[daylightsteam4449]

Hello,

I recently bought a Auto-Takumar 3.5/35mm lens
but am having problems when I use the stop-down lever near the aperture ring on the lens. It seems when I push the lever in to focus/brighter view, having set the selected aperture previously, the opening of the lens gets stuck in the wide open position and when I release the lever it still is stuck in that position. The only way I can get it back to the selected aperture again is to remove the lens from the body and push in the pin on the rear of the lens.

It works ok if I don't push down on the lever all the way but that can not be easy when focusing and holding down the lever at the same time. Is there something I am not doing or can this be fixed with some lubrication perhaps?

Regards,
Douglas Lee

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Last edited by daylightsteam4449; 03-12-2010 at 07:18 AM.

[boriscleto]

The K10 does not have a mechanism to return the aperture on an Auto-Tak. The only way to use a Tak in AV mode is to focus wide open then stop down the aperture to meter. I don't know if the older Auto-Taks work that way but that is how the later Auto-Taks and Super-Taks work.

[Jewelltrail]

Daylightsteam4449: Hello,

I recently bought a Auto-Takumar 3.5/35mm lens
but am having problems when I use the stop-down lever near the aperture ring on the lens. It seems when I push the lever in to focus/brighter view, having set the selected aperture previously, the opening of the lens gets stuck in the wide open position and when I release the lever it still is stuck in that position. The only way I can get it back to the selected aperture again is to remove the lens from the body and push in the pin on the rear of the lens.

It works ok if I don't push down on the lever all the way but that can not be easy when focusing and holding down the lever at the same time. Is there something I am not doing or can this be fixed with some lubrication perhaps?

Regards,
Douglas Lee

Hi Douglas:

I own an Auto-Takumar 85mm 1.8 (1961) and shoot it on my K20d. I experience precisely the same things you relay above if I actualte the lever too. What "boriscleto" says makes sense, and I use the lens by focusing wide open, then manually stopping down to the desired aperture--like he describes--I have only used it in the Manual mode. Perhaps a more knowledgeable person can add more?

[daylightsteam4449]

Hi, It will work somewhat in Av also but I need to experiment with all my options. Thanks for the help.

Doug

[woof]

It works ok if I don't push down on the lever all the way but that can not be easy when focusing and holding down the lever at the same time. Is there something I am not doing or can this be fixed with some lubrication perhaps?

Douglas...

You are not doing anything wrong. However, you simply cannot use the "Auto" aperture feature on these lenses.

The correct way to use this lens is like it is a preset lens.

1. Open Aperture wide open
2. Focus
3. Set aperture
4. Shoot

or...

1. Determine correct aperture
2. open aperture to full open
3. focus
4. reset aperture

This may seem to be NOT ideal, but it can be mastered with some practice. I use both methods and actually set aperture by feel for the second method.

This is not actually all that different than using a Super Takumar. Instead of pressing the M/A switch back and forth, you simply manipulate the aperture ring directly.

There is another technique that could help you as well... use hyperfocal distance focusing... that is, set the aperture and then set the focus according to the range markings... see here: Hyperfocal Distance

I use hyperfocal distance focusing about 85% of the time when using wide angle Takumars. Dad taught me this technique. He was a photojournalist in the 50's and you had to be fast, fast, fast. Despite the fact that it is fast, it works beautifully, and frees you somewhat from the work flows shown above.

So...

1. Decide on aperture - ie meter, etc.
2. set hyperfocal distance
3. shoot

Fast AND accurate. You do need to get good at judging distance, but that comes quickly and you'll see you have a big margin for errors if you use f/8-f/11 ("f/8 and be there!")

Hope this helps. Comments welcome.

woof!

[daylightsteam4449]

Thanks for this Woof. I will experiment with depth of field scale and hyperfocusing more now. I almost forgot how to use it because it's been years since I last used it. Of course I most often use center focusing because I like to get what I'm focusing on sharp as can be and tend to take my time getting it sharp although I wish this viewfinder was brighter in the K10d for low light situations.

Doug

[daylightsteam4449]

Correction: I will expend my horizons also but in the meantime I meant to say hyperfocal instead of hyperfocusing.

Doug