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03-12-2011, 02:53 PM   #7471
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QuoteOriginally posted by yeatzee Quote
The ability to use Av mode however, might just be the ticket to a long Tak future for me however. I never knew this, and it was exactly the thing I was looking for in an attraction to such lenses. How well does it work?

Finally, what would be some good taks to start with?
QuoteOriginally posted by jaieger Quote
Sidenote - I just tried out Av mode some more and it seems more consistent than what I wrote above. 1.4-2, and 5.6 and up are exposed brightly, and the settings in between are slightly underexposed, but the key is that they're underexposed uniformly. So you could probably get used to how your camera reacts to each aperture and pretty quickly set some exp comp (and I'll mention one last time, only if it even does this on your camera).

Personally, I prefer to use my taks like presets (none of them are). Select the aperture I want - 1.4 for dreaminess, 2-5.6 for tack sharp, or 8/11 for DoF. Slide it down to manual, meter it (for some reason my metering in manual is much more accurate than Av - Av tells me to do a 1/50, which is quite underexposed, and manual gives me 1/10, which is just about perfect (at f4)). Slide it up to auto, focus, and soon as I've got it, back down to manual and take the shot.

Sounds cumbersome but I've gotten pretty quick at it.
The Takumars will not meter correctly in Av mode. I think there is a work around a few pages back if interested. In short it has aluminum foil involved etc. Best to use manual and green button, make adjustments as needed.

03-12-2011, 04:49 PM   #7472
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QuoteOriginally posted by theunartist Quote
The Takumars will not meter correctly in Av mode. I think there is a work around a few pages back if interested. In short it has aluminum foil involved etc. Best to use manual and green button, make adjustments as needed.
With my K100D Super in Av mode, I find that a piece of foil over the contacts, or +1.5EV compensation works well - or use the lens in M mode and push the button to set the exposure. I have a KatzEye split-screen/micro-prism focusing screen, and always use center-weighted metering, and generally get good results with the meter.

Here is my offering from today. We had delightful weather, sunny and in the 60s this morning, so I took out the Super-Macro-Takumar 50mm f4, and found this budding daffodil, captured with my K100DS, ISO200, 1/90 sec., handheld...

-Joe-
03-12-2011, 05:00 PM   #7473
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QuoteQuote:
what makes you grab the tak out instead of say the K or M prime assuming you have one? Whats its attraction?
1) Originally, price. A few years ago M42 lenses, even very good ones were available on eBay for next to nothing. If you did not mind screw mount and a manual lens you could buy a lens whose optics were equivalent to a modern lens costing $1,000, although it would be auto-focus etc. of course. For many, myself included, it allows us to see what a 'pro' level lens looks like since we cannot afford or justify the cost of a $1,000 lens.

2) It is important to remember that there are good taks and not so good ones just like any lens series. Buying an SMC Takumar 55mm f/2 and expecting something special is silly. There is nothing wrong with that lens but it was never intended to be a 'pro' level lens.

3) Appreciation of something made well and made to last. I sincerely doubt that many of the new SDM or HSM lens made today will still be working 30 years from now. And if one of my Takumars has a problem I can take it apart and fix it. I would never think of trying that on a modern lens. A lot of things are like that now. If you are still in high school, perhaps you cannot understand how many things used to be repaired in house. Furnaces, cars, lawn mower, oven whatever, we used to just get parts and fix everything ourselves. Can't do that anymore, everything is electronic and needs an "authorized service representative".

4) You can use Av mode with Takumars, which you cannot do with K or M lenses. It isn't 100% accurate depending on the body and lens but it does work, usually with a little EV compensation. Ira will likely tell me manual mode is better and I won't argue with him, it is more accurate but there are occasions when Av comes in handy and it will work with Taks.

5) Build quality / feel? I suppose that is subjective. I just plain like using the all-metal Taks. Nothing wrong with K or M lenses they mostly have good build quality as well but the Taks just feel better to me.

6) Focus ring. Not a real difference between K & M lenses but trying to use manual focus on a modern lens is frustrating as they were designed for auto-focus with short focus throws. The Takumars have a smooth focus movement that is a pleasure to use.

7) Rendering and Bokeh. Not sure if a generic statement can be made here. Especially as some of the K & M lenses are optically identical to their Takumar predecessors. But if you look at a Takumar photo it has a different 'look' than that taken with a modern lens. Vary hard for me to describe.


But if you already have such good lenses as the K 50mm f/1.2 then I doubt you will see much improvement with the equivalent Takumar. And if you believe that using the M42 adapter is a 'pain' then I would suggest staying with K mount. If you can afford f/1.2 lenses then you have lots of other opportunities without having to mess with the adapter.
03-12-2011, 06:20 PM   #7474
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Did these with my 35 2 S-Tak two weeks ago, manual, Sunpak Flash:






03-12-2011, 06:25 PM   #7475
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Av silently works if you use 1) EV compensation (compensation must change with the time of day and lighting, but, you can compile simple formulas that are fairly accurate-needs experience and time- so you know when to use a certain amount of EV, or 2) keep sharp mental records of past shots so as to apply accurate or nearly accurate exposures dialing them in as you go, or 3) quickly take multiple readings (spot of course) from the frame you want and do a quick average (it doesn't require any thinking really being intuitive and quick with practice), or 4) some combination of the above. Normally, just using the green button seems best but noisy, and even then, a little intuition or a multiple reading with the green button may be needed to get a fine exposure on the first snap. It's almost worth just taking the shot relying on the first green button depression, checking the histogram, (I love the histogram) and then re-snapping with a shutter speed adjustment if you don't like what you see. It puts more cycles on the shutter, wears it out faster, but requires less green button depressions (green button action is also limited by a certain number of cycles). Of course, you can always use Taks without the green button if it wears out. Obviously, you need to pick out the spot for metering that will give the best overall exposure when the dynamic range is going to be quite large so that the green button will work accurately (if you don't want to take multiple shots or multiple readings).

I've used the foil and compensation method with AV to good results under certain conditions, but I think ultimately, for me, I'll deal with the grating sounds of the green button and enjoy the simplicity of doing that all of the time...I shoot M lenses too, so, it's one procedure with the green button for both Taks and Ms.

My 55 1.8 (2.0 the same) Super Takumar and SMC Takumar are maybe the two lenses I would last part with. They are superbly practical, fast, have lovable handling, and are sharp as heck, even at infinity for landscapes. That's why even some Leica lens fanatics and Rangefinder users have a 55 Takumar in their collection. They know it's "up there" with their Leica lenses, especially for street shooting or landscape use!

Note: The M 50 1.7 and M 28 3.5 lenses look so similar (sharpness and color) to the ST 55s in same shots (stopped down landscapes or same subjects in same lighting) as to be almost indistinguishable if looking past the obvious differences in focal length. My impression this evening as I recall using all of these lenses is that the M 50 1.4 and 28 2.8 (and perhaps longer M lenses) tend to produce images that diverge somewhat from the 55s in style. The Takumar 55s are more fun to use than the M lenses in general and that's why I reach for them! The M lenses that, in my very humble opinion, give the Takumars a run for the money aesthetically are the 50 1.4 and, surprisingly, the 28 2.8. Those I intuitively reach for because their handling appeals to me. Of course they take great photos also. I only mention the Ms because they came up a little earlier in conversation.

I use a lot of parentheses when I'm tired but trying to communicate accurately and quickly. I'm sorry for so many of them, but it's easier to order thoughts and ideas that way when speeding along.

Last edited by mglowe; 03-12-2011 at 07:05 PM.
03-12-2011, 11:55 PM   #7476
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Super Multi Coated Takumar 20 4.5

03-12-2011, 11:57 PM   #7477
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Super Multi Coated Takumar 135 2.5 (5 element version)



03-13-2011, 12:48 AM   #7478
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"my weaknesses are my strengths"

A while ago, I posted about some discoloration from my super-tak 50/1.4 that caused it to do this: when shot into the sun. I sent it back to the store, who refused to refund it but sent it to the repair shop. They could find anything wrong with it, and I've lived with it since. In practice, it's only shown up on a grand total of two shots (out of quite a few now, considering it's my single-in-march lens), a good number of which were shot into the sun.

However, in this shot, I think it (you can see it in the top left) adds to the shot quite a bit. When converted in this way, it adds some film-like quality to it that I don't mind at all....




