Originally posted by dragonfly Is there something special about this particular production run?
I had heard the stories about this lens being special and I was able to snag it off of these forums when one came up for sale. I can only compare it to an M series 135 f3.5 I have, and really that's apples to oranges.... the SMC Tak is much heavier, is a 58mm thread, and has a metal screw on hood. It is brutally sharp anything above 2.8, and at 2.8 is *just* picks up a touch of softness that makes the image pleasing.
The bokeh is buttery smooth and rivals anything I've ever seen on these forums.
The contrast and color rendition is truly wonderful; the reason we got into Pentax glass in the first place.
The action is classic Takumar, smooth lens throw (kinda long, but okay) and aperture ring is a clean solid click. Minimum focus distance is about 7 ft, which is marginal.
The color rendition, the smooth, "painterly" quality of the bokeh coupled with the sharpness of critical focus is what I think makes this a unique lens among Takumar's telephoto primes.
I hope that helps.