tak 85mm f/1.9 (just a few)

[Jewelltrail]

Zewrak
Now get hold of the Auto-Takumar 85/1.8 and throw it in the mix.

I have used all three of them and I rate them backwards from everyone else. I think the Auto takumar beats the others with a huge difference and S-M-C and Super Takumar could really share the second place. But if i had to rank them all, it would be Auto, Super, S-M-C in that order.

I have not used all three, but I do own the Auto Takumar 85mm f 1.8. I am so in love with it ( review is the last one here Pentax Lens Review Database - 85mm F1.8 ) that I have no desire to try the other two lenses. Here are a couple of jpgs out of the K20, no PPing: