Originally posted by Ira Look, it may just be my copy, which is a Super, but that's just how I feel about this one.
Mike has gotten some great shots with his preset (don't remember if he has the later models), so check those out to really decide for yourself. But since I have the 85 1.9, it's a no-brainer. I don't need the extra 20mm of reach, and if I did, I would reach for the 135.
It may very well be that you just have a copy with some sort of problem....just enough of one to make things a bit off but not enough to make the cause obvious. I am reminded of Father Morgan, the chaplain aboard my ship when I was in the Navy. He had spent some time with the Marines and they made of him an excellent shot with the .45 Automatic while he was with them. We went out on a firing range in the Philippines for weapons qualification and Father Morgan was getting some bad results on the pistol range, which he blamed on the pistol's front sight being "off". The Chief Gunner's Mate heading up the show dismissed his protestations of the problem being in the equipment.....right up until the front sight flew right off the pistol while firing the next clip.
Completely unrelated, but Father Morgan also said the only prayer I ever heard in my life that I remember verbatim and also the only one which seems to have
worked. After a couple of years in drydock the ship made a trip to Hawaii. We anchored off one of the islands and a most unbelievable mushroom cloud of red rust came billowing up out of the chain lockers as the chain was paid out. Later on that evening, in a miserable downpour, as we tried to get underway again it was discovered that the winches didn't feel like winching. So there we sat for hours and hours. Finally 8:00 p.m. rolled around....time for evening prayer. Father Morgan's voice came over the loudspeaker, "Heavenly Father, we pray tonight for anchors and oceans of electronic gizmos." Within a minute of this brief appeal we could feel the rumble and hear the clank-clank-clank of the anchor chain being retrieved.
I like the 105 because it is the most useful prime focal length for shooting from my truck, which is where most of my photos get taken. The 85 works as well, but mostly thanks to cropping. The 135 is long enough to be limiting. Sometimes it gets me stuff that I couldn't have gotten with the 105, but that doesn't happen often enough to justify keeping it on all day.
Until a couple of weeks ago I had only the S-M-C version. I then got the preset model, which I am told has a different optical formula. I think they both work fine. The only thing I have really noticed, and it may be just my imagination, is that with the preset some shots tend to look
much less sharp on the LCD than later inspection on my computer proves them to actually be. So I have to resist the urge to sometimes delete in-camera.
Let's be honest here, pretty much
all the Takumars are fine lenses and capable of turning in stellar results and the only real factor for choosing one focal length over another should be whether that focal length fits your needs (or you can fit your shooting to that focal length). I don't mean to sound vain here, but I think part of the reason the 105 gets looked at may be that I shoot with it a lot and post a lot of photos from it. The 105 would be a sort on in-between short telephoto that mostly gets overlooked and disregarded in favor of either the 85 and its sexier reputation or the 135 with its longer reach and lower price.
Ordinarily, I would add a photo here, but Flickr is busted at the moment.