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03-13-2011, 04:13 AM   #7479
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I am humbled by so many people expressing concern over my well-being and consequently quite ashamed of myself for not thinking to check in here. I was at work when the quake struck and went back to work very early that evening due to what I knew would be a fuster cluck down at the docks the next day. I often don't check image posting threads from my iPhone as it is impossible to appreciate the photos on that small screen, so I failed to notice in a timely manner inquiries about me.

For the first time ever in all the years I have been in Japan, I managed to contact my mother in Tennessee (where God lives) and let the family know I was alright before they even knew anything had happened. I deliberately stopped watching the news in 2003 and what usually happens when there is an earthquake in Japan is that I get a frantic e-mail from my mother and then have to write and tell her thanks for letting me know there had been an earthquake here as otherwise I never would have known anything about it. At the time I called, about six or seven hours after the quake, my parents were just getting up and hadn't had the news on yet. Given the scope of the disaster in the affected areas I am very thankful I was able to contact them first for a change.

When the quake struck I was moving in slow traffic through Ota City, Gunma. At first I thought a sudden wind was rocking the truck but a quick look at the trees told me it wasn't the wind. I've experienced several minor earthquakes in the truck and it is sort of an interesting sensation. But when this one kept getting stronger and stronger and showing no signs of stopping I put the hazards on and just stopped the truck right there in the passing lane, being sure to pick a spot both between telephone poles and not under any overhead street signage, just in case they toppled. That wasn't merely a precaution that I had already thought up....it was thought up on the spot while watching things overhead whip back and forth with such a vigor it seemed impossible for them not to come crashing down.

On the road I was traveling I passed a Honda and a Subaru dealership. Both were designed with high glass walls to the front and on one side....and both will have the opportunity to decide if they want to use the same building material when making repairs. I also passed a somewhat older building which had lost its outer wall on the second and third floors. It came crashing down and landed on a couple of cars. Apparently there was something serious happening on the other side of the building, as the fire department rescue squad came roaring up. Electricity went out for a while in that town and driving a tractor-trailer around in a country where the people aren't friendly or cooperative motorists even under the best of conditions was a special sort of challenge without the benefit of traffic lights to force them to stop and let somebody in.

You could tell which households had splurged and had their front fences put up with steel reinforcement bars in the concrete....their fences remained standing. Others fell over and looked like rows of blank mahjong tiles.

With the trains shut down, Tokyo streets entered into complete gridlock and remained in that condition until the wee hours of the night. I have some screenshots of traffic information that evening. Even on the worst, most congested, screwed up days I have ever seen there was nothing that could even remotely compare to it. After seeing what a total basket case Tokyo becomes with very little more than the admittedly major inconvenience of having public transportation shut down, all I can say is God help us if we ever actually have a natural disaaster of this scale directly affect the city.

It goes against my regular practice of including a Takumar shot regardless of whether it is related to the text of a post or not, but I think I'll ask to be excused on this one.
03-13-2011, 06:22 AM   #7480
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Good to hear you are OK Mike , I have another aquaintance who lives in Shiga and he said something similar to your experience , at first it was " cool a small quake" then " holy c%^&"

see you around the forums

Robert
03-13-2011, 08:28 AM   #7481
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Wouldn't wanna be in your shoes that day Mike. Glad to hear you're alright. And of course you are excused for not posting a photo ;-)
03-13-2011, 01:28 PM   #7482
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SMC-Tak 55/2.0

Station North Arts District, Coffee House offering "Bacon Latte", they swore it was good, I passed


Hanging a New Show at the Hexagon

From this Album - Thanks, Rick

Last edited by theunartist; 03-13-2011 at 04:41 PM.
03-13-2011, 04:15 PM   #7483
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Super Multi Coated Takumar 20 4.5


Last edited by mglowe; 03-13-2011 at 08:17 PM.
03-13-2011, 04:18 PM   #7484
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Takumar 55mm 1.8

03-13-2011, 06:23 PM   #7485
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QuoteOriginally posted by eccs19 Quote
Takumar 55mm 1.8

Sweeeeeeeet.

These are the shots I love:

Perfect focus and great composition--plus extremely interesting human expression.

Which is why I HATE nature shots.

Nature SUCKS compared to the human condition.
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